Newswise — After the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti left thousands of victims in its wake, nearly 20 members of the American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) put their lives on hold to travel to Haiti to help its youngest victims. With an estimated 40% of the population of Haiti being under the age of 18, many of the injured were children in need of specialized surgical care.
“The first 4 days of our mission, we were operating 22 hours per day, and being ordered to lie down for two hours. It was truly chaos,” said Dr. Shawn Safford, of Bethesda, MD, who deployed with the U.S. Naval Ship Comfort to Haiti. “The most difficult part…of the mission was the inability to treat all of the patients, and patients that you had to make expectant would not have been expectant in a less chaotic situation,” said Dr. Colin Knight, who came to Haiti as part of a coordinated team from Miami Children’s Hospital. “By presenting with an entire team we were able to have a coordinated approach to provide care to the children,” he added.
The chaos, austere operating conditions, lack of surgical tools and general anesthesia proved challenging for the medical personnel. Noting the vast difference in standards of care between the United States and the post-earthquake conditions in Haiti, Dr. John Lawrence of Seattle, WA, noted, “The experience has been very challenging, but also very rewarding.” Dr. Lawrence spent the month of February in a Port au Prince, Haiti hospital run by Doctors Without Borders. “I’ve worked with both children and adults with lots of amputation revisions, basic open wound management, skin grafting and helping with complex orthopedic work…It is also a testimony to our specialty and the people who have provided training in it to others, for the breadth of experience which APSA has long emphasized as being necessary in becoming a pediatric surgeon…,” he added.
APSA board member, Henri Ford, MD, of Children’s Hospital—Los Angeles, said, “Participating in the earthquake response efforts was a phenomenal, life-changing experience. …the field hospital where I worked treated more than 1500 patients, at least 40% of whom were less than 18 years old… We also took care of numerous gunshot wounds.” Dr. Ford noted that a major issue they confronted was coordinating long-term follow up for patients who require specific care for fractures or complex wounds, as well as rehabilitation and physical therapy for most of the amputees. Dr. Ford travelled to Haiti serving as a member of the DMAT and IMSuRT teams deployed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Echoing Dr. Ford’s concern, Dr. Safford says the biggest impact on that community and difficulty in treating the patients is the dire future need for prosthetics. “I encourage all to contact their respective aid agencies and let them know that prostheses are critical to the future survival of these children,” he urged. APSA members are now working to form a pediatric surgical volunteer rotation to ensure that the specialized care that pediatric surgeons can provide continues in Haiti.
The American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) (www.eapsa.org) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to ensure optimal pediatric surgical care of patients and their families, to promote excellence in the field, and to foster a vibrant and viable community of pediatric surgeons.
This is done by developing and advocating for standards of care for infants and children and influencing public policy around the surgical care of children; encouraging discovery, innovation and improvement of care; providing rich user friendly venues for the dissemination of up-to-date knowledge; offering high quality continuing education to members; creating identity and community among pediatric surgeons; and promoting a supportive health care environment for patients, staff and surgeons and ensuring that it is sustained by economic health.
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