Haitian boy, with his mother, arrives in Delaware for treatment

Wodeline Augustine sat in the back of an ambulance from Alfred I. du Pont Hospital for Children on Thursday, her 15-month-old son Antoine Woodlyn in front of her on a stretcher.

Two days earlier and 1,500 miles away, they had left their hometown in Jacmel, Haiti, an earthquake zone with temperatures in the 80s and 90s. Now, they were zooming down a highway toward the 30-degree blizzard zone of Wilmington.

They were part of a medical airlift
organized by Delaware- and Philadelphia- area physicians and nurses, most of whom returned home Thursday on other flights.

She and Antoine were one of seven parent-and-child teams making these trips Thursday. Some arrived in flip-flops and shorts, but warmer clothes -- sweat shirts and jackets -- were waiting for them.

The other six children will be cared for in Philadelphia-area hospitals including Shriners Hospital for Children, Geisinger and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. She and Antoine were coming to Delaware.

Antoine was wrapped in a blanket given to him by the Philadelphia Eagles, which had provided the plane that brought four of them north from Florida. He had brand-new Eagles socks on his tiny feet. He whimpered a little, and Augustine leaned over to tend to him a few times as the ambulance made the trip from Philadelphia.

They had never been out of Haiti before, she said through a translator. She had never seen snow.

Today marks the one-month anniversary of the earthquake that killed her mother and left her homeless. Antoine's father, who didn't want Augustine to have the baby and left the relationship when she was 2 1/2 months pregnant, also was killed in the earthquake, the translator said.

Now, she was alone in a strange place with a sick boy, exhausted and unsure what would happen next.

But she was glad to do this, she said. Her boy was stable now, but he was struggling physically with a hole in his heart, a neurological disorder and a lung disease. In Delaware, he would get world-class medical care that simply was not available in Haiti.

"Without this, his life expectancy would be dramatically shortened," said Steve Rawheiser, a registered nurse on the A.I. duPont Hospital critical care transport team, as he took the boy's vital signs in the back of the ambulance and reported other observations to a nurse at the Rockland hospital. "This will mean a world of difference for him."

Antoine is stable enough physically that doctors here can take the time they need to thoroughly examine and evaluate his condition, Rawheiser said.

The relay of care Thursday included Joanne Skahill, nurse managerofthe critical care transport team, Dr. Jack Cohen --anesthesiologistfor the Eagles -- and A.I. duPont's Dr. Drew Costarinoand Dr. Joel Temple.

Dr. Katie Gollotto, a physician with TeamAnge, which organized much of the transport, said Antoine came to theclinic at Cayes Jacmel, near Jacmel, with aspirative pneumonia. There,they discovered his congenital heart disorder.

With Antoine onthe trip to the United States were two girls, ages 13 and 14, who hadto have amputations because their legs had been crushed in theearthquake. Doctors hoped to save the leg of 12-year-old Marc, also onthe trip from Haiti.

Dr. Randeep Kahlon, an orthopedic surgeonwho volunteered with the Delaware Medical Relief Team in Jacmel, wasamong the escorts for a young boy who suffered a spinal fracture, andtwo other young patients were to arrive later Thursday in Philadelphia.

Gollotto said the goal is for all of the children to return to Haiti when they are physically able to do so.

Theplane was supposed to arrive in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, but wentinstead to Newark, N.J., just beating the worst of the blizzardthere.The Eagles paid for hotel accommodations, and provided Haitianfood, warm clothes and personal items.

On the way to thehospitals, thefour on the early flight stopped at the Eagles'headquarters. There, head coach Andy Reid and team president Joe Bannermet them for a brief reception, and special teams player Jon Dorenbosdid some magic tricks.

"You see how they're doing and they fireyou up," Reid said. "They're upbeat and positive. ... It's amazing whatthe doctors have already done."

"Christina Lurie [who owns theteam with her husband, Jeff] got everybody here excited about it,"Banner said. "We try to at least make some difference."

At A.I.duPont Hospital, the decision to accept Antoine for care was made earlyMonday morning, when Cathleen Rossi-McLaughlin, senior director ofnursing, got a call from Kahlon, who was in Haiti.

"We got the OK in about 30 minutes," she said.

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