Rayville native helps in sending aid to Haiti

A Rayville man was helping with the relief effort for Haiti last week.

Michael Burnette, the son of David Brown and Zelma James of Rayville, was one of the workers at St. Francis Medical Center in Columbus, Ga., who was preparing relief packages for shipment to Haiti.

Burnette is a 1986 graduate of Rayville High School. He specializes in sterilizing hospital equipment at the Georgia hospital.

Last week, he was preparing packages of medical supplies which were then trucked from Columbus to Stillmore, Ga., where they were combined with a similar shipment from Marion, N.C., before the final 550-mile drive to Miami where they would be flown to Haiti. The $100,000 shipment left Wednesday and was expected to be in Haiti by Thursday evening.

The medical supplies consisted mainly of antibiotics and a variety of medications, anesthesia, blood products and instruments needed for surgery.