SAN ANTONIO – The first images Haiti's government saw of the southern part of the country after Hurricane Matthew were taken by two San Antonio paramedics.
Josh James and Matthew Neel were part of the first team of non-military first responders to land in Haiti, and say what they saw there is something they'll never forget.
The day after the hurricane killed hundreds and destroyed towns, they flew to the country to help injured people. They took a shaky flight, a bumpy drive, and a wet, gut-wrenching 10-mile hike into the unknown.
"I honestly have never seen devastation like that in my life. It was so much worse than I'd expected. The fact that there were only five fatalities that we found in the 10 miles we trekked astonished me, because 95 percent of the people there were now homeless," James said.
James and Neel work for Acadian Ambulance but had both been to Haiti this year already to teach EMT classes, so when the hurricane hit, they were some of the first called to volunteer.
They both accepted the difficult mission immediately. They flew around the storm before it even hit Florida, and trekked through the storm-ravaged jungle searching for a hospital in the southern city of Dame Marie.
The goal was to open it up and run it.
Go Pro video from their trip showed them walking through villages, which were reduced to rubble. The people greeted them and showed them the way to the hospital.
"The [hospital's] first floor was flooded and they had moved everything upstairs. A lot of their supplies were ruined, and because of the widespread devastation, there was only one doctor in the whole hospital," Neel said.
James and Neel immediately got to work.
"There were a lot of lacerations. Mainly it was from people getting cut from the metal roofs flying through the air during the winds and then people stepping on nails or other metal afterwards," Neel said.
The medics treated about 70 patients in a row without sleep or rest. "We literally stayed in that hospital and treated people until they quit coming," James said.