From CRUDEM’s Hopital Sacre Coeur, Saturday, 23 January 2010

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To date we have received approximately 250 severely injured patients from Port au Prince. Of those who have been treated, 20 have been discharged and a further 20 are in the process of being rehabilitated into the community to make room for additional patients arriving.  Patients are still arriving by road in addition to the 7-8 helos per day (total of 42 airlifted yesterday).

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The helos are landing late into the night and the orthopedic and general surgeons and their teams work past midnight.  Medical volunteers are working night shifts to provide follow up care.  An additional high school has been taken over to use as a ward for acute care and hospitalization.  There are now three schools in the community that have been turned into hospital wards and triage.

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At present there are 50 volunteers, one of our regular volunteer teams of 7 led by Dr Gashti (general surgery) arrived today and a medical team of 11 (orthopedic team#4) arrive tomorrow and also a team of 9 from MA.  With the additional volunteers and space, we are still willing and able to accommodate another 100 patients.  We have grown to a 300+ bed hospital in less than a week but our quality of care has not been compromised.    We have a long list of needed supplies and equipment that we are trying to source.  The big equipment items include 3 anesthesia machines, a portable x-ray with c-arm, 3 big autoclaves and 100 hospital beds with sheets and blankets.

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