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[5]