Update February 15, 2010
We are now 1 month and 2 days after the earthquake and are starting to settle into a long term plan for patient care. The drama of the helicopters arriving and the seriously injured triaged has changed into our usual daily care of the sick and the poor of Haiti. This has been complicated by the many victims that have arrived at Hopital Sacre Coeur and require chronic surgical and medical care. It is difficult for the staff and us on the board to predict the future of HSC.
It is hard to describe the emotions of the volunteers and the Haitian people. My 2 sons have shared their experiences with me and have forwarded me an excerpt from Anderson Cooper. I think he phrases what we are all feeling very appropriately.” A lot of people who haven’t been here probably think what happened is old news. I know people aren’t as interested in hearing about it as much anymore. That always happens, but it’s hard to accept. Haitians, of course, are used to it. They are used to people losing interest in their plight , this time they had hoped it would be different…. I find myself crying at odd times. I’ll be walking up a flight of stairs and suddenly realize there are tears in my eyes. It happens to everyone, I think.”
I have been privileged to receive many emails from volunteers recounting their experiences at HSC and how it has changed their lives. It always brings tears to my eyes as I remember a particular patient or interaction that is triggered by their email. I know that most of these volunteers will return to Haiti and HSC in the future. We will not forget the Haitian people and it will never become old news to us.
Those of you who receive this update know the history of our hospital and have been supportive of our mission in Haiti. We are in the process of redefining this mission and need your continued support. I believe that this catastrophe will lead to improvements in health care available at HSC that will result in better care of our patients. We are already dealing with ethical issues that result from our ability to provide better care.
As of tonight our patient census is 324 and we are still accepting patients from Port au Prince that require our specialty care. This means that we need at least 6 primary care physicians a week to care for our adult inpatients and 3 pediatric physicians to care for our children. In addition to our physician needs we still need 20+ nurses to help care for the patients.
In my last update I focused on the miraculous transfer of children from our hospital to Massachusetts. This effort continues and will result in more children receiving care in the USA that will save their lives. Thanks to all of your efforts we are expecting food for the patients and their families. As of today it has not arrived but we are hopeful.
I cannot list all of the people that have contributed to our effort to help the people of Haiti but I can tell you that the list is unbelievably long!! You know who you are and I thank you and pray that God will bless you for all you have done.
Peter Kelly MD
President, CRUDEM Foundation Inc
Please take a moment to look at this excellent short video compiled by a team from South Bend, Indiana who just recently returned from Hopital Sacre Coeur.
