Trini do-gooder battles for his life

Port-au-Prince’s Bernard Mevs Hospital couldn’t survive without people like Dave Bompart, a gregarious do-gooder from Ohio known to doctors and nurses by his nickname: Big Dave. But Big Dave is now the one in need of care after he was shot in the abdomen three days ago during a robbery attempt outside a nearby bank, where he had just withdrawn money to buy food for Haitian orphans. Bompart survived the original attack Tuesday afternoon, holding the wound together as he walked a block to Mevs, but has spent the last three days fighting off death both there and at Miami’s Ryder Trauma Centre. Brazen thieves fired multiple rounds at Bompart, striking him once in the torso before fleeing without any money. Bompart, 50, of Columbus, underwent two emergency surgeries in Haiti before medics airlifted him to Jackson Memorial Hospital.

As of Friday afternoon, he remained in critical condition, without any noticeable improvement. Many of the same University of Miami doctors that had once worked alongside Bompart in creating Haiti’s only trauma hospital are now trying desperately to save him. “It’s extremely painful not to be able to talk to him,” said wife Nicolle, speaking to reporters Friday. “But he knows that I love him. There’s nothing that’s been left unsaid.” Dr Nicholas Namias, Ryder’s top trauma surgeon, wouldn’t speculate on Bompart’s chances of survival, saying only that the patient was on life support and was “very, very sick.” Despite Bompart’s high-profile and jarring attack, robberies outside of Haitian banks have, for the most part, been rare. Compared to other countries with high crime rates, Haiti remains relatively safe. But with the ongoing high unemployment and deteriorating social conditions, there is anecdotal evidence of crime being up. Last year, a young radio journalist was killed outside a bank in a similar ambush. A few weeks ago, the chauffeur of a French radio journalist stuck in traffic near the international airport was killed in a robbery attempt.

More so than robberies, however, fears have centered around kidnappings, where in recent months kidnappers were killing victims even after ransoms were paid. Not surprisingly, her husband’s safety has been a worry for Nicolle Bompart ever since he relocated to Haiti following the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake. The couple knew the dangers involved in his charity work, but he always believed it was worth the risk, his wife said. Both lost their first spouses to premature deaths, and Big Dave—a veteran of the Trinidad and Tobago military who also spent time working for the United Nations—believed it was his calling to help people who have experienced a similar tragedy. In 2009, the Bomparts established Eyes Wide Open International, a religious-based non-profit aimed at helping the poor.—Miami Herald