Midnight Snacks

The Global Health medical team completed its first week treating patients in Haiti. They are staying north of Port-au-Prince in a tent compound established by the aid group Partners In Health and have access to fresh drinking water, showers and two MREs (Meals Ready To Eat) per day.  Some team members developed a bartering system with military personnel to exchange their Power Bars with MREs of spicy chicken in a bag.

“MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) are delicious in the middle of the night,” explains Global Health volunteer Warren Frankenberger, a nurse in CHOP’s emergency department.

Resources, not just food for the medical workers, are scarce everywhere in Haiti. The team rushes blood back to a makeshift Red Cross area in hopes of salvaging a unit of O-positive blood, and shuttles oxygen tanks from tent to tent, hoping they don’t run out. They are conserving glucose strips for those who “really” need it, and there is one ventilator operating in the entire hospital compound.

“This is triage at its core,” observes Frankenberger.

A great struggle for the team is witnessing the end of life that could be prevented in better circumstances, and balancing that with their ability to relieve suffering which they are doing continuously.  In these difficult times, our CHOP volunteers stand side by side with the families, other doctors, military paramedics and nurses from several different countries, their heads bowed while a someone says a prayer and they share in this experience of humanity.

Posted at 03:34PM Feb 08, 2010 by Juliann Walsh in Health  |  Comments[0]

Four Deliveries in One Hour

Four deliveries in one hour! The Global Health team working at the University Hospital (HUEH) delivered four babies in under an hour last night, giving some of CHOP’s pediatric nurses a crash course in midwifery. By morning all four babies were doing well and our team was sleeping off the adventure, according to Global Health volunteer Warren Frankenberger, a nurse in CHOP’s emergency department.

Earlier in the week, team leader Fred Henretig, M.D., met up with a group of Swiss pediatricians already stationed at the hospital. The Swiss team was thrilled to learn other pediatricians had arrived at the hospital to help care for the children.  Dr. Henretig set out immediately to establish a schedule of rotations and transition of care between teams.  One goal is to maintain a 24-hour staffing system to keep in place after the CHOP team returns to the U.S. next week.

There are medical volunteers working at the hospital from all over the world. A group of Haitian-American nurses tracked down the Global Health team to express gratitude for their presence at the hospital and to offer assistance.  The nursing needs in Port-au-Prince continue to be huge in all areas of care. In fact, several CHOP nurses are working hard to support the medical and intensive care wards, where nursing coverage is very short.  They are assiting with procedures and care for some of the sickest patients in the hospital.

Yesterday afternoon, a few Global Health team members went on "rounds" to receive reports on many of the children.  The pediatric ward is in four tents, each with about 20 to 25 children. Much of what the group sees and treats is completely preventable in the US, such as blood and wound infections, dehydration and post operative care. However, the required equipment remains scarce: there are no working ventilators and very limited oxygen. There are many cases where the physicians have had to take extreme life saving measures with a lack of lighting and medical tools.

Back at home, Global Health representatives are preparing for the team’s return on Feb. 10. And, they have also arranged a brief prayer service for Haiti and our Disaster Response Team in the Schlimm Center for Prayer and Reflection on Monday, February 8, at 12:10 p.m. The Center is located on the 1st floor of the Main Hospital, near the gift shop. All are welcome to attend.

Posted at 05:04PM Feb 05, 2010 by Juliann Walsh in Health  |  Comments[0]

Day 2: What Haiti Looks Like Today

The Global Health Haiti Disaster Response Team arrived in Port-au-Prince on Monday, Feb. 1,  and spent their first day working at the University Hospital. Rakesh Mistry, M.D. and Warren Frankenberger, R.N., two team members from CHOP’s Emergency Department, reached out last night to Global Health Director Rodney Finalle with reports from the ground. The following summarizes what they are seeing:

The 12-member team -- four pediatric emergency physicians, a general ED physician, and seven pediatric nurses from the ED, ICU, and transport teams -- are staying in a tent camp on a concrete basketball court of a community center. Others staying at the compound are volunteer physicians and nurses sponsored by the aid group Partners In Health. The camp is about 30 minutes north of Port-au-Prince.

The damage inflicted by the Jan. 12 earthquake on the country of Haiti, and its people, is readily evident in the destruction seen while driving south to the University Hospital (HUEH), with rubble from collapsed buildings extending into the streets and highways, according to Rakesh Mistry, M.D., a doctor in CHOP’s Emergency Department and member of the Global Health team in Haiti. 

 Many Haitians attempt to restore a sense of normalcy and people walk the streets as they head off to work. Traffic is heavy. However, entering HUEH yields a quick reminder of the earthquake’s force.  The nursing school building in the center of campus is a pile of stone, with known casualties still in the rubble. Several buildings are structurally unsound, forcing nearly all patient care to military and Red Cross tents throughout the hospital grounds. Hundreds of men, women, and children line up to receive care in a setting similar to a MASH unit.

 “During our first shift, we moved from tent to tent, looking in on sleeping, and sometimes crying, children,” recounts Warren Frankenberger, a registered nurse in CHOP’s emergency department. “Often, a mom sleeping on the floor beside her child would grab me, plead to me in either French or Creole, to see her child. A perfect stranger with a stethoscope around his neck and a head lamp on becomes someone she immediately looks to for care of her very own child.”

Fortunately, much of the disaster-related injuries have been addressed yielding to the need for post-operative and ongoing medical care. So many children are injured with fractures and amputations. The medical need is great and the resources are minimal or makeshift.

“The pediatric ward remains full of severe orthopedic injuries -- I have seen as many femur fractures as I usually see in two years -- with amputees and complex hand injuries mixed among the patients,” Dr. Mistry said.

As Haiti emerges from the quake-related injuries, the medical needs have shifted towards care of the usual patients that present to the general hospital. Volunteers from several countries now participate in the care of more typical pediatric illnesses, such as pneumonia, meningitis, asthma, and diabetes. 

“We continued to move from tent to tent, using our headlights and flashlights to see what is needed,” Frankenberger said. “A humble look at what nursing may have looked like a long time ago; but, here in Haiti it is what nursing looks like today.”

“It has been only 30 hours, and just our second night in Haiti, but we have learned much,” Dr. Mistry said.

Learn how you can support CHOP’s Global Health Haiti Disaster Response team.

Posted at 04:39PM Feb 03, 2010 by Juliann Walsh in Health  |  Comments[1]

Global Health Team Arrives in Haiti

The Global Health Haiti Disaster Response team receives instructions from Tony Rich, manager of emergency preparedness, during final orientation at the Incident Command Center at Children’s Hospital before departing for Haiti. The members are Team Leader Fred Henretig, M.D.; Rakesh Mistry, M.D. ; David Chao, M.D.; Neil Uspal, M.D.; Brian Barnett, R.N.; Marcia Carter, R.N .; Warren Frankenberger, R.N.; Diane Gardella, R.N.; Wendy Hemme, R.N.; John Kimbrough, R.N.; Kathleen O’Conner, N.P.; Steve Larson, M.D . (HUP Emergency Medicine)

After snow delayed flights Saturday, the Global Health Haiti Disaster Response medical team made it safely to Port-au-Prince yesterday and established a home base camp at a facility operated by Partners In Health. Their living conditions for the 10-day trip are simple, and include three tents, two meals per day, clean drinking water and showers.  The compound is secure and safe, but very noisy due to constant military jets flying over, according to team leader Fred Henretig, M.D.

The CHOP team made an initial assessment at the hospital when they arrived and noted that the pediatric unit is large, and the care is fragmented , but the team just arrived and will have a better sense of the clinical needs today. The CHOP team is going to begin by covering the night pediatric shifts at the University Hospital. On the first night, six team members worked in the pediatric ward, a unit with about 80 to 90 young patients.   For the moment, daytime pediatric shifts are handled by a Swiss medical team. There are several international medical teams working at the hospital, speaking many different languages.

The team plans to return to the U.S. Feb. 10.

Posted at 04:56PM Feb 02, 2010 by Juliann Walsh in Health  |  Comments[0]

A Labor of Love: Therapists Exchange Ideas - A Guest Blog Entry

Guest blogger Carla Campbell, M.D., M.S., recounts the team's visit to a Dominican orphanage.[Read More]

Posted at 01:03PM Nov 21, 2009 by Linda Lightner in Health  |  Comments[1]

Reflections - A guest blog entry

As the Global Health Team prepares to depart the Dominican Republic, Melinda Jones Daniels looks back on her stay.[Read More]

Posted at 11:16PM Nov 13, 2009 by Linda Lightner in General  |  Comments[2]

If You Build It, They Will Thrive

The varied fabric of batey life reveals itself during a walk through Consuelito. Join us.[Read More]

Posted at 02:20PM Nov 13, 2009 by Linda Lightner in Health  |  Comments[0]

Quince anos tenia Martina - Another guest blog entry!

Pediatrician Carla Campbell, M.D., M.S. introduces Martina, the woman who keeps the team well-fed and contented.[Read More]

Posted at 05:19PM Nov 12, 2009 by Brian Pomeroy in Health  |  Comments[5]

It Takes a Village to Raise a Village

What happens during the 99 percent of the time visiting health teams are not in the bateys can make all the difference in children's health.[Read More]

Posted at 02:56PM Nov 11, 2009 by Linda Lightner in Health  |  Comments[1]

Bienvenidos a Barrio Feliu - A guest blog entry!

Pediatrician Mary Fabio, M.D., shares her impressions as the team visits one of Consuelo's barrios.[Read More]

Posted at 08:52PM Nov 09, 2009 by Linda Lightner in Health  |  Comments[8]

New Beginnings in the Oldest Church

A day off presents opportunities for learning and leisure.[Read More]

Posted at 05:46PM Nov 09, 2009 by Linda Lightner in General  |  Comments[0]

Ripple Effect

Knowledge is like peanut butter. It's better when you spread it around.[Read More]

Posted at 02:22PM Nov 07, 2009 by Linda Lightner in Health  |  Comments[2]

Let it Rain

An afternoon storm brings refreshment in many forms.[Read More]

Posted at 09:32PM Nov 06, 2009 by Linda Lightner in Health  |  Comments[0]

Being There

Another day caring for children in the bateys leaves an indelible impression.[Read More]

Posted at 04:11PM Nov 04, 2009 by Linda Lightner in Health  |  Comments[5]

The Remains of the Day

For every hour spent providing direct care to children in the bateys, there is plenty of planning and support that occur during the remainder of the day (and night).[Read More]

Posted at 03:56PM Nov 04, 2009 by Linda Lightner in Health  |  Comments[3]