Alexander: "Thought I was going to die"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A Romney woman who was in Haiti at the time of the earthquake is back home now.

Sue Alexander was one of three people from St. Thomas Aquinas in West Lafayette who traveled to Haiti for a medical mission trip.

Though her fellow travelers had not arrived in Haiti by the time the quake struck, Alexander had. She was staying with her interpreter, Martin Glesil, and his family.

Alexander said when the earthquake happened, she knew exactly what was taking place.

"It just happened so fast, and I knew immediately it was an earthquake because it couldn't have been anything else. It was horrible. The sound. It just sounded like freight trains running through the whole city. I don't remember if I just dropped to the floor, but gravity, you know. I just had to find some balance. I began to pray and I just thought I was going to die," said Alexander.

Alexander said thankfully everyone she was staying with was accounted for and alright, though there was some initial fear.

"Martin wasn't sure where his mother was. And I followed him around to the side of the house and I asked 'Is your mother alive? Do you see her?' because apparently he didn't know. And he started just frantically pulling down rocks and steel parts of his house," said Alexander.

Once the dust settled, Alexander's nursing instincts kicked in.

"I had some supplies. I had some wound care and some powerful pain medicine and a lot of it. I stayed in the neighborhood and we went around. I took my backpack with what I had and we went around from house to house until my supplies were gone," said Alexander.

Alexander said nobody came to ask if people were hurt or needed food or water.

"A little girl died in my arms, a little neighborhood girl. The parents, the father was carrying her and carried her up to me and I said 'Lay her on the ground,' and I got down. I could feel her heart. I couldn't have counted, it was so rapid. And she breathed her last. She just gasped," said Alexander.

Alexander said she did what she could with what little she had.

"Everybody was in such pain. And, a lot of wound care. Massive head injuries and I was able to dress some of the wounds and I had very limited supplies," said Alexander.

To read more about Alexander's experience in Haiti, click here.