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[4]
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