Volume 27, Number 2 - Wilderness Medical Society

January 22…
There was incredible activity today at the University Hospital. We
suffered through more aftershocks and had to permanently evacuate a
large building, so once again patients were outside in the brutal heat.
Under tarps and rapidly deployed tents, we treated them with fluids and
attended to their now week-old wounds.
The days are nonstop from dawn to dusk. I have assumed a role to help
organize the operation, including the logistics of water, food, sanitation,
operating room needs, and schedules. I’ve been coordinating volunteers,
arranging for shelter, caring for orphans, and interfacing with the
military. The enormity of suffering is beyond comprehension, but we are
learning to deal with it and move forward. I’ve learned as much as I have
contributed, so that I will be prepared for the next days and the future.
The people with whom I’ve worked, from Haiti and all other nations,
have been remarkable. We are becoming a family.
Today’s story is about a 5-year-old survivor of a week beneath the rubble.
He was pulled from the ground and came to our team emaciated,
dehydrated, frightened and confused. Our doctors and nurses gently
hydrated him and started him on the road to recovery. With so many
people affected, there will be many such stories, but for each tale with a
happy ending, there are thousands with a tragic outcome.
January 23…
We saw a lot of progress today. The surgeons are seeing a decrease in the
number of patients that need emergency surgery for crush injuries and
fractures, but that doesn’t mean that we are anywhere near a point where
less-than-massive resources are needed. There are still countless broken
bones, deformities, facial injuries, and burns. We are encountering the
sequelae of the initial surgeries that were performed in non-optimal
settings. These mostly include infections that require wash-outs of
wounds and revisions of the prior surgeries. This is to be expected in
our situation.
The hospital campus is evolving into a decent structure. We now have a
central pharmacy, three operating rooms for adults, one operating theatre
(within a tent, as are most facilities) for children, and arrangements
for childbirth, children, postoperative patients, and emergency triage
assessments. These are crowded and extremely busy areas, staffed by
dedicated volunteer physicians, nurses, and technicians.
I spoke with a young woman today, a dancer in Haiti who lost part of
one of her legs. She was brave and doing her best to cope. I told her
that she will dance again, and that she will be a much better dancer
on one leg than I could ever be on two. She smiled and squeezed my
hand. These are such special people. I have not seen one seriously injured
victim complain.
I am now officially tasked to coordinate the medical activities of all the
non-governmental agencies within the compound, so I am working on
medicine, essential services like water, food, and sanitation, integration
between services, creation of satellite pharmacies, placement of physicians
and other volunteers, and many other activities. I have never worked so
hard, but have also never been more focused. My job is to make the
situation improve every day for these people and for this country. The
IMC team and other international volunteers inspire me to go after this
mission with great determination.
The Stanford Emergency Medicine team that responded to Haiti under the
auspices of International Medical Corps included: (seated, left to right) Ian
Brown, MD; Jonathan Gardner, RN; Heather Tilson, RN; Paul Auerbach,
MD; Gaby McAdoo, RN; Julie Racioppi, RN; (standing left to right) Robert
Norris, MD; Anil Menon, MD. Photo courtesy of Paul Auerbach.
Arm wound post debridement. Photo by Eric Holden.
8 WILDERNESS MEDICINE // Spring 2010