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By B.L. Ochman
“Maybe you don’t think anyone in Haiti will ever see YouTube, but I’d say you might be wrong” says Dr. Jan Gurley, who’s been helping in Haiti since the earthquake. “People there have cell phones, and texts, and everyone has an email address. Aid workers have smart phones that can show videos, and people there, just like here, love to gather ’round and watch the tiny screen.”
Dr Gurley has made this wordless video about how to make life-saving oral rehydration therapy (ORT) solutions for cholera victims. The simple sugar and salt solution is an alternative to medical rehydration therapy, which may not be available fast enough or in sufficient quantity.
Cholera can kill in as little as three hours when diarrhea totally depletes the body of fluid. The video demonstrates how to make a simple life-saving sugar and salt-based solution that rehydrates the body – and saves lives – using only things that a person living under a sheet in a tent city would have.
Upon return from her most recent trip to Haiti, Dr Hurley realized there was almost no videos on YouTube about ORT, so she and her friends decided to demonstrate how easily it can be done.

“…you may feel the urge to turn off the news from Haiti,” Dr Gurley says “…because there’s nothing you feel like you can do to make a difference.” But she says getting wider circulation for this video can help save lives.
The remarkable impact of the Internet and smart phones on world events
What I find even more remarkable than how fast this video is spreading through Twitter and the blogosphere is how technology is changing communication even in the most horrific circumstances of disasters.
People who are living in such desperate situations that they refuse to evacuate refugee camps even in the face of hurricanes, floods and illness still have access to the Internet. And it can save lives.
What does that say about corporations who block employee access to the Internet? Just saying….
via: BoingBoing