Poor Haiti

[Rapunzel]

Honestly I'm a little confused - Dominican Republic shares the island with Haiti (both nations on the same island). Why aren't we hearing about what happened in the Dominican Republic? How did they fair with the quake?

[fluffhead]

The border of the DR is more than 50 km from port au prince - so they were probably relatively unaffected. It's really so tragic - all the tropical storms these past two years decimated Haiti and left the DR alone for the most part, and Haiti just doesn't have the resources to withstand any of this stuff. Plus the Haitians have spent the past century overlogging their forests (since the Duvalier years), so all the soil just washed away with the storms. You can actually trace the border on a satellite map by looking at the deforestation and subsequent soil erosion.
I assume that Haiti also has poorer construction so their buildings are more apt to collapse in an earthquake.

[poky]

Latest from the dept. of Health and Human Services:

*7 a.m., January 14, 2010*

To organize our response to the tragedy in Haiti, we are using the
National Response Framework which provides an orderly process for
responding to disasters domestically and abroad. In this framework HHS
leads the federal medical and public health response. The State
Department is notifying HHS of specific requests for medical and public
health support in the disaster zone.

HHS has activated the National Disaster Medical System and members of
the U.S. Public Health Service are on alert which means we have more
than 12,000 people who could possibly assist. Today more than 300 of
these personnel from across the U.S. will be traveling to Haiti.

We will have doctors, nurses, paramedics, emergency medical technicians,
and other medical personnel coming from Georgia, California, New Jersey,
Massachusetts, and Florida to work as medical teams. An International
Medical Surgical Response Team will provide care for severely injured
patients; five Disaster Medical Assistance Teams will provide basic
medical care.

These teams will be traveling with needed medicine, medical supplies and
medical equipment.

In addition, two disaster mortuary operations response teams will help
identify victims and help manage the fatalities. We are sending a portal
morgue unit staffed with additional personnel and a family assistance
team that is trained to work with the families to help identify the
loved ones they have lost in this catastrophe.

Public health experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention are on hand to help Haitian officials assess the scope of the
earthquake's damage to water and food supplies.

We are also sending an Incident Response Coordination Team to make sure
all of our teams have what they need to assist the people of Haiti at
this critical time.

Meanwhile, we are accounting for our personnel who were already in Haiti
supporting the country’s tremendous public health needs.

We received an outpouring of offers from the medical community to assist
in Haiti. We’re asking anyone who is interested to register at
http://www.cidi.org/incident/haiti-10a/. HHS is logging every offer of
assistance and will contact you if a more direct means of donation
become available.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S.
Department of State are responsible for coordinating the provision of
resources to Haiti. Resources are provided only at the request of the
Haitian government based on its assessment of the country’s needs. Once
a request is made, federal agencies must determine the most appropriate
source for the requested item.

The situation is changing rapidly. As we learn more about specific needs
in Haiti and we determine ways to deliver resources we will be able to
target donations more directly to where they are most needed. We will
contact interested people as the situation warrants and may offer
additional guidance at that time.

All offers of assistance are greatly appreciated. We hope everyone will
keep in mind that the ability to accept an offer is often dependent upon
such considerations as current needs and logistics. Just by making your
resources available through this process you are making a significant
contribution to the relief efforts.

[Meenah]

We just got an email that the group from here is OK.

I have been thinking about the people nonstop. My former coworker and his brother are both from Haiti and live here, but they have not yet heard from anyone in their family, including their sister. They are from Carrefour which was the epicenter as I understand. I hope and pray his family is ok.

[Thirteen]

Sandy,

Thank you for that link! I have attached it via e-mail, and DH is VERY INTERESTED in going/coordinating a team away rotation for his res. program. They do local volunteering, and in MX, but this is something that I feel their skills would be desperately needed for. Even after we are done with triage, sustaining medical care in Haiti is going to be a nightmare.

Hopefully, DH's program director sees how valuable they can be, and lets them organize.
The whole situation just breaks my heart so very much.

[Vanquisher]

DH would like to go, but can't right now. There is a tremendous need for orthopaedic surgeons there. With this kind of tragedy, ortho is going to be a huge need. Unfortunately, many of the survivors who were injured are going to probably end up with amputations. Many of the hospitals were destroyed or damaged too greatly to be usable.

As it is, the Shriner's Hospitals will take any Haitian children and take care of them for free if they can get here from Haiti. DH is expecting some influx of patients.

[peggyfromwastate]

The comfort is leaving on Saturday. One of DHs ENT attendings just found out she's going. It will be there functioning as a full hospital for 1-6 months.

They threw that together FAST.

This is why (IMHO) it's important to keep military medicine
alive and well...

I just received a small piece of good news - my coworkers sister and immediate family are all ok. His grandmother's house is gone and some neighbors and extended family did not make it, however.

Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long.

Just wondering if anyone else has a spouse who is going to Haiti? DH is going for a month next week. No warning or discussion. I feel sick, I can't eat and I can't sleep. I'm so worried for his safety because I know nothing about this trip other than he is going wiht a team from Boston and they are bringing security.

Don't get me wrong, the thoughts of what those poor people who live there are going through is horrendous and the tv coverage is almost unbearable to watch.

I'm proud of DH but I really really fear for his safety and something happening to him. When I put this to him he just brushes the subject off 'nothing will happen to me'

[ladymoreta]

I'll be praying for his safety. It is wonderful of him to go, but I would be scared for him, too. I hope it ends up being a great experience for both of you.

[DCJenn]

I completely agree Peggy- every once in a while when they get those wild hairs about disbanding military medicine I just laugh- like who would DO it? Of course, I think the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Katrina, Ike and now this have amply demonstrated that they need a deployable force of career military physicians. (that was our friend Donald Rumsfeld who last approached it)

Jane- Of course, no one can guarantee their safety but remember, those doctors are desperately needed and they will do everything in their power to keep them safe. I know that they're setting up tent villages near the airport which seems to be relatively safe. I heard that they're using some hangers as operating theaters.

As for my husband's colleagues, the orders are for six months.

Jenn

[Deebs]

Mrs B_2B,
We will be praying for your DH. Is he on an USAR team? DH was on one in Ohio, and they go to great lengths to ensure security (which is part of the reason the USARs were delayed in getting to Haiti in the first place). Good luck hanging in there while he's gone.

[poky]

DH is part of OR-2, one of the NDMS teams under HHS (as a communications officer currently, since he's not an attending yet). They've already deployed several NDMS teams to Haiti and it's sounding like they'll be deploying more, and OR-2 is "up" for February, so it's entirely possible he'll be going. They have 2 week deployments, though, no longer. He's been packed since last week, just in case (they typically don't get a whole lot of notice when they get deployed). He was deployed twice to help with Katrina, and was with a team that *almost* got assigned to the superdome the day after it hit, but ended up getting turned back and he helped set up the hospital at the airport instead. He was up for 72 hours straight at one point, because there were so few doctors and so many patients, and there were definite security risks at the airport; there were a *lot* of healthy people getting shuttled through the airport, and the teams had to be careful (after a short while they were segregated and had armed security), since they had food and supplies, and a lot of people didn't. There were a couple times when even though he was the communications guy, he couldn't get ahold of me to let me know where they were and what was going on for up to 48 hours at a stretch. It was a little nerve-wracking, but I never worried too seriously.

It really sucks that he's blowing off your concerns, though, and not discussing this with you.

Everything I've been hearing about the situation in Haiti is telling me that while it's still horrible, it's getting better, and the people there to help are OK, and doing a lot of good. If he doesn't go till next week, I have a feeling things will be even better by the time he's there. DH says the communications situation is getting better..and the group he's going with should have a communications plan. Ask your DH about that; get him to find out if/how he'll be able to communicate home, so you know what to expect, and make sure he knows to touch base as often as he can, so you'll worry less.

Oh, also, we got an email today saying word is that mosquito netting for sleeping is a VERY GOOD idea. DH just ordered this one (since none of the local sporting goods stores seem to carry freestanding ones, and there's no guarantee of trees nearby to hang from):
http://www.amazon.com/Atwater-Carey-...creen-Mosquito

[poky]

This might also help you feel a little better about the situation there:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/...aster-response