PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti.— Elizabeth lay under the rubble for one whole week. Just two weeks old, this tiny baby was trapped between the walls of her home when Haiti began to shake. Micheline Joassaint, her mother, had given her up for dead when a team of Colombian rescue workers found her.

The baby had just been breastfed and was dropping off to sleep just at the point when the whole of Port-au-Prince and its outskirts began to shake. From that moment until Tuesday, January 19, she wasn’t seen again and the absence of any crying indicated that the baby had died.

Telling the story today is pediatrician Zilda del Toro from Guantánamo province, still amazed and overcome with emotion, who relates that Elizabeth arrived at the hospital in Jacmel dehydrated, suffering from hypothermia and hypoglycemia, despite the fact that the rescue workers had put her on a drip, administered dextrose and covered her fragile body with sufficient clothing to warm her up.

"We started treatment straight away and the baby recovered. But even now, nobody can explain how Elizabeth is still alive, because she was alone the whole time, without receiving any liquids or warmth and she was wearing very light clothing. But the most surprising thing was that she hadn’t been hurt in any way. After we gave her liquid, she began to urinate, her hydration improved, her temperature regulated and she began to breastfeed. All of this happened in under an hour."

Today, Elizabeth is the miracle of Jacmel, a city situated 75 kilometers from the Haitian capital, where the Cuban doctors arrived some years ago and where they continue to save lives after the devastating earthquake. But Elizabeth is not the only miracle in this place. The establishment of a field hospital is a further addition to the labors of our doctors there, with sweat, intensive work, hours without sleeping and many other risks.

Cuban orthopedist Daniel Lorie, head of the field hospital and a veteran of missions in Pakistan, Indonesia and Peru, tells us that they came here with a will to work hard and attend to people in need of medical attention.

Our doctors were setting up an operating room when we arrived at the hospital in Jacmel. The second Cuban field hospital in Haiti was put together with blue tents. It seemed like a simple task but the transfer of an operating table – which according to those present weighs over 500lbs – started to complicate matters. It required seven men to move the heavy load up a steep, cobbled path.

At the hospital in Jacmel, everyone was involved in all kinds of tasks, irrespective of their actual occupations, just attending to the emergencies that of the moment. Gynecologist Dionisio was cooking, Francisco – a specialist in internal medicine – was serving coffee, the Haitian students were erecting tents, pediatrician Zilda was looking after a dozen children, others were giving vaccinations…

"Here, you just can’t get tired. We’ve erased that word from our vocabulary. You can see me sitting down right now, but I’m not tired, I’m thinking how we can make the hospital better, how to make it function better," said Dr. Lorie.

Likewise, moving from one part to another was Dr. Mercedes Cuello, head of the Jacmel brigade. I think that I’ll never forget this woman: she was the first person I interviewed while the ground was shaking. The second aftershock of the day surprised us while we were talking about the Cuban mission. When the first one happened, Mercedes was with several Haitian students giving vaccinations against tetanus, which is rife on the streets.

When the tremors ended, Mercedes went on with her work as if nothing had happened: "We are in a recovery phase. Yesterday, orthopedists, surgeons, OR nurses, and a new group of Haitian residents studying in Cuba arrived. We began to carry out preventative work, provide lessons in sanitation and to vaccinate people."

Mercedes comments that the days after the earthquake were dire, that they were left homeless and, from that moment on, slept under canvas sheeting, but delights such as a birth on January 12 make them smile. It was the same with gynecologist Dionisio Fernández – who has carried out four Cesareans and attended seven normal deliveries since the earthquake occurred, some of which he was forced to perform in the most basic of conditions because there was no other option.

For this reason, Dr. Lorie, a member of the Henry Reeve brigade, cannot fail to be proud of the doctors from his country, those who have recently arrived and those who felt the impact of the earthquake when it happened; that is what we have always done.

Perhaps without intending to do so, Dr. Lorie acknowledges our doctors who are sleeping in tents and living alongside the population. These are the doctors who yesterday began operating on more than 30 Haitians who have been waiting for orthopedic surgery for eight days.

Because of them, we can speak of miracles in Jacmel today.