A DUNFERMLINE doctor embarked on a life-changing trip last month when she provided medical relief to hundreds of patients devastated by Hurricane Matthew in Haiti.

GP Alison Dunn was part of a team that was the first medical relief workers to reach communities hit by the hurricane back in October last year, and although this was her eighth trip to the country, it’s the one that challenged her the most. 

Alison, 47, told the Press: “I felt completely out of my depth the majority of the time I was there.

"Haiti is a beautiful country but it is extremely under-developed and that can be quite shocking for westerners.

"There are no roads, safety-wise it’s quite dangerous and you see kids running around on flat roofs. 

“Your emotions are assaulted by the chaos that you see but it does become normal.

"The biggest challenge was then coming back and trying to readjust after what you saw.

“In the region around Jeremie, 400 people had died in the hurricane. Roads and bridges were washed away, many homes had plastic sheets for roofs and no walls and every school was damaged, some beyond repair.

"Many had severe arthritis saying they were wet for four days.”

As a member of Dunfermline’s Vine Church, Alison has been visiting Haiti since 2008. The church on Garvock Hill built a state-of-the-art hospital on the island of La Gonave, known as ‘The Lost Island’, which opened in 2015. 

Other Dunfermline volunteers also made the trip including Charlie Seaman, who co-ordinates logistics to the country, and Kelly Armstrong, from the Pars Foundation, who wants to buy astroturf for a youth centre to take teams of football coaches out there.

Alison continued: “Now that the hospital is functioning we have been able to focus on other things and friends Pastor Jorel and Madeline invited me to be part of their medical team.

“The Haitians are extremely selfless people and they certainly challenged me.

"There were was a grandad that I treated, his grandchild had died, he’d lost all of his crops, his house had been destroyed and he couldn’t find any food to get his grandchildren to school.

"I asked him, ‘How do you cope?’ and he said: ‘But doctor, I’m thankful to God because I still have breath in my lungs’. 

“Even through everything, these people have a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving and such resilience. 

“I also met patients that were completely oblivious to their conditions and from the point of view of a doctor from the west, it was heartbreaking.

"There was very little I could to help their illnesses with the resources I had.

"I had to leave them even though they were in so much physical pain.

"But they never felt sorry for themselves and they always believe tomorrow will be better.”

To support the ongoing help needed for the hospital in Haiti visit www.lemonaid.org.uk.