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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, February 25, 2010 · 22 Health Oakville Beaver Oakville doctor mending a healer in Haiti By Susan Clairmont METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP PORT-AU-PRINCE -- He came to Hamilton so he could be a better doctor. But then when Dr. Ricardo Michel's country needed him most, he was too badly hurt to do what he had trained for. It would take five weeks and an old friend from Hamilton to make things right again. Everyone describes Michel as "the guy with the big smile." The 32-year-old Haitian is an anesthetist at Hopital Universitaire de la Paix (Hospital of Peace) in the Delmas district. But four years ago, he was doing his residency at The General Hospital in Port-au-Prince and that's where he met the man he now describes as "my brother, my father, my friend" -- Dr. Alezandre Dauphin. Dauphin, chief of anesthesiology at St. Joseph's Healthcare Acorn Family Health and Wellness YOU AND YOUR PREGNANCY SIX WEEK PRENATAL CLASS Morning Sickness? 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And he ventured out through all of the risk JOHN RENNISON / METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP EXPERT INPUT: Oakville orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brad Weening looks over the x-rays of Dr. Ricardo Michel, now one of his patients in Haiti. YES, ITS A WIG! Lora Collins, owner of Medical Image Wigs is proud to be celebrating her 12th year of service to the Oakville area. A 10 year wig specialist for the Look Good Feel better program, g g y Medical Image Wigs is a valuable service to the community. We carry a large selection of ready to wear fashionable wigs and hairpieces, custom fit and professionally styled to your measurements. Our clients include Alopecia, Chemotherapy, female and male pattern baldness, as well as other hair loss issues. Hats, scarves, and semi permanent brows are just a few of the accessories we carry. Private consultations are free of charge. Lora Collins MEDICAL IMAGE WIGS The Hair Centre 603 Argus Road, Suite 106, Oakville ON L6J6G6 · Phone: 905.338.2688 Email: www.medicalimage.ca · Toll Free 1.866.338.9447 to work at the hospital." Michel's high grades earned him the opportunity to go to Canada for two months in the spring of 2005, to live with Dauphin and work at all of Hamilton's hospitals. There have been 26 Haitian doctors who have been mentored by Alez over the past 10 years. To prepare, he took six months of English lessons. He wanted to make the most of his experience. Move forward to this year. Jan. 12. About 5 p.m. The young doctor was at an internet café in Port-auPrince writing an e-mail to Alez. They were making plans for St. Joe's International Outreach Program to come and do more work in Haiti. Then the earth shook. The three storey building Michel was in collapsed on top of him. He had a long gash on his head and his "I was impressed with Ricardo. At the time in Haiti, there was the uprising against the government. And he ventured out through all of the risk to work at the hospital." n Dr. Alezandre Dauphin right forearm was broken in two places. Michel is left handed. He was trapped in the rubble for three hours before someone freed him. There were nine people in the café. Only he survived. Meanwhile, Michel's wife was at nursing school. The same school where the lives of 200 nursing students were lost. For whatever reason, Sandy had stepped out of the building just moments before the earthquake struck. She was spared. Five other nursing students were spared. And so was the child that had begun to grow in his wife Sandy. Michel made his way through the chaos to look for his wife. Someone there told him she was alive. But he could not find her. So he kept going to The General Hospital, where the dead and the wounded were piling up. He fashioned a sling for his broken arm and using his good hand, began to do sutures. But he could not do anesthesiology. It takes two hands to intubate a patient. Four days went by before Michel heard a message from Sandy over the radio. That is how many Haitians found each other after the tragedy. Around the same time, Dauphin arrived in his shattered homeland. He wanted to arrange for Michel to have See Life page 22