Haiti Update 2-20-2010

-Tents Needed

-Leogane Shock Trauma Hospital (LSTH) Alum to fund raise for tents

-New Surgical Team arrives

-New Video features Dr. Brett Hendel-Paterson

It started raining a few days ago. There was 3 days in a row with rain. Soon we will be in the rainy season with a whole new set of problems. First the homeless are living in structures that will not protect them from heavy rain (see attached photos). In addition the refugee camp in front of the ND residence is in low lying area which typically floods. this combined with tight living space is a recipe for spread of disease. They will have to be moved and they need tents to live in.

Dave Polonet is an orthopedic surgeon from NJ who is a LSTH alum who helped a few weeks ago. He is back in NJ and is setting up a tent drive to either get tents donated or money to purchase tents. This is very timely given the above. We hope to ship the tents in a container we hope to get out soon (working on customs issues).

We switched surgical teams recently. The new team is:

InterVol/ND Team 5: Fri Feb 19 – Sat Feb 27

1. Dan Alexander MD – orthopedic surgery; Rochester, NY;

2. Dave Cywinski MD – internal med, pediatrics, peds intensive care, non-operative orthopedics; Rochester, NY;

3. Joe Bardenheier MD – general surgery; Florida;

4. Doug Hargrave MD – plastic surgery; Albany, NY;

5. Susan Knott RN – OR nurse; Albany, NY;

6. Phil Spanheimer MD – surgical intern; Albany, NY;

7. Jim Bates MD – anesthesia; Iowa City, IA;

8. Tara Hata MD – peds& adult anesthesia; Iowa City, IA

9. Paul Cabral MD – OB/GYN; Rochester, NY

Many thanks to Team 4 for their hard work and unpredictable travel schedule.

InterVol/ND Team 4: Feb 12 – 20:

Jean Joseph MD – urologist, U of Rochester

Johann Piquion Joseph MD – OB/GYN Rochester General

Gary Tebor MD – orthopedic surgeon w/ pediatric training

Krystof Neumann MD – anesthesiologist

Cyndi Babcock – CNRA (certified nurse anesthetist)

Rachelle Nesbitt – RN w/ ICU&trauma focus

Bill Willett – PA

A special thanks to Craig Hawkins who came on very short notice and stayed for 2 weeks. He finally goes home. He was a constant and helped greatly with not only transition of the teams but to the field hospital.

As you know the surgical teams work with the medical teams which are coordinated by World Wide Village via Chris and Ginny. Recently one of their docs – Brett Hendel-Paterson – had a very nice video documentary published by a Minnesota newspaper. It shows the work being done by Bret and his group while at the original LSTH. It also highlights the people we serve. I have mentioned waking up in the early hours to singing by those homeless living in front of our facility. This is beautifully portrayed.

http://www.startribune.com/video/84746192.html

I add new names of those interested in these updates. Please note older updates are at www.InterVol.org