Physicians for Peace

This is just one of thousands of stories portraying the devastation in Haiti. Yes, the support has been overwhelming but we must continue to help bring light and hope to those who are in need of medical aide.

A volunteer surgeon shares his experiences in Haiti and the ultimate shock of discovering there is no water, no basic technology, or equipment in the hospitals. Read this excerpt of his story about doctors building their makeshift operating rooms with no electricity, limited surgical equipment, and they still managed to save lives.

Original Message from:

Dean G. Lorich, M.D.

Associate Director

Orthopaedic Trauma Service

Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:11:38

Subject: Haiti

"I believe we went in with a reasonable comprehensive service plan. We wanted to provide acute trauma care in an orthopedic disaster. Our plan was to be at a hospital where we could utilize our abilities as trauma surgeons to treat the acute injuries involved in an orthopedic disaster. We expected many amputations, however, we came prepared with a philosophy that we would reasonably start limb salvage in what we thought was a salvageable limb.

Our equipment including a huge amount of anesthetic medications and equipment, operating room equipment including scalpels etc, OR soft goods, splint material, and prep material.

We also had a plan of physician and equipment replacement that was dynamic where within 24hrs we could bring in what was necessary on a private jet.

We thought the plan was a good one. We were incredibly naïve.

Disaster management on the ground was nonexistent. We started out Friday morning, got a slot to get in Friday evening that was eventually cancelled when we were on the runway to be rescheduled the next day. We diverted to the Dominican Republic and planned on arriving in Port-au-Prince Saturday.

The General Hospital was severely damaged in the earthquake and was not capable of running a functioning OR as there was no running water and only a limited electrical supply on generator.

We quickly took our second option - Community Hospital of Haiti. We found approximately 750 patients in the hospital. Upon our initial evaluation, the hospital had running water, electricity and two functional OR's. We did not expect that two anesthetic machines would not work, there would be only one cautery for the hospital, no sterile saline, and no local staff - only a ragtag group of voluntary health providers who like us had made it there on there own.

We also previously had seen daylight in the remaining patients Monday night after having completed approximately 100 surgeries. However on Tuesday morning we found another crowd of new patients. The hospital was forced to undergo lockdown, closing its gates to prevent entry of additional patients.

We also noted Tuesday morning that many of the patients we were operating on were becoming septic. We finished operating that afternoon with the last surgery assisting an obstetrician on a caesarian and resuscitating a baby that was not breathing.

To summarize it all - we had no clue the medical infrastructure of the country was so poor."

Physicians for Peace is sending medical volunteers in partnership with Operation Smile, Inc. in response to the critical need for medical and surgical care for victims in Haiti. You can help by giving a person the ability to walk again with a prosthetic limb donation or provide support to our relief efforts and medical training missions in Haiti by donating online. To find out the many ways you can contribute to our medical volunteer work, please visit us on the web at Physicians for Peace.