1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
Title: Haiti's Amputees: Building a Life Worth Living
Journalists involved: JoNel Aleccia, Carissa Ray, John Brecher, Julia Sommerfeld, Meredith Birkett, Linda Dahlstrom, Robert Hood
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
The ongoing, iterative blog, Haiti's Amputees: Building a Life Worth Living, launched March 19-26, 2010 and has continued to the present with ongoing periodic updates.
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
When the ground shook in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 12, the magnitude-7 earthquake left behind up to 4,000 instant amputees in a land where there's little mercy for disability. The tragedy there highlighted a grim global reality: In the United States and around the world, the number of amputees is rising dramatically, driven by war, disease and natural disaster. In the iterative blog Haiti's Amputees: Building A Life Worth Living, a team of msnbc.com journalists – medical reporter JoNel Aleccia and multimedia producers John Brecher and Carissa Ray – explored a unique community forged out of tragedy in the rural heart of Haiti. At Hopital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles, a crew from the American prosthetic firm Hanger Orthopedic Group is fitting a stream of earthquake amputees with new limbs. While in Haiti, we followed the journey of 4-year-old Schneily Similien, one of the youngest patients there. Since our return, we have continued to publish periodic updates on the family. This project was an experiment for msnbc.com_s Health and Multimedia teams in real-time, high-production storytelling from the field using a blog format. Rather than tell this story in a traditional, narrative form, we presented it as daily dispatches of photos, videos and text stories. The blog also drew on the real-world experiences of U.S. soldiers, amputee veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, a fast-growing group with a special affinity with the earthquake victims in Haiti.
We highlighted three amputee soldiers: essays, written in an "as told to" style by Linda Dahlstrom.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
The project largely relied on verbal interviews with subjects, including many done on the ground with Haitian victims of the earthquake. However, we also used statistics from the American Red Cross and the World Health Organization about conditions in Haiti and documents from the Department of Defense and U.S. veterans groups to establish the number of American soldiers who have suffered amputation.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
Msnbc.com_s team on the ground in Haiti focused on a young amputee named Schneily Similien and his family. We did extensive interviews with them, as well as other new Haitian amputees, aided by a translator. The team also interviewed American prosthetics experts from Hanger Orthopedics Group, including Jay Tew, who created a prosthetic lower leg for Schneily. Other sources included the medical staff at Hopital Albert Schweitzer, the center in Deschapelles, Haiti, where Schneily and many other amputees were receiving care. For the veterans' portion of the project, we interviewed representatives from the Amputee Coalition of America, the U.S. Paralympics and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. We conducted three extensive interviews with three U.S. soldiers – Kortney Clemons, Josh Olson and Tammy Duckworth – and wrote their stories in the form of "as told to" essays. We also invited msnbc.com readers and American amputees to share their stories and words of support for Haitians who suffered an amputation as the result of the earthquake. We interviewed some of them and also spotlighted their letters.
6. Results (if any).
As a result of the stories, msnbc.com readers reached out the family of Schneily Similien and donated enough money to allow them to open a small store they hope will allow them to make a living, as well as paid Schneily_s school tuition, allowing him to return to kindergarten.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
There have been no corrections or clarifications needed, nor has anyone challenged accuracy of our report.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Be flexible and able to adapt as the story and situation change. Know as well as possible the situation you're walking into, especially if it_s an area touched by disaster, and be as prepared as you can. Have a local contact you can rely on for help.