More updates from Haiti
We've got more updates from Baltimore-area medical teams in Haiti:
Remember that baby that Dr. Carol Ritter delivered? Well, the mom named her child after the doc. Awwwwww.
“I’ve never had one of my patients in the states in 35 years name a baby after me," said Ritter, an OBGYN at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. ‘I mean in the middle of all the sorrow you can still find the joy and, that was, that was just a gift."
Meanwhile, Dr. Guesly Delva of the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute for Human Virology, returned to his native Haiti earlier this week and gave us this update via Lane Hartill from Catholic Relief Services.
"I was dreadful of coming here because of what I was seeing on TV," he said. "I broke down the first night." The relief effort is both personal and professional for Dr. Delva. In the first days after the quake he feared the worst when he hadn't heard from his mother, other relatives and friends scattered in his native Gonaives and in Port-au-Prince. Since then, he's learned his mother is fine, but he is still searching for other relatives. 
After arriving in the city and working with patients, he said: "I feel a sense of desperation."
"There's so much to do. I know probably we're not going to have enough time or resources to relive all of the pain or suffering."
top photo from the Ritters: Dr. Carol Ritter and baby Carol
bottom photo from Lane Hartill: Delva checks on a woman whose leg was amputated
More local medical teams are being dispatched to Haiti to help out with the relief effort. There are so many these days, it's hard to keep track.
Already in the country or planning to travel there are medical professionals from Johns Hopkins Medicine, Union Memorial Hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center, University of Maryland Medical Center, Greater Baltimore Medical Center and other institutions.
From Hopkins, an expert in disaster medicine, a pediatric emergency doctor with six residents and a physician in the department of pulmonary and critical care medicine, are all treating patients in Haiti. Hopkins also plans to deploy members of its Go Team, made up of trained disaster medical experts and support staff.
At the University of Maryland, a dozen Shock Trauma doctors and nurses are expected to leave for Haiti on Monday, beginning a rotation that will last for several months.
Comments
Is there a means for private citizens to package needed items for teams to take with them? Please forward contact info!! We all want to help!!
Posted by: kap | January 22, 2010 12:41 PM
The doctors and nurses responding to the medical needs of Haiti is a demonstration of what being a medical professional is all about. They make me proud.
There are a number of medical organizations that have been traveling there periodically over the years because the healthcare has been so poor. In some cases it's like putting a new bandaid on top of an old one.
My prayers go out to the Haitian people.
Posted by: Carolyn | January 23, 2010 8:51 PM