Blog From the Field: Haiti
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Hello Team Haiti!
I have been home for several days now and I am still trying to find the words to describe my experience in Haiti. I can’t thank you enough for all of your hard work and positive attitudes. It is amazing what were you able to accomplish with your time in Fond Parisien!
Thanks again for all that you've done to help our relief efforts in Haiti.
- Katie Lough, Program Coordinator
Friday, March 5, 2010
Today, our last surgical team for the time being left Fond Parisien. We've sent a team of nurses to take over who will continue to provide post-op and wound care for our patients.
- Mark Beers, Senior Program Coordinator
- Pictures from Ana Power, Regional Program Manager, team lead in Fond Parisien
Thursday, March 4, 2010
A team of Italian surgeon and anesthesiologist visited the Love a Child Earthquake Recovery Center to evaluate patients with maxillofacial injuries. Today the first four patients were transported aboard the Italian Aircraft Carrier, the Cavour, docked off the coast of Haiti, and tomorrow the next four patients will be transported via helicopter to receive surgeries.
Read more on the Cavour and its partnership with Operation Smile >>
Tuesday, March 3, 2010
There is a desperate need for physical therapists, crutches, splints, walkers and wheelchairs in Haiti, now that so many earthquake victims face adjusting to their new lives post-amputations and injuries.
One of our volunteer physical therapists from the University of Chicago makes rounds around the camp doing daily physical therapy exercises with the patients to show them how to get up and moving again as well as adapt to their injuries.
- Ana Gabriela Power, Regional Program Manager, team lead in Fond Parisien
Monday, March 1, 2010
Today in Fond Parisien, we received a new tent donated by the WHO to house the most vulnerable patients during the rainy season. We expect to receive a new one in the next week.
- Ana Gabriela Power, Regional Program Manager, team lead in Fond Parisien
Friday, Feb. 26, 2010
Operation Smile medical volunteers in Hinche talk about working in Haiti to provide critical surgeries and medical care to earthquake victims. Operation Smile supporter and actor Harrison Ford assisted our relief efforts in personally flying volunteers and medical supplies to our surgical site in Hinche.
Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010
Today I joined our medical team at the Fond Parisien Love a Child Earthquake Relief Center. This afternoon I flew into Port-au-Prince. The view of the city from the plane was unreal. I could see the USNS Comfort Hospital anchored in the water, tent cities scattered around, and dozens of cargo planes in fields surrounding the airport.
You could see where the airport was damaged in the earthquake. There were cracks in the walls and certain areas were blocked off. From the plane we took a bus to a rebuilt area where we went through immigration and customs. On the bus ride I watched a giant plane load up with UN soldiers while another relief plane unloaded supplies.
It was about an hour and a half car ride from the airport to Fond Parisien. The poverty and destruction was difficult to witness. The street leaving the airport was crowded with people and vehicles, but about 45 minutes into the trip we were practically the only car on the road. I was getting very anxious in the car ride, eager and nervous about seeing the Recovery Center. As we pulled up to the camp I felt a felt a wave of calmness come over me. I was amazed at how peaceful this place is.
By the time I got here the surgical team was finishing up their last case of the day. I spent the evening getting oriented with the camp and learning about how the patient ward is organized. I am so impressed with what the teams here have accomplished.
The patients and their families were keeping themselves entertained. A Brazilian child psychologist had a coloring station set up for the younger kids, and there were a few soccer games taking place in an open area of the camp. This evening a few musicians came to the camp and had a concert for the patients. It was very uplifting to see the crowd singing songs of hope together. I was told that they have these concerts once or twice a week.
A team of Brazilian doctors are leaving tomorrow morning, so they are having a 'farewell get together' beside their tent tonight. Even though it is just my first day here I can really see the comradery between all of the different volunteer groups here. I feel very happy to be a part of this team and this relief effort.
- Katie Lough, Program Coordinator in Fond Parisien
Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2010
Just back last night from Haiti and since I was unable to communicate with everyone while on the island, I thought I would write some of my thoughts about the past 12 days.
We were a team of 2 plastic surgeons, 1 orthopedic surgeon, 2 anesthesiologists, 6 RNs, 1 biomed dude and 1 physical therapist. Someone knew someone, and Harrison Ford (yeah, ya know…Indiana Jones, Hans Solo) flew us in his private plane to Hinche, which is a small town north of PAP. Pretty wild.
Harrison had to buzz the dirt airstrip a flew times before landing to clear the area of people, pigs and goats. Harry was super low key, helped out with everything, loaded all our gear and expressed thanks to us for doing this mission. No PR photos, no journalists. Said he “just wanted to help out.” Pretty cool guy.
Hinche was not physically affected by the earthquake. The hospital is small and there was no running water, although there were some sinks. People injured in the earthquake that had any ties to Hinche were sent to this hospital for care to relieve the congestion in PAP and the surrounding tent camps.
We had many amputees that had problems with their stumps…pain, infection. There was a room of fractured femurs that had been initially been repaired but were not healing well and/or infected. No one had done any physical therapy with any of these patients. There were no WCs, walkers, crutches. Our ortho MD and physical therapists worked incredibly hard getting these patients stabilized and started them moving. We were short on pediatric crutches and a local Haitian was hired to make some small wooden crutches for the kids.
There were multiple dressing changes/pin care to be done every day. We had 3 pediatric burns. Burns are common in Haiti. They use wood to cook on and there are children running around everywhere. During morning rounds one morning, there was a new 4-year old-boy, Gregory, lying in a bed, covered in dressing that covered burns over almost 80 % of his body. His face/chest/back/arms and legs were burned, mostly 3rd degree.
The only part of his body not burned was his scalp, buttocks and feet. He had been burned 5 days ago, treated at “some hospital” and sent to us the night before. Our team tried to get him transferred to the USNS Comfort, but he was too ill. He went to our OR for dressing change and we gave him morphine around the clock. He would talk briefly to his dad, answer questions, when asked he would tell us that he was not in pain. He died 2 days later. I hope we made his passing easier. It was not easy to watch.
There was a little guy, Ronaldo. No one was positive of his age. His dad died in the earthquake. His mom had brought him to the hospital due to a traumatic amputation of his index finger in a sugar mill. His mom never showed back up and we were told that she was home (somewhere north of Hinche) and very ill. We took Ronaldo to the OR twice, once for debridement and then for a skin graft. He followed our team everywhere as we made our way thru the wards, doing IV antibiotics and dressing changes.
Ronaldo wandered into to OR and pick pocketed a camera and took over 50 pictures in the OR, with the camera balanced on his casted hand. As the days went by, he would be waiting outside our dining hall. Eventually, he made his way to our table to join us for lunch (the one big meal per day) and he found his way into all of our hearts. It was difficult to leave him behind.
The Haitian people are strong in their faith in God. They sing. They do intricate braids in each other’s hair. They offer thanks to us in their smiles and nods. They tried hard to get up on their crutches and helped lift their stumps for dressing changes. They were grateful for the care that we gave them and I was grateful for the opportunity to help.
I have to keep reminding myself about those patients that we did help. There is such an overwhelming need in Haiti. For every person that we helped, there are thousands standing, or mostly lying in a camp, desperate for medical care, PT, nutritional and/or emotional support. Clean water and insufficient sewers were a problem before the earthquake and now they become even bigger issues.
Returning home, I took a long hot shower and ate a great meal with my family. I slept in clean sheets on a comfortable bed. I watched the Olympics and read the paper. Haiti is no longer front page news. In a country that was already marginal in its level of existence, it is now devastated by this earthquake. There will be a huge need in that country for a long time.
Please do not forget about Haiti.
- Michi Sato, Recovery Nurse, Medical Volunteer in Hinche
Monday, Feb. 22, 2010
Solandire Brise, a 4-year-old, is a patient at our surgical camp in Fond Parisien along with her dad. Her mother is in a hospital in the Central Plateau, about 2 1/2 hours from here. They have 4 children and one died in the earthquake.
Solandire was under the rubble for 4 days, until her dad was able to get her out. Her mom was buried under rubble for 5 days. Only Solandire’s father and one of their children were not injured.
Solandire had her right foot amputated and today she received a second procedure to close her wound.
Our medical volunteer, Carsy Jackson, comforting Solandire.
- Ana Gabriela Power, Regional Program Manager, team lead in Fond Parisien
- Photos by Ana Power
Monday, Feb. 22, 2010
The camp has rapidly been growing and becoming one of the largest field hospitals in Haiti, as well as one of the most organized ones. For this reason we have been receiving more requests and patient referrals.
In the surgical arena, the number of surgeries that our team is performing has been reduced, as many of these patients are in need of more complex surgeries that cannot be performed in this setting. We are working with the team here to identify an effective system as well as a place where these patients can receive the care that they need.
In this past week, the Navy's hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, off the coast of Haiti, has received around 15 patients that needed orthopedic surgery. These patients will be coming back here for post-op care.
In addition, our orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Dan Hammon, is visiting the St. Francois Hospital in Port-au-Prince, where a trauma/orthopedic group from Baltimore have set up operations. We expect that after the meetings today we will be able to have a clear plan for the patients that need more complex surgeries. The field hospital here in Fond Parisien will take care of the patients once they are discharged from surgery.
The current Operation Smile team here in FP is getting ready to depart tomorrow as we are sending our 4th team here to work at the "Love a Child Earthquake Relief Center."
I'm also working with Marie May and our partners here at the camp to identify patients for the mission as the Italian team will be aboard the Cavour Italian ship starting the 28th. We currently have 4 patients with facial injuries.
- Ana Gabriela Power, Regional Program Manager, team lead in Fond Parisien
Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010
Children play musical chairs at our surgical site in Fond Parisien. It's amazing how much joy these children have after they've been through so much.
- Video by Ana Gabriela Power, Regional Program Manager, team lead in Fond Parisien
Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010
The camp is growing and they are now building a new tent here at Fond Parisien's “Love a Child Earthquake Relief Center.”
- Video by Mark Beers, Senior Program Coordinator
Friday, Feb. 19, 2010
Our Family Practice Physician, Pat Pletke, visited the ARC (American Refugee Camp) which is located about a kilometer from Fond Parisien. The preschool children were all gathered together in a tent signing songs in Creole and French. Dr. Pablo from Ecuador and Dr. Pletke evaluate 38 patients, two new pregnancies and some diseases that unfortunetly we do not have medicine to treat here (scalp ring worm).
This past Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we visited the Santos Clinic outside Port-au-Prince. A team of doctors and nurses from Fond Parisien's “Love a Child Earthquake Relief Center” saw over 200 patients each day, including some babies who had just been born within the last few hours. A lot post traumatic stress patients.
- Ana Gabriela Power, Regional Program Manager, team lead in Fond Parisien
Friday, Feb. 19, 2010
I have had the privilege to spend a few weeks in Haiti since the January 12th earthquake. Seeing it all firsthand has been as expected: "earth shattering." It is impossible to imagine how the rubble could ever be removed let alone how the country could possibly rebuild.
I can't fathom what it must have been like in the first moments after total destruction occurred over such an expanse instantaneously. There will never be a way to truly tell what the loss of life was, but I'm sure it was closer to the 500,000 number than the 250,000 often speculated.
The more staggering reality is the number of injured who remain. Unlike so many other disasters world-wide, this has left countless people with crippling injuries they will be burdened with in a situation that at one's best would be an ultimate challenge.
Hundreds of thousands of these people have lost arms and legs and will first need to learn to hope again.
The outpouring of compassion by the world community to this country has been unprecedented and will hopefully be sustained.
There is an opportunity to fill a need that someone smarter, with more contacts and energy than me, like you, may be able to help develop. If you know someone who may know someone who knows someone that may know anything about prosthetic limbs; to develop a vision to create a prosthetics factory funded by the worlds charitable and relief organizations made by Haitian amputees for Haitian amputees, please let me know.
This is a need that will be significant within the next year as these patients' stumps mature and are able to tolerate prosthetics. The need will be ongoing as they will require revision and prosthetic exchange for the rest of their lives, and therefore not just an immediate need but one that will be ongoing for the entirety of this generation.
- Dave Evans, Medical Volunteer in Fond Parisien
- Video by Mark Beers, Senior Program Coordinator
Friday, Feb. 29, 2010
- Photos by Mark Beers, Senior Program Coordinator
Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
Today we had 14 patients who needed more complicated surgeries that were transported to the USNS Comfort. They will be returning to the camp for follow-up care.
Last night it rained for the first time, which means the rainy season is almost here. The majority of the hospital tents stayed pretty dry, fortunately the ones that received some rain inside their tents were the volunteers and not patients.
Several fiber glass latrines are being built as we prepare for the rainy season as well as a large tent that can fit around 50 patients with cleaning facilities inside.
We are working on getting a system to track the patients that need additional surgeries. However it has become a bit complicated given the quantity of patients in the camp.
Our orthopedic surgeon has done an amazing job and is working long days to make sure that all the cases are screened and preparing the ones that need to be transported to other facilities for care.
Today our team performed 6 surgeries, 3 plastic and 3 orthopedic. Tomorrow we have 4 plastic 2 orthopedic scheduled.
- Ana Gabriela Power, Regional Program Manager, team lead in Fond Parisien
- Video by Mark Beers, Senior Program Coordinator
Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010
During the last three days our team has done around 20 cases of orthopedic and plastic surgeries. In addition, our anesthesia team leader is doing regional block anesthesia to control pain, which has been better for the patients. We have 6 cases scheduled for tomorrow. Femurs and hip fractures will be sent to our team working on the USNS Comfort hospital ship for more complicated surgeries.
Today our team cleanned both ORs to make sure we have a sterilized environment at all times.
We have been able to create a system of 3 basic orthopedic trays which will allow to efficiently provide care to our patients.
Below are some stats from the camp as of today:
- 11 triage
- 2 admissions
- 30 ex-fixes
- 40 amputees
- Total of 257 patients in the camp
- No outbreaks of dysentary or upper respiratory infections.
Tomorrow, Debi Smith's wound care protocols will be published by the camp and will hopefully help tackle the concern of wound infection.
We are working on organizing our supplies and integrating it with the central warehouse here at the camp. Look to have it finalized integration by Friday.
Today our Italian team, Dr. Scopelliti and Dr. Spallaccia, came to Fond Parisien and met with our team and the leadership of the camp. They traveled to Port-au-Prince and will do a fact find aboard the Italian Navy ship. On the 19th they will meet with Dr. Marie May Louis Fils (Program Manager in Haiti for Operation Smile) to meet with PIH and head of the university in PAP in charge of patient referals. The main focus will be to identify patients and referals for face trauma and face injuries that can be treated on board the Italian ship.
We also have been learning about the stages of the development of a national plan to address the rehabilitation of injured victims in the short and long run, especially working together with the Haitian leadership. I was able to be part of one of the meetings earlier today and will send more detailed notes.
- Ana Gabriela Power, Regional Program Manager, team lead in Fond Parisien
- Video by Mark Beers, Senior Program Coordinator
Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010
A note from Diane Sampson, an Operation Smile medical volunteer in Haiti:
Thanks so much for letting me be a part of what Operation Smile is doing in Haiti. I have just returned with lots of great memories and thankful that I could be a small part in helping the Haitians.
One great joy came Friday night when the teenage boy in the picture with me here, found his father. He came to our hospital from Good Samaritan where he had been alone. Two kind women took care of him and the one even went to PAP in search of his father. She came back 2 days later with the father's ID card and the boy's birth certificate. They each thought the other was dead. He had lost his mother in the earthquake. What a joy to reunite father and son!
And then these triplets arrived Saturday as our team was headed out. Their mother was trying to take care of them on the street and they got sick.
This artist in the picture is a patient. I came upon this artist one afternoon when I was doing rounds. He was sitting in his tent with paintings propped up on the canvas walls. Since my daughter is an artist I was intrigued and asked him about his work. He proudly showed me his portfolio, easel and all his art. I asked him when he was going to start painting again. (Thank God he only had a foot injury.) So I helped him set his easel outside and he hobbled over and set up his canvas...and started painting.
It wasn't too long before a crowd gathered. It was beauty in the midst of suffering and it brought so many smiles to patients and staff faces.
Once again thanks,
- Diane Sampson, MD, Pediatrician
Monday, Feb. 15, 2010
We would like to give you a brief update here in Fond Parisien. The third surgical team arrived two days ago and they’ve been working very hard. The surgical need still is very present and our team has been working around the clock to effectively take care of the growing demand.
The Hinche team returned this afternoon with Lucas to Santo Domingo and will be flying out tomorrow.
Since yesterday, the camp has a new director and is working on establishing protocols and policies as the camp grows. It is quite impressive how well organized this camp is running. I must say that in the midst of the sadness, there is also great sense of optimism and hope.
Logistically, one of our main goals this week is to fully integrate all the non-OR supplies to the camp's warehouse in addition to work together in credentialing protocols and develop a system for the camp’s new medical volunteers.
Yesterday Operation Smile staffers Lucas, Mark and Dr. Sherman (our Chief Medical Officer) shared some thoughts on the future of our presence in Haiti and specially here in Fond Parisien. Dr. Sherman will be in contact with Harvard Humanitarian Initiative leadership and discuss further. We believe it is important that when we conclude our work here in FP the camp will have time to develop a plan to continue providing the surgical care that is needed
On another note, the Italian team will be flying to Santo Domingo tomorrow and will be traveling to PAP tomorrow to meet with the Italian navy. We are working on connecting them with PIH and the team here and hopefully learn more about the capabilities of the Italian ship and future collaboration.
Hopefully on Wednesday we will be able to sit down and discuss with PIH (Zanmi Lasante) the future of our collaborative Operation Smile mission that it is scheduled for April.
I'm working on compiling all the data of all the patients we have treated.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Paul Martinez for all his support in this relief effort. He has coordinated every airport pick up and drop off, lodging and logistics in Santo Domingo, as well as helping us trouble shoot with additional needs here at the camp, while carrying out a very successful PALS/ACLS course for Operation Smile Dominica Republic.
- Ana Gabriela Power, Regional Program Manager, team lead in Fond Parisien
