Update from Dr. Henri Ford (received January 21st, 6:51 p.m.)

“It’s been a tiring 24-36 hour period.  Our team has been trying to reach as many injured patients as possible from the surrounding community to coordinate more comprehensive health care:

• Urgent care including operations
• Short- and long-term follow up care
• Logistics of food and water distribution

Here are some highlights:

Yesterday and today a group of us took to the streets to make sure the community is aware of the resources available through our mobile surgical hospital associated with the GHESKIO clinic.  We visited several of the open parks near the National Palace, which have been converted into refugee camps.  It was our first chance to see the devastation and suffering at close range. The city is essentially ruined; it will take years to rebuild it.

We treated some patients who had not received medical care since the major earthquake or who did not receive follow-up care after initial treatment. Additionally, we are helping to decompress the main general hospital by transporting patients directly to our unit for surgical care.

The mayor of Port-au-Prince came by the clinic this afternoon to see our set-up. He was grateful for the work of our group, representing the Department of HHS.

One of our goals is to work with the 3 local full service hospitals to develop a central command to manage the scarce number of beds in the southern region of Port-au-Prince, where our clinic is located. The 3 hospitals are overwhelmed already. Fortunately, USNS Comfort, a large naval ship, arrived on Tuesday. It has 500 hospital beds. This allows us to transfer patients who need either long-term hospitalization or more sophisticated surgical care than we can deliver in our tents.

In addition to the formidable task of rebuilding this city, a major challenge is what to do with the many amputees and others with broken bones who will require additional care. Rehabilitation or Physical Medicine experts along with Plastic Surgeons will be required to deal with long-term recovery issues that cannot be addressed at this point. Such assets are rare in Haiti.

By the way, we experience daily tremors (after-shocks). They typically are minor and short-lived, except for yesterday’s.  Otherwise, all is well.

Henri

Similar Posts:

• A New Team and Family Connections in Haiti
• Volunteer Team #2 Departs & Haiti Conditions Update
• Moving to Gheskio Clinic
• Our Nurses Return from Haiti
• Gheskio Operating Rooms Functional

Filed under: Doctors, Haiti, Health Professionals, Henri Ford on January 22nd, 2010