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Dallas volunteer dies from injuries in Haiti quake

A UMNS Report
By Joey Butler*

UPDATED 3:18PM EST | Jan. 15, 2010 


Jean Arnwine. Photo courtesy of Highland Park United Methodist Church.

A member of a Dallas mission team providing eye care to Haitians died of injuries suffered in the Jan. 12 earthquake.

“Jean Arnwine passed away overnight in Guadeloupe. Doctors there tried to revive her, but were unsuccessful,” Highland Park United Methodist Church announced Jan. 15.

Another team member, Dr. Gary Fish, was with Arnwine and is working with the U.S. Embassy in Guadeloupe to bring her home. Arnwine was 49.

A group of 12 missionaries from Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas was working in the village of Petit Goave when the clinic building collapsed. Volunteers had to dig out people buried in the rubble, the church said.

Fish, who was believed to have broken ribs, was en route to Martinique with Arnwine when their plane was rerouted to Guadeloupe after Arnwine suffered complications.

The other 10 mission workers landed in Dallas early Jan. 15. Two members were treated and released from Dallas hospitals.

Highland Park has been making medical mission trips to Haiti since 1976. The Haiti Eye Clinic was built in 1985, and a surgery building was completed in 1999. Both offices are staffed by Haitian doctors supported in part by the church. These facilities provide special eye care weekly.

“Jean was very happy to be there,” said team member Alexandra Paz. “She loved the Haitians; she loved helping them. It was her first time, and she was already talking about coming back next year.”

*Butler is a content editor for United Methodist Communications in Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Joey Butler, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5105 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

slideshow

Photos from team in Haiti

Related Articles

WFAA-TV Report on Arnwine

Resources

Haiti Eye Care Clinic

UMCOR Emergency

Earthquake in Haiti: The Church Responds

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