by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on March 11, 2010
by Michael Agus, MD - director of Children’s Medicine Critical Care Program
A few weeks ago, multiple waves of teams from Children’s Hospital Boston left under the auspices of Project Hope for the USNS Comfort, which remains anchored in the harbor of Port-au-Prince. As Comfort’s mission began winding down, Robert Truog, MD was able to transfer and join a land-based effort already underway through Partners In Health (PIH). I was scheduled for the Comfort as well and due to Bob’s efforts was able to re-deploy to the same site right after he left.
Day 1
I boarded a plane early in the morning on Thursday, March 4 from Boston to Miami. In addition to a large pile of energy bars, mosquito netting and a camping pillow, I brought donations from my kids’ school, including stuffed animals and drawing pads from my 1st grader’s class.
The front page of The Boston Globe the prior day had pictured Cardinal O’Malley visiting sick children in a tent at a Catholic hospital in Haiti – St. Francois de Sales. I was able to use the picture to show my 3 sons (ages 13, 10 and 6) where I would be the following day. In the airport in Miami, I ran into the Cardinal and we discussed his and my trips. He expressed continued amazement at what he described as the worst human disaster of our time. Full story »
by Kristin Cantu on January 21, 2010
Another team of Children’s clinicians departed Hanscom Air Force Base yesterday for Haiti, this one including John Meara, MD, DMD, and Gary Rogers, MD, both of Plastic & Oral Surgery, David Waisel, MD, and Craig McClain, MD, both from Anesthesia, a team of Children’s nurses (Nelson Aquino, RN, Lisa Pixley, RN, Stella Harrington, RN, Jay Hartford, RN, Pam Gorgone, RN) and surgical technician, Johanne Jocelyn, with colleagues from Partners in Health. We got word that they arrived safely, and we’ll keep you updated with more info as we get it.
As 40 percent of Haiti’s population are children, pediatric medical and surgical care is desperately needed right now. The National Disaster Medical System is calling for pediatric critical care and critical care transport teams to assemble for possible deployment. Additional support teams from Children’s are currently being mobilized.
Volunteers from Children’s have been a part of the relief efforts from the beginning. Shannon Manzi, David Mooney, MD, MPH, and Gary Fleisher, MD, headed to Haiti on one of the first transports available, with no knowledge of what kind of conditions awaited them. An article from The Boston Globe today reports on the tough decision Mooney had to make in amputating a young Haitian boy’s fingers.
