Peter Batty was walking through a river valley in northern Haiti with other missionaries four years ago when he looked up the 150-foot-tall bluffs to see 300 children singing to them in Creole, which was "like hearing the sound of angels."

Today those voices have turned to cries for help, the serenity to chaos, as aid workers and supplies make their way into the impoverished Caribbean nation that was devastated by a 7.0 earthquake Tuesday.

The quake destroyed many hospitals throughout the country, but one hospital about 40 miles north of Port-Au-Prince -- one with which Batty and other Key West residents have a special connection -- was spared.

The Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Deschapelles subsequently is being overwhelmed, prompting Batty and other Rotary Club of Key West members to seek community support to help fund it -- something the civic group has been doing for 25 years.

"A crowd of over 200 people are outside the hospital, friends or neighbors of injured patients," hospital director Ian Rawson wrote in an e-mail to update Rotary members. "All beds have been pressed into use, and still there are patients on benches. This is the most serious challenge ever faced by (the hospital) in its 54-year history."

The hospital's most pressing need is money to buy medicine and bandages.

"We are using our quarterly stock of medicines at rapid rates -- one week's worth yesterday alone," Rawson wrote. The surgical team, he said, has been "working steadily for the past two days."

Divine guidance

The hospital lost neither power nor water, which Rotarian Sandy Higgs said was miraculous.

"The timing of this is just unbelievable," she said Friday. "I believe a higher power is working in mysterious ways. Three years ago we sent $25,000 so the hospital could update their water system, and they have water right now because of that donation."

For a quarter-century, the Rotary Club has conducted an annual raffle that raises about $10,000 for the hospital each year. Because of the special need this year, the Rotary Club wants to sell 300 tickets instead of its typical 200, which would double the proceeds for the hospital to $20,000, after subtracting the payout.

The club already is planning to advance $10,000 of the raffle proceeds, along with a few thousand more in personal donations from its members, to the hospital so it can be used immediately.

"The additional $10,000 can be sent at least by February or March," Higgs said, adding that it can't arrive soon enough for a hospital that's bracing for an avalanche of illness. "We're hearing that's the major concern in the coming months -- disease."

The raffle was launched by former Key West doctor and Rotarian Robert Carraway, who donated his time and money at the hospital. Carraway now lives in St. Petersburg, Fla., but his vision remains strong in Key West.

For Batty, the cause is personal and spiritual.

"Fifteen minutes in Haiti will tell you more about poverty than reading any book," he said. "The countryside looks lunar because all the trees have been cut down and made into charcoal so food can be cooked.

"I saw a man cutting down a mango tree and I asked him, 'If you leave the tree up you can eat its fruit,' and he said to me, 'If I don't cut this tree down, I won't be able to eat tonight.' And now this. We're talking about a tragedy of biblical proportions."

Batty said he resisted the urge to head to Haiti immediately because soldiers and professional aid workers need time to stabilize the nation before volunteers flood in.

"But in four months? Yes," he said. "It's important to remember that the need will not diminish in 90 days or 180 days after the media attention has settled. The need will still be there."

alinhardt@keysnews.com