1/20/2010

International Medical Corps - Haiti: Rapid Response Alert Hub



-A 6.1 earthquake hit Haiti early this morning, jolting our staff out of bed. All of our staff and medical teams are ok, but are worried about areas closer to the epicenter.

-We are waiting to hear back from mobile medical teams about what the damage is elsewhere.

-Our emergency medical team is working at the De'l Universite d'etat d'Haiti, a 700-bed hospital that is barely functioning. We are establishing an emergency surgery facility in conjunction with other NGOs.

-We have performed approximately 150 amputations and treated hundreds of people with fracture, wounds, and other trauma.

-We have 19 doctors and nurses working at the general hospital providing emergency medical care. Our team has brought in critically needed medical supplies, including tetanus hyper immune globulin.

-International Medical Corps’ sent a mobile medical team of 3 doctors and 1 nurse to Leogane, the epicenter of the earthquake, on Monday. Leogane was destroyed by the earthquake. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 are dead.

-The team has recruited Haitian medical students to help and is training them to provide basic first aid and assist with more advance care.

-We are supporting small medical posts throughout the city and operating out of the make-shift clinic at the Villa Creole Hotel.

- Our teams are conducting assessments in the southwest of Port-au-Prince, part of Haiti that has received limited assistance so far, but was dramatically affected by the earthquake.