Haiti Earthquake Relief April 2010.html

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NEIL'S HAITI EARTHQUAKE RELIEF April, 2010

I activated my volunteer RN status for Haiti right after the earthquake. All agencies responded
saying I was registered. April 1, 2010 Project Medishare/U of Miami indicated they had an urgent need.
I got my "shots", packed and flew to Miami 4/2.

Our "Hospital" is the 4 large white tents in the SE corner of the Google shot. It is located within the property of the airport for security reasons (and because it was flat and almost rubble free).
L to R they are: Sleeping tent for up to 140 volunteers, no gender separation; next is adult Med Surg, Pharmacy, Non-sedation wound care, and X-Ray; adjoining is Pedi, ICU, and Surgery; on the R is the supply tent, with unsorted supplies piled to the R of the tent. The Surgery Pedi and ICU area was well air conditioned most of the time, Med Surg part of the time and the sleeping area not much. The Supply tent did not have AC. Neither did the Adult and Pedi ERs to the N of the Surgery tent, or the "logistics" area to the N of the Sleeping tent. The Surgery and Med Surg tents had plywood floors, everthing else, including the ERs were on gravel, grass, dirt. To the SW were the porta-potties, outdoor cold showers, mens urinals, and incoming water. To the S of the tents were generators and AC units.
To quote from the "Volunteer Information Packet" (which they do not send until you have committed and are booked on the charter to PAP and back to Miami ;-)
"The conditions in Port-au-Prince airfield include very hot days with temps in the 90’s but, cooler in the evenings, and very frequent to continuous loud jet and propeller aircraft noise. The air is extremely dusty so expect to be very dusty, sweaty and dirty. Your clothing should be lightweight clothing appropriate for a tropical environment. Scrub tops are usually worn for medical staff. Ideal footwear includes light hiking type boots, military boots or other shoes designed for rough outdoor terrain. The ground our hospital sits on is a mowed field with many rocks, and small stumps. The staff tent sleeps over 140 volunteers and cots are available for your use. Each cot is side by side with another cot and there is no gender separation. We have 4 outdoor showers that are modest and shared by both men and women. We do not always have water available. So expect that you may not have an opportunity to shower for periods of up to 2 days. You can always “shower” with bottle water or use wet wipes. Toilet facilities consist of Porta-potties. We do not have laundry facilities so consider enough clothing to for your length of stay. Some volunteers wash clothes in small buckets. Our food consists of military style Meals Ready to Eat commonly referred to as MRE’s. You are welcome to bring whatever you like but we do not have any refrigeration."

This is clearly a field hospital/MASH set-up!

Do I have everything???	Bye Bye	Off (guess Michal took these because she wanted a record)
Ready to leave Miami for PAP. He obviously does not know what is to come . . .	After a briefing by the Chief Doc, we located a vacant cot and dressed for work	Pre-ER "Bandaid Station"
Adult ER, 3 beds, outside tent, canvas roof & walls, gravel floor	Pedi ER and "holding"	Pedi Advanced Care
Yes, that sign says ICU/CCU	Our Lab. Very fast but limited	1/2 of surgery area, 1 other table on R side. Note gaps in walls/ceiling
Yes, that surgery table is made locally. Our sterilizer guy in the foreground worked very long hours sterilizing using the tubs in the background and Clorox type liquids & water	One of my 1st jobs was pedi dressing changes under sedation. Done in the surgery area	Supplies needing sorting and to be moved inside
Good, & needed, supply of crutches and walkers.	Child walker modified by supply people to add seat	60-75 bed Med Surg, usually 4 RNs, including working Charge (We only had 1 die in Med Surg while I was there)
Neil & Claudio, MD in Med Surg. Haitian nursing student in front	This nice man and his family were great to work with. Here a daughter helps him with a breathing exercise tool.	. . . .'nuf said
One of 2 15" AC inlets into the Med Surg tent. A clever Haitian has found a place to cool a drink	The copter noise added a MASH quality; L is entrance to sleeping(?)	The jet noise was great too. At right is our TB isolation tent.
New arrival delivered previous afternoon. RN Sue helped deliver.	Bug control was sprayed 2 or 3 times a day	Pharmacy. To right is "lead wall" to protect us from X-Ray
Charts were all kept on patients cot. Each patient allowed 1 sheet.	Haitian nursing student, RN "Kat", happy patient and me	Like any hospital, we had automatic door openers! Really - that was their job
L to R: silver "potable" water tank, mens urinal, 4 bay unisex shower - cold only, port-a-potties. The white tank in the forground did NOT warm or clean water. It was apparantly to hold up rocks.	Mens Urinal	Urinal detail
Shower detail - 30 seconds of water per shower.	Following are shots from around Port-au-Prince. Thanks to Rob Scheifer for some of these.	Main cathedral
Living on the street with tarp and shower curtain walls	Another church	Pancake collapse was the most common, sometimes with tilting
Most of these were 1-2 stories higher before the quake	Mulit-floor collapse	One of many tent cities
I was lucky to work in most nursing areas of the hospital and get some interesting photos but if you are a bit squimish you may want to stop here! As you medical types look at these, remember this is a "field hospital", and conditions are not quite what we think as standard	One of our small BTK amputees trying out her new walker with the customized seat	I was even a pharmacy tech for a few hours - scary!
Starting a foot amputation (note the T shirt observer)	About to take off. Note angle cut of skin and muscle so that can be used to flap over bone stump - bone will be cut at the top	Foot gone - ready to flap and sew the stump cover
Plastic surgeon - escharotomy on ~ 2-3y/o burn victim	Back surgery. Note locally made step stool	Oops! Caught eating some left-over patient rice while "hiding" in pharmacy
Besides amputees, we had a large number of paralyzed patients. Sometimes that meant a need for digital disimpaction	Frequently a preacher would come in to encourage the patients	The last full day was a tad busy. I went from having 20 patients, to being the only RN and 49 patients, to charge nurse with a new crew to orient, to a resourse for the new crew, to "not here" - a welcome change in title after 9 busy days. I would do it again!