Medical Team from Shock Trauma Center Headed for Haiti, News Headlines

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Medical Team from Shock Trauma Center Headed for Haiti

Catholic Relief Services (Donate to CRS)
First published 2010-01-30

BALTIMORE - A 22-member medical team from the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center is expected to leave this week to provide medical care and treatment to people critically injured in the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. The team is part of a joint initiative of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the University of Maryland to lay the groundwork for a long-term emergency medical response at St. Francois de Sales Hospital in Port-au-Prince.

The team will also be carrying 8,000 pounds of donated and purchased medical supplies, equipment and medications. Thanks to the generous support from USAID, the team will leave on a U.S. military plane from Andrews Air Force Base this week.

The group will be led by Dr. Robert Redfield of the Institute of Human Virology and Dr. Thomas M. Scalea of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Dr. Scalea and other Shock Trauma staff have unique expertise in the types of traumatic injuries—orthopedic as well as spine and head injuries—that they expect to treat in Haiti.

Dr. Redfield of IHV and Dr. Andrew Pollak from University of Maryland's School of Medicine just returned from Haiti, where they assessed the medical needs to provide around-the-clock surgeries. They determined that a full 22-person team is needed at St. Francois de Sales to staff three operating rooms and triple the number of surgeries currently taking place.

CRS and the University of Maryland have a long-standing partnership in Haiti, providing HIV care and treatment through a project called AIDSRelief. They chose St. Francois de Sales because of the existing relationship in serving AIDS patients there. The hospital was 70 percent destroyed in the Jan. 12 earthquake, and was almost completely out of supplies. Doctors and others dug through rubble with hammers and handsaws to try to find medical supplies and were able to partially reopen the hospital within a couple of days of the disaster.

"This mission is about saving lives," said CRS President Ken Hackett, who just returned from a visit to Haiti, where CRS launched a major emergency response, including dozens of distribution sites and management of one of the biggest camps in Port-au-Prince. "Thanks to the generous support of the U.S. government, Senators Mikulski and Cardin, and Gov. O'Malley of this local effort, and the great expertise of the Baltimore medical team, we will be able to save even more lives."

The long-term plan is for the trauma surgery team, consisting of more than 20 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, to work in shifts around-the-clock, performing up to 200 surgeries per week before being replaced by a new team from Baltimore.

St. Francois de Sales Hospital receives patients that are referred from numerous CRS-run sites, where people have gathered seeking shelter and care.

2010-01-30

Related: Memorial Service for Haiti Mission’s Earthquake Dead