On the frontlines in Haiti
February 1, 2010 7:01 AM Subscribe
"Surgically, things have gotten so much better in the last 24 hours." Direct view into the daily challenges on the frontlines of the medical situation in Haiti, via the Hershey Medical Center Team and Operation Smile. Written by the surgeons on the ground.
Some direct detail via one of the surgeons' wives (I've anonymized his name):
"Just wanted to update everyone on how Dr. X is doing. He's definitely gotten into the groove down there since my last email. They are in a town called Ford Parisien, about 45 miles outside of Port au Prince. They are at a well established orphanage called Love A Child, which is run and operated by an older American couple from Tampa, FL. They have a large property, so they have established a medical site and a displaced persons site on the property. It's basically a huge tent city.
When they arrived there were doctors there from Boston organizing the medical effort, and there was a surgical team from the Dominican Republic. With the surgeons and nurses with Dr. X's team, the operating capacity multiplied. They "sterilized" a classroom in the orphanage school which they have been using as 2 ORs. They have converted 2 tents into pre-op and PACU areas. The tents are just plastic sheets for a roof and walls with bare ground, so you can imagine how dusty it is, and how challenging it is to prevent wound infections. They have been doing up to 20 surgeries a day! They have 2 surgical chief residents with them, and like the exemplary chiefs they are, they conduct rounds on the hundreds of patients there every day, have created "medical charts" for everyone with information about the type of surgery they have had, when they had it, what there current medical needs are, and whether or not they have received a tetanus vaccine.
The word is that besides the off-shore military medical unit (USS Comfort), they are really the most well-established surgical unit in the area, and they built it all from scratch. It is really amazing what they have done. In spite of that, Dr. X is absolutely clear that they have barely scratched the surface.
Operation Smile has the next team of doctors/nurses ready to go to relieve them. The 2nd team will arrive next Wed, get oriented, and the 1st team will leave by Wed afternoon for the Dominican Republic. The plan is that they will take a commercial plan from D.R. to Norfolk, VA on Thurs, and hopefully be back home shortly after that.
There own personal facilities have improved from sleeping outside on concrete--a previous medical team left there camping tents behind, so they actually each have their own pup tent. They take bucket showers--Dr. X says he's pretty dirty :). Dr. X told me last night he had a beer! He said it was the best part of the trip so far. His team brought all their own food--strangely enough he said he has taken a liking to chicken noodle soup out of the can. Its too hot (90 degrees) for hot food and the salt is good after a long dehydrating day.
Dr. X says that their was a CNN filming crew there a couple days ago, but I have no idea if/when it may air. There is a program called Heroes in Haiti on tonight at 8pm (and 11pm, and Sunday at 8pm), but I don't know if it will be there or not.
Some direct detail via one of the surgeons' wives (I've anonymized his name):
"Just wanted to update everyone on how Dr. X is doing. He's definitely gotten into the groove down there since my last email. They are in a town called Ford Parisien, about 45 miles outside of Port au Prince. They are at a well established orphanage called Love A Child, which is run and operated by an older American couple from Tampa, FL. They have a large property, so they have established a medical site and a displaced persons site on the property. It's basically a huge tent city.
When they arrived there were doctors there from Boston organizing the medical effort, and there was a surgical team from the Dominican Republic. With the surgeons and nurses with Dr. X's team, the operating capacity multiplied. They "sterilized" a classroom in the orphanage school which they have been using as 2 ORs. They have converted 2 tents into pre-op and PACU areas. The tents are just plastic sheets for a roof and walls with bare ground, so you can imagine how dusty it is, and how challenging it is to prevent wound infections. They have been doing up to 20 surgeries a day! They have 2 surgical chief residents with them, and like the exemplary chiefs they are, they conduct rounds on the hundreds of patients there every day, have created "medical charts" for everyone with information about the type of surgery they have had, when they had it, what there current medical needs are, and whether or not they have received a tetanus vaccine.
The word is that besides the off-shore military medical unit (USS Comfort), they are really the most well-established surgical unit in the area, and they built it all from scratch. It is really amazing what they have done. In spite of that, Dr. X is absolutely clear that they have barely scratched the surface.
Operation Smile has the next team of doctors/nurses ready to go to relieve them. The 2nd team will arrive next Wed, get oriented, and the 1st team will leave by Wed afternoon for the Dominican Republic. The plan is that they will take a commercial plan from D.R. to Norfolk, VA on Thurs, and hopefully be back home shortly after that.
There own personal facilities have improved from sleeping outside on concrete--a previous medical team left there camping tents behind, so they actually each have their own pup tent. They take bucket showers--Dr. X says he's pretty dirty :). Dr. X told me last night he had a beer! He said it was the best part of the trip so far. His team brought all their own food--strangely enough he said he has taken a liking to chicken noodle soup out of the can. Its too hot (90 degrees) for hot food and the salt is good after a long dehydrating day.
Dr. X says that their was a CNN filming crew there a couple days ago, but I have no idea if/when it may air. There is a program called Heroes in Haiti on tonight at 8pm (and 11pm, and Sunday at 8pm), but I don't know if it will be there or not.
especially as a reminder that when electrical/sanitation infrastructure goes away, the whole world changes.
This is something that those crazy fanatics who want to block shipments of baby formula to Haiti and instead want to send breast milk donations just don't understand -- no refrigeration.
posted by Rhomboid at 9:12 AM on February 1, 2010
This is something that those crazy fanatics who want to block shipments of baby formula to Haiti and instead want to send breast milk donations just don't understand -- no refrigeration.
posted by Rhomboid at 9:12 AM on February 1, 2010
Any individual or group considering going to Haiti must plan on being entirely self reliant, self sufficient and self supporting. All commodities in Haiti are in exceedingly short supply. Any food that is consumed and water that is drunk, used for personal hygene or for washing clothing takes away from that which is available for the residents already in desperate need. Volunteers with the best motives may have an unintended impact on the community they are helping. They need to have an intact supply chain to provide, and maintain all of the essentials that they will need for the duration of their stay. I just returned from two weeks in Port au Prince and can confirm that things are indeed very bad.
posted by X4ster at 11:05 AM on February 1, 2010
posted by X4ster at 11:05 AM on February 1, 2010
X4ster, can you tell us more about your time there?
posted by Asparagirl at 2:14 PM on February 1, 2010
posted by Asparagirl at 2:14 PM on February 1, 2010
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someone gave them a busted autoclave and they fixed it, but they were out of sterile gowns and sponges and had to swap for them - where's the hack for that? patients who had surgeries days ago are getting infections; meanwhile, the sheer improvisational nature of hospital patient housing means they don't always know where a given patient (who may need more surgery or antibiotics) is at any given time. where's the hack for that?
the answer is more and better redundancy, like we should be fixing here, as well. probably one of the best things developed nations can do for themselves is help Haiti rebuild, in a way that helps prevent and mitigate future disasters like this. there's a lot we can learn, just from an infrastructure perspective, let alone from the compassionate perspective.
posted by toodleydoodley at 8:13 AM on February 1, 2010