DISASTER DRILL
You would think that after all the helicopters and emergency patients we have received over the past month the last thing we would need is a disaster drill. However that’s what makes Hopital Sacre Coeur special and why they are still sending emergency patients and patients that require specialized care to us. Everyone knows that we have quality physicians and staff and strive to provide the best medical and surgical care in Haiti.
Yesterday as the flow of patients from Port au Prince was continuing to decrease we received word that a school in Cap Haitian collapsed under a mud slide. As Bill Guyol a board member on site describes,” After hearing word of the collapse, an unplanned disaster-response scenario played out…a response team was sent by ambulance in anticipation of casualties. At the hospital, a flight paramedic with disaster -response training soon had an area laid out…our ER physicians were alerted to be on call and fresh off the plane and into scrubs, our new pediatric surgeon and cardiothoracic surgeon were warned we might need them. Dr John Lovejoy approached me with a simple ‘ what would you like me to do ?’- this from a man far my superior in so many ways was humbling. He exemplified for me the attitude of this team. The needs of the patients come first and we adapt and become what that patient needs.”
We continue to recruit teams of primary care physicians, orthopedic surgeons, plastic and general surgeons and nurses to care for our increased population of inpatients. Our current census of patients is 248 in the tent hospital, new pediatric ward, ICU and PACU and another 64 in the old hospital. We have finally received food from CRS thanks to the tireless effort of Dr Roger Jean Charles KM and Jim O’ Connor KMob. Our current focus is on drilling new wells to supplement our increased need for water and to improve our sanitation with dry toilettes and latrines for our tent hospital.
Today we put out an urgent request for anesthetic gas needed to perform the large number of surgeries and Project Hope responded within minutes with an offer to provide the necessary gas. This is typical of the response we have had to our many needs. The Order of Malta, Americares, CRS, CMMB, private donors and many corporations have generously responded to our needs and continue to respond.
The effort to recruit the 40 to 50 volunteers we need each week, get their personal data and credentials and document their travel plans is overwhelming to say the least. We have a team that functions on less than 4 hours of sleep a night to accomplish this task. Carol Fipp, Deb Paine- Motyl, Julie Condon, Denise Kelly, Joni Paterson and Deb O’Hara-Ruskowski make up this team. They also perform many other tasks necessary to keep the hospital functioning.
As I reflect over the past month on all that has happened and what we have accomplished and I remember how Hopital Sacre Coeur started, I cannot help but see the hand of God. For those of us that have seen the daily financial struggles to meet the hospital expenses, the growth of employees and patients and the need for expansion over the years, we remember that God always provided. Today as the memory of this catastrophe starts to fade it is important for all of us to remind everyone we know of the struggle that faces the Haitian people. We need to continue to work to provide the care for these wonderful people as if it all depended on us and to continue to pray to God for guidance knowing that we are dependent on Him.
God bless all of you for all you do to continue the work of Hopital Sacre Coeur. Peter Kelly MD, President
