A Richmond County man who left to help in the recovery efforts in Haiti wasn’t able to reach the island nation until Friday evening.

Jack Carroll Jr. is traveling with members of the North Carolina Baptist Mission Rescue Team. Their primary goal on this trip is medical aid, though they are trained in search and rescue as well.

When the team first flew out of the Burlington airport on Wednesday, they’d planned on flying directly into Haiti, but had to stop in the Bahamas.

Then they went to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and then flew to a small town on the coast of Haiti and drove into Port-au-Prince.

Carroll’s wife, Mary, who is still at their home in Hamlet, has been getting updates from her husband via e-mail.

“They didn’t get there until Friday at 7:30 p.m.,” she said. “They’ve been going to hospitals and helping where they can.”

Mary said the group her husband is with is staying at Global Haiti Mission and they spent Saturday and Sunday working at makeshift hospitals in Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital.

“We have worked in the community all morning treating the locals,” Jack wrote in an e-mail to Mary. “Some injuries significant, some minor, but all important. There are aftershocks still and the Haitians are very fearful. Conditions are awful.”

When Jack and his team were leaving for Haiti, they originally anticipated returning this Thursday, but Mary said all of that is up in the air now.

She said she’s not sure when the group will make their return, but they’re hoping to catch a return flight with the non-profit Samaritan’s Purse, but all of that is still up in the air.

The 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti Monday, Jan. 11 and since then mission groups, the U.S. military and individuals have tried to make their way to help in the country’s recovery.

Mary said she’s been working with the N.C. Baptist Mission and Dr. Jean Lemaire, a Haitian native and Richmond County doctor with the Sandhills Medical Group, to get him over to Haiti to assist in the recovery with a different group. But, she said because there are groups who are planning on being on the island a while, it may be a while before Dr. Lemaire can get there.

“But we’re working on it,” she said.

Staff writer Eren Tataragasi can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 19 or at etataragasi@yourdailyjournal.com.