The ER team: from left, Sarah Wingerter, MD, Stephen Monteiro, MS EMT-P, Sarita Chung, MD, Alexis Schmid, RN, Michelle Marini, RN.
From April 10 to 18, Children’s Hospital Boston sent a group of 26 clinicians to a field hospital in Haiti. Here, those who staffed the Emergency Department reflect on their experience.
Sarah Wingerter, MD, Division of Emergency Medicine
In retrospect it seems hard to believe we only spent 8 days in Haiti. Each day was so intense and so replete with new experiences and powerful emotions. I remain awestruck and humbled by the fortitude of the Haitians I met, both patients and Medishare staff members. To know that they continue to work on putting their lives back together despite the unimaginable challenges they face has given me a new perspective on what used to seem like inconveniences in my own comfortable life. I learned a great deal about patience, humility, and selflessness from patients and parents who waited hours in the sweltering heat—many after walking miles to reach the medical facility—for the opportunity to receive care for medical problems they had endured for months or even years. Full story »
Stepping on the grounds of my birthplace after 23 years was a shocking experience. The images of poverty, destruction and desperation around me was quite different from the images of my childhood memories. Immediately, I begin to have mixed feelings of guilt for being more fortunate than others in this country as a child, at the same time blessed for the opportunities I have as a United States citizen. Within hours of arrival at the tent hospital, we had two emergent cesarean cases rushed though the operating room doors. Full story »
Grace Chan, MD, with two patients on the Pediatric floor.
From April 10 to 18, Children’s Hospital Boston sent a group of 26 clinicians to a field hospital in Haiti. Here, those who staffed the pediatric wards reflect on their experience.
Grace Chan MD, Boston Combined Residency Program
On our first day, a young woman came in with new onset seizures. She presented with all the signs of increased cranial pressure that I learned about as a medical student – obtunded, signs of cushings triad – bradycardia and hypertension. We gave mannitol, steroids, hypertonic saline. I didn’t think she would survive. Did she have meningitis, cerebral malaria, a tumor? We don’t know, but several days later she was walking, talking and close to baseline. Here, diagnosis isn’t as important as management. Full story »
Elizabeth Robertshaw, RN, BSN, CCRN, 7 south MSICU
From April 10 to 18, Children’s Hospital Boston sent a group of 26 clinicians to a field hospital in Haiti. Here, those who staffed the ICU reflect on their experience.
Elizabeth Robertshaw, RN, BSN, CCRN, 7 south MSICU
Where to begin? How do you write on paper a whole country’s suffering? How do you show their faith, courage, and thankfulness through words? It has been so difficult to express all the emotions I have experienced in the past few weeks. Highs and lows. Full story »
From April 10 to 18, Children’s Hospital Boston sent its largest group so far to Haiti for relief efforts. A 26-member multidisciplinary team traveled to a field hospital on the Port-au-Prince airport tarmac, staffed by Project Medishare/University of Miami Hospital.
Over the next week, Thrive will feature writings and photos from many of the team members as they reflect on the struggles to provide care with limited resources. This first post is written by Sarita Chung, MD, Division of Emergency Medicine. Full story »
Last week, Children’s Global Surgical team returned from a trip to Cange, Haiti, where they performed surgeries, wound care, general pediatrics and occupational and physical therapy. Here,John Meara, MD, DMD, MBA, the hospital’s plastic-surgeon-in-chief, reflects on what was accomplished and what is still left to be done.
While we were in Cange, we witnessed a lot of improvement in the patients. Many of the wounds are either closed or much better. Our orthopedic surgeons were able to do a lot of procedures, fracture reductions, removing some old external fixators and generally getting people out of the hospital.
The nurses did a great job at integrating with the Haitian nursing team. This was the first time I’ve had physical and occupational therapists on a surgical trip, and they were invaluable, spending all day helping patients who would just have been in bed for most of the day. They also made all sorts of prosthetic devices and helped us evaluate patients to see whether they’re able to leave the hospital. Full story »
This boy was able to hobble out of the clinic without the cast he wore for two months.
Although there’s long been a need for improved orthopedic care in Haiti, the nature of the trauma injuries caused by the earthquake has exacerbated the problem into a dire one. Currently, there are only 15 Haitian orthopedists working in the country. “Because of all the associated bone injuries, which require x-rays, cast changes and ongoing surgeries, it’s clear there’s a chronic need for orthopedic care here,” says George Dyer, staff orthopedic surgeon at Children’s. “That one earthquake created work for a generation of orthopedic surgeons.”
Walking around the hospital, there’s no end to the number of people in casts and external fixation devices–metal rods or pins attached outside of the body to keep a bone in place. “After the earthquake there were so many people with broken femurs that the only thing that could be done was place external fixators on their legs, which can be done quickly and without x-ray,” says Paul Appleton, orthopaedic trauma surgeon at BIDMC. “Some people got casts, but if they had a severe injury to the skin over the bone, the wounds couldn’t be covered due to the need for daily dressing changes.” Full story »
Haitian children drew messages and pictures to bring back to the United States.
When Judie Jackson, operating room nurse at Children’s, found out she would be coming to Haiti, she asked her 8 year old niece, Isabella, if she wanted to send a greeting to the school children in Cange. “I thought it would be nice to have a connection between the kids in America and the kids here,” she says. Jackson bought a big blank banner over 10 feet long, and gave it to her niece, who had the idea to bring it to her class at Medway Elementary School. There, her classmates joined in, drawing pictures, greetings and telling the children all about their life in America. “They all knew that Haiti had experienced an earthquake, and they were sad for the children,” says Jackson. “All the messages were very helpful and uplifting.” Full story »
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