A video from Haiti via Mark

This is from Mark (of BetterHealthForHaiti). I spoke with him tonight and we will be working with them in any way we can.

Haiti Earthquake on Vimeo: "A team of four from the Catholic Church of Saint Monica in Duluth, Georgia traveled to Port au Prince, Haiti just a few days after the earthquake in order to join the relief effort. Shot by Mark Coughlin"

Haiti Earthquake from Mark Coughlin Media on Vimeo.

BTW this is the same Mark that ran with my brother Pat when he was in Haiti. In fact, Pat is the doctor that Mark talks about with the hat and red bandana.

Coverage of Pat in the BV

From the BV. By Elizabeth Grady

"Immediately after the earthquake, I knew I wanted to do something to help the situation in Haiti," Mahar wrote in an e-mail from Denver.

While the hospital he works at, The Children's Hospital in Denver, did not initially plan to send a team to Haiti, a group of nurses and physicians independently decided to put a relief team together. "

Press release from the Denver Childrens Hospital Haitan Relief team

Without any edit:

"January 23, 2010 (DENVER) - Four physicians and two emergency medicine nurses from The Children's Hospital who volunteered their time to help with medical relief efforts in Haiti arrived home today. They were among a group of eleven medical personnel from Colorado who spent nearly a week providing medical assistance in Port-au-Prince.

The team arrived home in Denver today and would like to issue the following statement:

We are happy to be home. It has been a privilege to serve.

We will be forever bonded with this team and our friends in Haiti. We have a tremendous amount of love and respect for the people we helped.

We drove all over Port-au-Prince and walked in tent cities. The destruction and personal stories of tragedy are overwhelming, but we did not see widespread violence or massive riots. We saw, over and over again, the tremendous spirit of the Haitian people. They helped each other and they watched out for us.

They have endured unbelievable things, yet we heard laughter and singing. We don't need to generate hope for Haiti; they already have hope.

We need to continue to provide them help in order to make their hope a reality. Please don't forget about Haiti six months from now, or a year from now. The spotlight will go away, but these beautiful people will continue to endure. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Bruny, MD, The Children's Hospital, The University of Colorado
Betsy Folkerth, Physical Therapist, Body Fusion, Gunnison Colorado

Pat Mahar, MD, The Children's Hospital, The University of Colorado
Emily Muggli, RN, The Children's Hospital
Eric Tham, MD, The Children's Hospital, The University of Colorado
Misty Vivian, RN, The Children's Hospital
Sam Wang, MD, The Children's Hospital, The University of Colorado

Greg Winslow, EMT, Crested Butte Fire Department (retired)

Mark Winslow, DO, Rocky Mountain Osteopathic Medicine

Kathlene Mondanaro, RN,PhD, Metropolitan State College of Denver

Boyd Loehr, RN, Flight for Life Colorado

To learn more about their week in Haiti, visit their blog:
http://denverchildrenshelpshaiti.blogspot.com/"

Assorted Haitian Topics

First Pat and the Denver Crew are back in the USA. We will have an interview with him soon (I hope).

Update on Security:

“The security situation here in Haiti remains relatively calm,” Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, the second in command of U.S. operations in Haiti, told Pentagon reporters today. “Distribution points remain orderly throughout our humanitarian assistance efforts, and feedback from the people of Haiti has been positive.”...Allyn today emphasized the ongoing potential for violence.

....Such instability sometimes is caused by people who need food, water or other life-sustaining support, Allyn said, and some instability is created by criminal activity. Haitian prisons collapsed in the earthquake, he noted, allowing inmates back into the populace.

The general cited progress among the decimated ranks of Haitian police, which was reduced to a 500-strong force in the quake’s immediate aftermath, but has since quadrupled, with 2,000 police reporting for duty last night."

and finally the bad news

"The death toll from Haiti's January 12th earthquake has now been confirmed by government officials to be over 111,000.

This as the Haitian government terminates the search for survivors.

A further 193,000 are confirmed wounded, and well over 600,000 have been forced into temporary shelters."

Pat Update--Success on a helipcopter and they are "done" early

Time for your daily update from Haiti. It has been a day of interesting events. I'll start by saying we are all fine and felling good about how much we have accomplished.

We are closing out our time here in Haiti as it looks like we might be on a flight tomorrow thanks once again to Mission Flights International. We has planned on a flight on either Sat or Sunday but they said our best bet for getting on a flight was to go on Friday so that's what our plan is. That will get us to Miami and then it is anyone's guess when we will make it back.



Our team had some great success this week even though at times it has felt like there so much to do and that we could not even put a dent into a problem this big. One of the biggest things we did is showed the people of Haiti that there are people from everywhere that care for them. While walking through the poorest of the poor tent cities we were able to show them that they are not forgotten and hopefully that was in some way comforting to them.

While each person in our team at Matthew 25 has their own success story I would think this afternoon/evening will be the story I most take away from this trip. For the past three days we have had a 18 year old girl who was injured in the earthquake under our care at the Matthew 25 field hospital. In the chaos of the first days after the quake the extent of her injuries were not recognized and thus treated appropriately. When she arrived to us it was apparent that she had a serious injury with what I suspected was a baislar skull fracture with CSF leaking out her ear and multiple facial bone fractures. We knew the dirt soccer pitch was not the place for her. With no immediately available mode of transport we started her in IV antibiotics and planned on transferring her to a better equipped hospital in the morning. Well on the next afternoon we made our first attempt to get her to S.H. Hospital in town b/c we were told they had neurosurgery capabilities. After driving her across town we arrived to a front yard of hospital full of patients and families and immediately were turned away due to the fact they did not have any imaging ability and had no neurosurgeon.

We were told that we could leave her out front and "maybe things would change". At this point she pulled on my hand and said in English "I want my life". At that point we knew there was no way we were leaving her. We knew that she would simply be another waiting patient without anyone working on her behalf if we left her, thus we decided to bring her back to Matthew 25 field hospital where she would once again be sleeping on soccer field but she would continue to get IV antibiotics and we could continue to try to find her the appropriate place to be. The next morning we started again asking around for which hospitals had neurosurgery capabilities and were told maybe the French or Israeli hospitals.

So it was back in to the truck and through the most bumpy and dusty roads I have ever been on (think African dirt roads and make them more crowded and with the occasional building collapsed in to them). Well once again both facilities refused to accept her b/c they said there was nothing they could do for her and once more it was back to Matthew 25 field hospital.

Then when a friend of Dr. Toth and Barb Burk (both from Atlanta) arrived at Matthew 25 for a visit, we started talking about the difficulties we were having with finding her a place that would care for her, they asked how they could help. We knew what she needed was all available on the USS Comfort floating hospital but that we had no way to get her in the ship or even get word to the ship. Well they replied that they had a truck so they were willing to help us try. So we once more told her we had to load her up into truck and try she said "you keep saying that but we just keep coming back here".

We made our way to UN hospital which was actually Miami University and we quickly get out of truck and start asking around for help. Well everyone we talk to says that they feel for us but first off they are in midst of being moved to another location b/c the UN has decided they needed more space and b/c they were getting overcrowded. We were also told once more that they did not have neurosurgery but to take her to the French or Israeli hospitals.

At this point we are trying to get anyone that might help. We are frantically emailing and text people looking for anyone with connections to the media that maybe able to help. Messages go out in tweeter and Facebook along with a CNN iReport is posted in CNN.com. We are lucky enough to get a Dr. Josh (pediatric orthopedic surgeon from Columbia University) to join or texting search. He was able to track down a reporter from CBS who was able to get in touch with USS Comfort. Next thing I know they are asking for landing coordinates to bring us a Blackhawk helicopter.

As part we frantically run down UN compound looking for anyone who can help we meet a truck of UN peace keepers from Chili and we jump in back of their pickup and they drive two of us to UN headquarters where we are able to track down the coordinates and send them along out texting chain to the USS Comfort. We are told to get patient to UN runway ramp. We load patient back into truck (this time stealing a cot from Miami University) and get her to runway. We are in contact with UN person controlling landing space who continues to day he can land a helicopter here but he has not heard anything yet about a helicopter coming. We assured him we have been told that they are leaving the ship now as we continue to get text updates. It is now dusk and he warns us that they have no landing lights so this has to happen now if it is going to happen at all. While we are waiting patient tells us that her cousin is with her b/c they have lost everyone else in the earthquake. I don't think there is a dry eye amongst the team members with her. At this point we hear and see the blackhawk coming and when it lands we carry her out on to the runway on the cot where the Navy flight team meets us and package her up and fly her and her cousin off to the hospital ship. (see attached picture). From what we have been told, NPR picked up this story and ran it nationally.

Anyhow this is just one of the successes we were able to have. As we sat down and were finishing our last dinner with our host at Matthew 25 House the meal was interrupted by a non-earthquake related penile injury so our surgeons did one last dining room table surgery.

Lastnight we had a team Powwow and sort of talked about how we all have feelings of anger about how unfair it is that these people who have had such a difficult time surviving prior to earthquake now had even less. We were all impressed with the acts of kindness we have witnessed from the Haitian people and how this was so much different than the picture the media has been painting with riots.

Anyhow I can not type anymore. So this will be it

Pat

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SUCCESS!!!

Today Pat and Eric had a major success when they arranged a helicopter to medivac an injured woman with a skull fracture. Pat sent the following picture.

Late night update from Pat--good news!

"...things are getting a bit better everyday as communication btw different field hospitals and hospitals that can provide a higher level of care have improved and it is getting easier to get supplies. When we first arrived here we were completely dependent on the few supplies that were brought by the first team to arrive here from Atlanta (Jim Barb and Mark) and what we brought from Denver.

..today we actually were able to send one of our team members (Boyd) to WHO supply depot to get us a truck load of supplies. Then this evening someone from Save the Children charity came to us and asked what medicines and supplies we needed and said the would return tomorrow with them. This will be great as we would not need to tie up a vehicle and people to go get the supplies.

Since we have been able to get our field hospital under control we have decided to breakout into two teams with one staying at home base and the other going to the areas not receiving any significant care. We decided what we can easily care for by mobile team (simple wounds and splints) vs what needs to be transported back to our field hospital to either get treated or sent to higher level of care.

Thanks to everyone wanting to donate money and help cover our cost. I will email when I get back how to make sure it goes to right people and is tied to our team.

Getting late so I have attached few pictures.

I will end by saying everyday I am absolutely amazed by our team not only are we working well together and still finding ways to have fun, but also never in my life have I met a louder group of snorers. It is amazing and tonight my tentmate (Sam) has decided to join in.

Good night. Going for AM jog with one of the people from Atlanta as a mental health time at 5:30.

Pat"

Update from Pat--Wednesday Evening

From Pat:

"Hello all. Time for your daily update. First off we are all well. We are tired.... At times overwhelmed at times and still in good spirits.

We finding new areas that have not received any real medical care. These areas are true shanty tent cities with nothing. People are drinking and urinating in same water that is full of garbage. There is going to be a real infection problem and this will lead to even more deaths. This country still needs lots of long-term help.

Now on to our team. The earthquake this morning was a new experience and a interesting way to wake up. I will once again stress to everyone that we are sleeping outside in tents and no buildings that could come down on us.

The reaction of the locals in the tent city that is growing in the soccer field that is also our field hospital.... I'll draw out our set up when we get back. We were joined by three physicians from Atlanta. Hopefully they will be staying for a while after we leave.

Supplies are coming in much easier. Communications btw all the different field hospitals and the different country's higher level of care.

While there are many Americans here, we have yet to see/meet/hear about any Americans were brought in by government or military. Of course they have military with guns surrounding the hospital.

We continue to have unbelievably bad wound infections and lots of orthopedic issues.

I left compound today to take basaliar skull fracture across city of Port-au-Prince and this was a real adventure to see the destruction.

Sorry I am really tired and do not have energy for more typing on blackberry device"

Short afternoon update from Pat

"...in Haiti we are all safe no further aftershocks/earthquakes. Went in to
shanty tent city today.

Very poor and dirty with people using the same water for drinking and
bathroom. A complete infectious night will soon start up as everyone will have
dysentery and dehydration

Well back to seeing patients. Very tired this afternoon. "

Here are some pictures from the Denver Children Hopsital blog

Update: 6.1 aftershock

6:26 AM Heard from Pat. They are all fine. Haiti was hit with an aftershock (the first one of any note since the crew's arrival). It woke them all but they, and the vast majority of Haitians, are sleeping outside due to the questionable condition of the buildings.


Previous recent update (From Eric Tham who is in the same Denver Children's Hospital group:

"We had a really sick baby transferred to us from [the] Cubans. We had no airways stuff [so] we took it to the Israeli compound. Those guys have [a] micro lab and ventilators available. The IDF team was amazing.

Afternoon update from Pat

"We are still holding our own against the number of the patients. Mainly seeing orthopedic and infected wounds. Need more Splinting supplies and there is a big need for crutches and walkers for the injured and those with amputations.

A group from Democracy Now media outlet has been with us and been filming and reporting back to USA. (sort of NPR like). Anyhow they are talking about doing story about how well the grass roots groups are doing vs the government support ones. An example is how we came ready with sedation meds (thanks for the ketamine Lara) and the correct equipment to do amputations while other places are doing civil war period medicine.

Some side stories and comments. Most people are still living in tents out of concern for their home/buildings that are still standing out of fear structural issues. That is also the issue with our building so we are sleeping in yard.

We have dug new pit toilets for the people in the area as we want everyone to poop in same area as we are starting to some diarrhea so we put toilets away from things in hopes of stopping spread. One of the people from Atlanta here has all the kids singing songs about pooping and peeing in the right place and washing their hands. They really bought in to it and it lead to dancing and laughing by everyone. We have also started to hear that there are hospitals getting supplies and orthopedic surgeons so we have transferred a few out. "

Medical Personnel from The Children's Hospital (Denver) Volunteer to Help in Haiti

From Jennifer Bruny a Doctor working in Haiti. (the "Patrick" she refers to is Pat).

Medical Personnel from The Children's Hospital (Denver) Volunteer to Help in Haiti:

"Patrick also quickly found 2 patients who needed surgery. One 26 year old man had a very deep stab wound in his shoulder due to fighting over food. By surgery, we mean what we can do on the dining room table. The innovation of the day would be figuring out how to have suction. Take the hand pump mechanism out of a Purell bottle, stick the bottom in the wound and pump like mad."

and later:

"The toughest thing to hear today was news from the epicenter of the quake. We met a news crew from Democracy Now tonight who just returned from there. I believe it is about 15 miles from here, but took more than an hour of travel. NO ONE is there! There are absolutely no rescue teams. The UN says they are waiting for security before going."

For more, click through to the DenverChildrenshelpshaiti blog

Morning rounds from Pat

At 9:13 AM Tues Jan 19, 2010

Hello. Starting day two. Peaceful night. We have house with bathroom and shower. Total luxury and so much better than expected.

Working with some amazing people who have done a great job estiblishing this as field hospital. Now that it is known we are here the people are really coming.

Amputation patient from last night doing well. Our three sickest patients made it through the night. Have young girl with bounding pulses fever who was buried for almost two days. Mental status is fine and now eating. In abx and IVF. Hopefully turning corner.

Gas is $15/gallon. Water is clean where we are. Here is a picture of our field hospital.

Again thanks for all the support. "

Pat's update:surgery on the Dining room table

Getting messages more often than expected so far. He is doing surgery on a dining room table.

"We have arrived in Haiti. Airport has heavy military presence and then out into chaos. We have brought over 1000 lbs of medical supplies that was over our weight allowance thus we had to cover that out of pocket ($2500). (if anyone knows rich people looking to spend money let me know). Our first plane was donated with crew from Hendricks racing team who I guess is the biggest/best nascar team. It is their personal plane.

At the airport we added a retired NYC police officer to our team for security and loading/unloading help.

The level of destruction is beyond belief. Not seeing the dead bodies in street that are being reported in news. Have jumped right in; starting 2nd surgery now in dinning room table. We have pain meds and sedatives so not like all the stories on TV. Goal for day is to set up our medical station and get some of our supplies to the physicians who have been here. Hoping to organize better tomorrow.

Update Jan 18, 10:32 PM

"Hello. Thanks for the emails and support....

This evening a truck of food bags arrived from DR. This has lead to a massive influx of people right outside our compound. We feel safe.

Sister Mary who runs this clinic made soup for us, so we did have dinner. Getting ready for bed.

More later.

How amazing is technology that I can so easily stay in touch. Pretty amazing."

Update 12:35 AM January 19

Pat met Sr. Mary, the nun they are staying with. Lo and behold she's from Buffalo! Taught at D'yuoville College. She knows of SBU and BonaResponds.

They talked Sabres, Bills, and she wants to know more about BonaResponds and will be thinking of how/when we can help.

The "Sister Mary" that Pat speaks of is, to the best of my knowledge, Sr. Mary Finnick. She is profiled in this Catholic News Service Piece. The place they are staying is the Matthew 25 House.

"Matthew 25 House, located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is a house of hospitality established in September, 2005 by The Parish Twinning Program of the Americas (PTPA). It is located in the home previously known as Visitation House and is located in the Delmas 33 area of Port-au-Prince.

The purpose of Matthew 25 House is to provide warm hospitality, comfort and assistance to visiting North Americans involved in the PTPA or other missionary and humanitarian organizations"

Here is an CNN i-report from just before the Denver team got there. It basically says they are helping many people and need supplies and money.

Here is a map of the area. It is near the center of the previous map. It is near St. Louis de Gonzague Secondare School.

Updates from Pat and Eric

These are coming through Pat Mahar and Eric Than who are traveling to Haiti in the same group from teh Denver Children's Hospital.

They should be there by now. Got a text message at 8:34 Eastern saying they were on board and had to turn off phones.

1. It seems they flew in a NASCAR plane--donated by Hendrick Racing through Missionary Flights.

2. They have a retired NYPD officer for additional security.

3. They have over 1500 pounds of medical supplies.

will update more when I hear anything.

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Update from Pat

From Pat on his way to Haiti

"...just secured flight in AM through Mission Flights International. All done for free. If looking for way or place to donate they are a suggestion. I will continue try to tell you guys what is working and what is not.

I guess NBC showed clips from the area where we will be at on news tonight: they were speaking with the Belgian physicians we are joining.

Here is link to the blog which we hope to update tonight.

http://denverchildrenshelpshaiti.blogspot.com/

Pat on the way to Haiti

Image via Wikipedia

Pat Mahar is going to Haiti as part of a relief mission from the Denver Childrens Hospital. He is an emergency room pediatrician and will be working in a hospital unit set up in a tent on a soccer field.

From 9NEWS.com | Denver | Colorado's Online News Leader | Local medical workers prepare for Haiti:

"They are taking supplies donated by Children's Hospital.

Volunteers spent Friday night taking inventory and loading up supplies.

They say that despite all of the news coverage, there are still a lot of unknowns."

In addition to this work, he will be scouting out ways that BonaResponds can help in Haiti.

Update (7:30 PM Jan 16). Spoke with Pat. He was just heading to a meeting to go over last minute details of the trip. Someone donated a satellite phone but it is for emergencies only.

They are trying to take as much food as possible: powerbars, peanut butter, and anything else they can. Also old tents as they are asked to leave them there for future volunteers and local residents.

Medically they are taking as many medical supplies as they can. Including anesthesia (currently there are reports of amputations being done w/ nothing more than local anesthesia).

There will be a blog on the Denver Children's Hospital Website that will be updated as often as possible. Also if anyone at Verizon is reading this, several of them would like to convert their phones to international, but it says they must speak with someone at Verizon and no one is working now. If you can make that happen, it would be greatly appreciated!

He also said thank you for all the well wishes and prayers.

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