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Beaver THE OAKVILLE Voted Ontario's Top Newspaper Four Years in a Row - 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 www.carstaroakville.com www.dentistoakville.com 905-8457579 905-847 -2595 2212 Wyecroft Rd. 547 Trafalgar Rd. 905-842-6030 www.brantflorist.com/ob Remembering baby Luke Page 9 905.639.7001 32 Pages $1.00 (plus GST) A member of Metroland Media Group Ltd. Vol. 48 No. 12 "USING COMMUNICATION TO BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES" THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2010 Oakville doctor sees pain and hope in Haiti By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF D r. John Yates, of Oakville, has seen the rubble and destruction of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti -- and looked passed it to see the pain in people's eyes. He has seen the pain of losing family, homes, and limbs. He has also seen evidence of the resilience of the Haitian people. People are moving about ... gathering what's left of their home and living in a tent on a vacant lot, selling tomatoes in the streets. "There is a beautiful Creole proverb that states: "Anpil min, chay pa lou" (many hands, the load is not heavy)," wrote Yates in an email to the Oakville Beaver. The Oakville physician flew out of Haiti just hours before the quake struck. He had landed in Miami when he got news of it. Two of his sons were still there. The doctor, who has worked on and off in Haiti since the late 1970s, said he and a Haitian airport worker in Miami tried, in vain, to get word of their loved ones. "I spoke by phone with Sandy (his wife) ...who was relieved to know I was okay. With communication down, it was a long few hours SANDY YATES / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER IN BETTER TIMES: This decade-old picture of Oakville's Dr. John Yates shows him with one of his young patients at the Grace Children's Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Dr. Yates has worked at the children's hospital for more than 30 years. He and his family are special guests at a Haiti relief fundraiser at The Firehall in Bronte on Saturday. before we had any news of our sons, but by morning we had indirect word that they were at least safe. However, there was much uncertainty concerning them and the circumstances of our Haitian colleagues and friends. We ached," stated Yates. Upon his return, Yates went back to work at the Oakville Health Centre on Speers Road ... but his thoughts were in Haiti. By week's end, he couldn't stand it and was back on a plane. "I had decided I must return to Port-auPrince to work with Haitian medical colleagues there to assess the damage to our children's hospital, our staff and our "We will never truly know how many lost their lives, in part because there are no accurate census data to know how many lived in the affected areas pre-quake." Dr. John Yates, Oakville outreach/community health projects and at the same time, mount a strategy for using our facilities and staff to respond to the human disaster that seemed to be growing by the day," said Yates. The Oakville doctor said his colleagues and patients here have been incredibly supportive and he appreciates it. Following the earthquake, the entire Yates family returned to Haiti -- the physician, his wife and four children, Melanie, 26, Ryan, 25, Jason, 23 and Liana, 21 -- to help the devastated country in its time of need. They have since returned to Canada, and the Yates family will be on hand for an Oakville Haiti Relief: Celebrating a Local Hero fundraising event Saturday, Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. at The Firehall at 2441 Lakeshore Rd. W. See Fundraiser page 2