by Melissa Jeltsen on January 26, 2010
Nelson Aquino, a nurse anesthetist from Children’s, is in Haiti with a group of Children’s clinicians. He’s been sending us updates and photos almost daily. Here’s his most recent email:
As we almost reach our first week here in Haiti, I wanted to share that Port au Prince is slowly making some improvement. Each day seems like the people here are trying their best to move on and go on with living. Despite the devastation and tragedy, we have seen the Haitian people looking for work, selling food on the street, cleaning what’s left of their homes, dressing up for Sunday’s best, attending services and children smiling and playing.
This patient was so thankful her legs were not amputated that she prayed for Nelson Aquino.
The city is full of dust, has poor air quality, remains in shambles and is piled with trash. The people are eating, sleeping and living in these conditions. Crowds gather daily to look for work, see the envoy of volunteers and fill roads with traffic. It amazes me that it took a major disaster for us to finally get over here and help this very poor country. I hope we continue to realize that we need to support Haiti and countries like Haiti. I am amazed how the less fortunate are so happy despite having nothing.
One of the patients I anesthetized today woke up screaming in joy that we did not amputate her legs. She proceeded to place her hand on my head and said a prayer for me. The interpreter said it was some really heavy stuff she was saying. For me, I feel so blessed to be able give all I can as RN, CRNA and human being. Full story »
by Melissa Jeltsen on January 25, 2010
Nelson Aquino, a nurse anesthetist from Children’s, is in Haiti with a group of Children’s clinicians. He’s been sending us updates and photos almost daily. Here’s his most recent email:
In the PACU today, we had a young boy screaming words in Haitian. We asked the interpreter whether he was having pain and where? The interpreter said he wasn’t having pain, but said he was calling out the names of all his dead family members and asking them to help him. My heart just dropped and I looked at him and rubbed his forehead, I didn’t know what else to do.
For every tragedy there is a miracle. Today I learned about a man I had cared for yesterday in a tent. This man was emaciated and rumor was he was found 10 days later in the rubble. I remember seeing him transported in when we arrived. I was giving him sedation for his dressing changes.
This man was found alive after spending 10 days in a morgue.
Later, I found out the real story. The man was actually found in the morgue. He was thought to be dead and pulse-less and placed with the other deceased. When workers opened the morgue doors 10 days later, they saw this man was moving his hands! He was immediately resuscitated and placed on a fentayl patch for hospice care. Well today he is alive and sitting up and drinking! The Haitians have now named him ” Black Jesus.” He even looks like that too. What an amazing story. Full story »
by Matt Cyr on January 24, 2010
Today we all made huge progress with our new OR. Our Children’s team
One of the operating rooms the Children's team is using
now has teamed up with the Brigham and Women’s and NYU teams to do surgery. Early this morning, our first group headed out to set up the OR and seek out our potential patients.
At the general hospital, we opened a preop area, 4 OR tables and a PACU. Our team leaders worked hard today with the IMC (International Medical Corporation) to make this happen.
While searching for extra beds, and the right Red Cross tent, Jay Hartford, a 7 South nurse, and I stumbled upon some chaos. A 2 day old baby had been seizing on and off since birth. A team of paramedics were screaming for intubation, but only had large endotrachial tubes (ETT). So being a pediatric CRNA, I naturally swarmed over and told the team that. Immediately they moved everyone aside and said, “Let him intubate.” As the paramedic removed the ambu bag off the neonate, I used a large blade and intubated this 3 kg baby. As they listened for breath sounds and confirmed placement, everyone was clapping. The U.S. military arrived and helped us transport this neonate in a hummer. With no monitors, no meds and an unstable IV, the military guys shut the doors and it was pitch black and 100 degrees. Full story »
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on January 24, 2010
by Matt Cyr on January 23, 2010
Hi everyone!
Nurse Nelson Aquino cares for patients in the makeshift Post-Anesthesia Care Unit in Haiti.
After a couple of nights, our group figured out the dynamics of how to get OR time, so we took the first bus in to the hospital.
When we arrived, we jumped into action to find out what our plan was today. Stella took charge and got our team going minus John (Meara) and Craig (McClain). In the meantime, the military commander was looking for the baby we took care of last night. So we all searched and searched and later found out the guys brought him to another DMAT unit. I also learned that unit was headed by Dr. Mooney and FEMA. The baby is alive stable and was handed off to Dr. Mooney and mom is good. Full story »
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on January 23, 2010
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on January 22, 2010
Gloucester, a Massachusetts fishing town, made national headlines in the summer of 2008 when it was discovered that 17 teenage girls from the same high school were pregnant. This pregnancy pact hasn’t been confirmed by any of the teens, but that hasn’t stopped Lifetime from making a movie based upon these events. The movie, “The Pregnancy Pact,” is scheduled to premier Saturday, January 23.
Joanne Cox, MD, medical director of Children’s Primary Care Center and Young Parents Program, offers her views on the Gloucester event and how to prevent a new epidemic of teen pregnancy. Full story »
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on January 22, 2010
This week the Kaiser Family Foundation released a report detailing just how much media kids are using.
What’s going on?
A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation confirms that media are a constant presence in kids’ environments:
- Kids spend more time using media than they spend in school: Kids use TV, music, computers, video games, movies and print for a total of 7 hours and 38 minutes a day. Full story »
The FDA voices some concern over 
