USAID Press Release

United States Government
Haiti Joint Information Center
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

February 1, 2010
USG Haiti JIC NR-005
Email: HaitiJIC@USAID.gov

United States Government
Haiti Joint Information Center
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

February 1, 2010
USG Haiti JIC NR-007
Email: HaitiJIC@USAID.gov

News Release

FIRST WAVE OF PATIENTS FROM USNS COMFORT MOVED TO LAND-BASED MEDICAL SITE

PORT-AU-PRINCE – The first wave of Haitian non-critical, stable patients are being transferred off USNS Comfort in order to open beds on the ship for more critically injured patients to be treated. Three patients were transported yesterday by a U.S. Navy helicopter to the Love A Child Village, a school supported by a U.S. Christian humanitarian organization located about an hour east of Port-au-Prince that has been transformed into a disaster recovery site.

The movement of post-operative patients to this facility opens space for Haitians still in need of urgent care. Up to 300 patients from USNS Comfort are anticipated to be moved to the Love A Child Village in the coming days, allowing hundreds of other Haitians in need of extensive care to be treated on the U.S. ship anchored off Port-au-Prince.

Before the devastation of the Haiti earthquake, the Love A Child Village facility taught, fed and housed a group of Haiti’s orphans. But today, the site has been turned into a medical compound where doctors perform surgeries in former classrooms. Other classrooms house hundreds of pounds of medical supplies and medications. The injured earthquake survivors are housed in an extensive tent compound.

“This site is one of the best I’ve seen in Haiti. You have a collaboration of Non-Governmental Organizations coming together that can sustain the work for the long haul,” said Harry Mayer, U.S. Government Liaison to the Pan American Health Organization.

The medical clinic is currently housing more than 200 patients and could expand up to 1,000, as additional survivors arrive from USNS Comfort and other areas of the country hard hit by the earthquake. The medical teams, led by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, include doctors, nurses, paramedics, and surgeons from more than 10 nations. The U.S. Government is supporting the medical efforts with a five person Disaster Medical Assistance Team, which includes a nurse, three paramedics and one emergency medical technician.

Many survivors have serious orthopedic injuries and a large number have lost legs or arms. Others have serious wounds that need to be treated to prevent infections. Some are alive only because of heroic medical efforts. Those same measures often require continuing medical attention.

Dr. J. Spence Reid, an orthopedic surgeon from Penn State’s Hersey Medical Center, repairs limbs in a makeshift operating room that can quickly become dusty from arriving helicopters. It is a far cry from the sterile operating rooms of a major teaching hospital. The room has two cots for operations and looks more like the classroom that it is than a place where doctors and nurses take care of the injured.

He and four other doctors, 10 nurses and two operation coordinators came to Haiti as volunteers with Operation Smile. They arrived seven days ago with a tractor trailer truck full of donated medical supplies and an eagerness to help the people of Haiti. During the past week they have conducted more than 70 procedures requiring anesthesiology. Dr. Reid said that the compound has tripled in size in the past five days.

Surgery is only the beginning. Required follow-up care can be tedious and time consuming. Lucia Naver, a volunteer nurse with Operation Smile, said that changing dressings can take many hours. The volume of work is increasing as more patients need post-operative care.

Naver said, “Since we got here, the change has been incredible. We are here to save as many limbs as possible.” She added, “The beauty of the camp is that families are together. Some are grieving and some are in total shock. It is one story after another – their lives are changed forever.”

Dr. Donny Zimmer, an emergency medicine resident from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, is thinking about the economic future of Haiti. Dr. Zimmer said, “There will be a need for medical care for years to come. There will be tremendous growth in the demand for prosthetics. Making prosthetics could become an economic boon to the local economy if we can teach local citizens how to build and maintain prosthetics.”

Just 10 minutes from the gates of the Village is a compound where Shannon Mulholland of the American Refugee Committee tries to heal some of the emotional wounds caused by the earthquake. Once a patient is discharged, they may be transferred to the camp to be reunited with family members and start the long road to normalcy. The compound supports 115 survivors, including three pregnant women and 10 children younger than a month old.

“Here in Haiti they have nothing,” Mulholland said. “Our goal is to provide shelter and support. The hospital rehabilitates limbs. We want to rehabilitate lives.”

For more information about this and other U.S. Government initiatives to support Haiti’s longer-term needs, contact the U.S. Government Joint Information Center email at: HaitiJIC@USAID.gov. For high-res pictures that correspond to this story, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/usaid_images/.

# # #

PHOTOS AVAILABLE

Credit: Kimberly Flowers, USAID
FOND PARISIEN, HAITI - (January 31, 2010) On January 31, 2010, three non critical, stable patients who were treated on the USNS Comfort were transferred to the Love A Child Village to open space for Haitians who need more critical attention.


Credit: Kimberly Flowers, USAID
FOND PARISIEN, HAITI - (January 31, 2010) Shannon Mulholland of the American Refugee Committee talks about the families located at a camp set up nearby the Love A Child Village, where Haitian earthquake victims discharged from the facility can go for temporary shelter.


Credit: Kimberly Flowers, USAID
FOND PARISIEN, HAITI - (January 31, 2010) Hundreds of Haitian survivors with broken limbs and open wounds from the January 12 earthquake are being treated at the Love A Child Village. The site, a school that has transformed into a disaster recovery site, is being run by a number of US organizations, including support from a US Disaster Medical Assistance Team.


Credit: Kimberly Flowers, USAID
FOND PARISIEN, HAITI - (January 31, 2010) Dr. J. Spence Reid, an orthopedic surgeon from Penn State’s Hersey Medical Center, prepares for surgery in a classroom turned into an operating room at the Love A Child Village.


Credit: Kimberly Flowers, USAID
FOND PARISIEN, HAITI - (January 31, 2010) Hundreds of Haitian earthquake victims are treated for their injuries at a school that has transformed into a disaster recovery site.