Many of you are aware of the devastating 7.3 earthquake that hit Haiti last week. Since that occurred we have been in constant contact with numerous sources and points of contacts in Haiti, the USA government, and other assets.
Dealing in Haiti with ANY action is irritating because of the governmental graft, gang anarchy, and lawlessness in that nation. After the horrible struggles in offering assistance for the 2010 earthquake I have had very little actions in that nation.
However, over the last few days I have been approached with a number of desperate pleas for help. One of these is from an orthopedic surgeon that moved to Haiti several years ago and was working in a hospital there. He donated his office and equipment that was in the northeast USA and moved to Haiti to work there—tremendous personal sacrifice and commitment to helping the vulnerable there. He sent a plea today asking for help with materials, supplies, and equipment critical to orthopedic surgical procedures. Part of his plea is below.
Ron will be coming to Montgomery, AL to look through the supplies and equipment we have in our warehouse. He will cherry pick what is critical to his care and then return to Haiti. Ron has secured private transport that is guarded and guaranteed to get to the end destination.
I am sending this out as a plea to any who are considering donating to Haiti Earthquake relief. We are in need of funds to help pay transportation of supplies to our warehouse, construction of specific crates required by the air carrier, and other expenses associated with this action.
At this point the critical concern is the medical attention. Following this will be the need to transport food and other items critical to the next stage in relief work. We already have two containers of food that are stuck in logistics to Haiti but are available to us. In the 2010 relief action we shipped thousands of tons of food and water. But this will be later. Right now the critical need is medical and particularly orthopedic application as described in Ron’s communication below.
Those receiving this in the medical community—as you read Ron’s communication and you have some of the items to donate that he requested, please advise me (john@kachelman.com).
If you would like to donate to help in our relief efforts for Haiti please place “Haiti Relief” on the for line and send to:
Dalraida Church of Christ
3740 Atlanta Highway
Montgomery, AL 36109
ATTN: HAITI RELIEF EFFORTS
Here is Ron’s communication:
Colleagues,
I know you all are aware of the devastating earthquake that just struck Haiti. So far, the death count is about 1,500 Haitians with many thousands injured but those numbers will likely rise just as in the initial earthquake that killed over 250,000. The towns of Cayes and Jeremie Have been decimated in the southwest and casualties are being flown regularly to the two state hospitals in Port Au Prince that I’ve been servicing since the earthquake of 2010.
I have been contacted by the principles of two of the largest State Hospitals in Port Au Prince Regarding a Dire request for equipment. The first phase will be mostly irrigation debridement with amputations, skeletal shortening and loose flaps. Salvageable limbs will need external fixation immediately and in a few weeks closed injuries or small open wounds will require plates and screws.
Many members of the Federation of trauma and orthopedic surgeons throughout the country have been contacted to collect equipment and send it to me for transport via jet into Port Au Prince.
The leadership of the state hospitals in Haiti have designated my not-for-profit ORSI as the headquarters to receive Orthopedic equipment from North America into Haiti for this earthquake.
This will be a daunting task. The security situation and since the assassination and the proliferation of the paramilitary gangs makes this mission even more complex But, we have solid security arrangements to transport equipment from the airport to the state hospitals. I don’t think there will be any issues.
The only good news is the residents and the attendings at the State Hospitals in Port Au Prince are anxious to receive the casualties from the southwest and once properly equipped they will be working likely 24/7 on the wounded. This is a reflection of our support over the past decade in training and helping to build the OR infrastructure to improve capacity for events such as this and I am very proud of that aspect.
We desperately need wound care equipment such as bandages, gauze, disinfectants, soft goods such as gloves masks drapes etc. We also need antibiotics and at least local anesthetics with syringes and needles to do local blocks.
Most importantly our external fixators which stabilize the bones externally so contaminated open fracture wounds can be managed while the fracture is stabilized rigidly.
We then will need large and small fragment sets with your plate and screws sets for upper and lower extremity fixation internally.
Any support with equipment or funding will be greatly appreciate and will directly save limbs and functional many lives.
I thank you all in advance for your attention to this true humanitarian crisis which has again decimated a country that has seen more natural, medical economic and political catastrophes than perhaps any country on earth.
If you are going to send funds for Haiti Earthquake Relief, please consider Ron’s plea for help needed with the emergency orthopedic surgeries and critical care at this point.
John Kachelman Jr.
You must be logged in to post a comment.