Denise English sent an e-mail to her family Tuesday from Deschapelles, Haiti, a rural town 70 miles north of Port-au-Prince, saying she thought she'd been in an earthquake.

The Turtle Creek physical therapist wondered in her e-mail if the story would make the news, her husband, Dr. Dennis English, said yesterday.

The seismic event had been mild at the Hopital Albert Schweitzer, where Ms. English is the director of the Rehabilitation Technician Training Program. It was her daughter, Erin, of Santa Fe, N.M., who informed Ms. English that the earthquake, with an epicenter near the country's capital, had not only made the news, but was leading it.

"It was a very strange disconnected feeling," said Ms. English, 58. "I was surprised that such a huge earthquake was being reported. The quake here was not nearly as violent. We had no reason to suspect what was happening in Port-au-Prince."

But in the days since, she's seen the aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed an untold number of people and brought the country to a standstill. Survivors of the earthquake have been flocking to the Hopital Albert Schweitzer, which quickly became a "key rescue facility," Ms. English said.

Although Deschapelles was spared the damage experienced in other areas of the country, phone service is nearly impossible and Internet connections are intermittent. Ms. English was able to respond to questions from the Post-Gazette via e-mail early yesterday morning. She included in her e-mail a blog post that she wrote and that has now been added to the Friends of Hopital Albert Schweitzer blog.

In her e-mail, she said patients began arriving at the hospital before dawn on Wednesday, and the hospital staff quickly mobilized. Droves of vehicles arrived with people injured in the earthquake, and the staff searched for more beds and mattresses as the hallway, then the courtyard, filled up with patients.

"The injuries are extensive and severe," Ms. English said in her e-mail. "Amputations, burns, head, spinal cord and crush injuries. Often in combination."

Within the walls of the hospital, Ms. English can hear frequent mournful wailing and the quiet singing of hymns.

Yesterday morning, she said, a young friend asked her to attend his cousin's funeral. But generally, they have not experienced the loss of life and housing seen in Port-au-Prince and its surrounding areas.

The lack of damage in Deschapelles has enabled them to handle large numbers of patients, Ms. English said. When the patients become stable, they are referred for physical therapy, she said.

"This week I experienced the power of a simple gesture in a powerless situation -- holding a hand, a nod of acknowledgement, listening. I have had the chance to communicate intimately with people who were strangers, and in a moment are not strangers anymore," she said in an e-mail.

Ms. English is no stranger to Haiti. She started traveling there to volunteer in 1998, and since then, her husband said, she has visited "innumerable" times. Since 2001, she has worked with Health Volunteers Overseas and leads a program to train physical therapy technicians.

For this trip, she arrived in Haiti on Jan. 4 and is due to return to Pittsburgh in a few weeks.

"I think she goes there with the idea that she has a skill she can bring them, but she really has a love for these people," her husband said. Dr. English, a physician and vice president of medical affairs at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, has also been to Haiti eight or nine times for a different aid project.

Ms. English said the staff and patients at Hopital Albert Schweitzer have access to food, water and supplies, though they have begun conserving resources with the expectation that a long recovery is ahead of Haiti.

Donations can be made to Friends of Hopital Albert Schweitzer through their Web site at www.friendsofhas.org.

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