Dr. Kim Hardy watched the TV like the majority of the world a year ago as images of destruction, pain and hopelessness flashed across the screen. Haiti, already struggling as the poorest country in this side of the world, was dealt a horrific blow when the earthquake changed everything.

“After the earthquake when I saw the images on TV, something spoke to me that I needed to do this, that I needed to go,” said Hardy, a Waukesha resident and family practitioner with ProHealth Care.

This week was the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake that was estimated to kill hundreds of thousands of people.

It took some time for general practice physicians like Hardy to be able to travel to Haiti, as the original need in the country was for surgeons. But in March, a few months after the earthquake, Hardy packed her bags, caught a flight and spent 10 days giving the people the medical help they needed. Hardy spent time in Port-au-Prince during that first trip.

Hardy was connected with Heart to Heart International, an organization that has dedicated its resources and volunteers to helping the Haitians. Since the earthquake hit, the organization has sent more than 400 medical volunteers to the country, given more than $20 million in medical aid, and treated more than 100,000 people, according to its website.

Hardy was touched by what she saw in the country, and she returned to help again in December where she worked in Leogane. Her medical services were cut short after rioting began because the presidential elections were announced. She hopes to return again in March, and expressed her genuine disappointment that she wasn’t able to help more people in a blog about the December trip.

“The people are so endearing,” Hardy said. “They are so generous and loving. When I went back the second time, when I landed and saw the Haitians I knew, I felt at home. It wasn’t what I expected.”

The Haitians were generous and grateful for the work Hardy provided. Their core values, she said, focus on family and the very basic necessities because they have nothing.

“It is really just survival,” Hardy said. "Their family and friends are really everything to them. They don’t have anything else.”

The first time she flew to Haiti, Hardy saw the aftermath from the horrific earthquake. Some of the medical work was taking care of people who had poor medical care for their injuries and the healing process had slowed significantly as a result.

Hardy recalled one woman who was boiling a pot of oil when the earthquake struck. The woman fell into the pot and received burns all over her body.

The woman needed the help from Heart to Heart International for the basic care and bandages to allow the wounds to heal.

“Just because of the lack of treatment, the burns were slowly, slowly healing,” Hardy said.

Despite the tragedies, Hardy had miraculous stories to share. She treated two twin boys who were 3 years old. The boys were brought to the clinic by their aunt, and their mom had been killed in the earthquake.

The house collapsed during the earthquake and the entire family was feared for dead, including the boys. Days after the earthquake, the smell was growing and the relatives scrapped up enough money to begin digging for the family’s bodies, Hardy said.

“As they were digging out the family, they heard one of the boys,” Hardy said. “It is an amazing story that these boys survived.”

The second time Hardy was in Haiti, it was after the cholera epidemic hit the island country. Structurally, there were improvements, but with a 70 percent unemployment rate and an average pay of $2.50 per day, it isn’t enough. There are no jobs for the Haitians to move their lives forward, she said.

“They had done a lot more clean up than I expected, but there is still a lot to be done,” Hardy said.