Dr. Scott Nelson, a U.S. Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon and HTH provider, has been practicing in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for several years. In conjunction with CURE International, he is leading a team of Dominican orthopedic surgeons to provide medical services to victims of the earthquake. Dr. Nelson and his colleagues arrived in Port-au-Prince January 14th.
January 20, 2010
FYI: the aftershock was a big one, but all is still ok with our CURE team!
January 19, 2010
Our team has done 75 surgeries so far at the Hôpital de la Communauté Haitienne. The entire CURE International group, from the headquarters all the way to the team on the ground in Port-au-Prince is organized and working well.
CURE has also facilitated an 18 person team from Texas to work at the Centre Hospitalier du Sacre-Coeur in Port-au-Prince. Due to the concern of aftershocks toppling certain sections of the hospital, additional ORs had to be created. This team divided an open room ER into 3 ORs; literally set up an OR in the hallway and also set up an OR using a radiology room. Overall, this team performed over 300 operations, including 40 amputations and more than 100 cast/splintings in just 48 hours.
Tomorrow and Thursday, CURE will be sending more than 25 medical, anesthesia, nursing and administrative professionals and a substantial amount of donated orthopedic equipment and supplies to further care for the Haitian people.
There are now hundreds of medical volunteers in Port au Prince – many independent, from a wide range of countries, organizations and backgrounds. There are now many medical supplies in at least 3 hospital sites in Port-au-Prince, where most of these volunteers are. There is no centralized coordination mechanism for administering medical care at this point in time – everyone is working together, working hard and doing everything they can.
January 18, 2010
The electric company of the Dominican Republic has donated a generator and a container, which the CURE hospital in Santo Domingo is filling with supplies and clean clothes for Dr. Nelson and the team.
In the last 48 hours, we were able to take the Hôpital de la Communauté Haitienne from an indescribable battlefield state, with almost no doctors and nurses and supplies, 2 ORs not doing surgery, and utter chaos…to over 100 foreign docs and nurses, 7 ORs, an ICU, stocked supply room and life-saving surgery 24 hours around the clock!
January 15, 2010
“The first hospital we visited was not equipped to do orthopedic surgery even under normal conditions. We then went to Hôpital de la Communauté Haitienne, a 75 bed community hospital in Freres near Delma. There are many orthopedic cases filling the parking lot and patio, as everyone is too scared to be inside a building. We are mobilizing now.”
