Baltimore doctor delivers baby in Haiti
Dr. Carol Ritter, an OBGYN at Greater Baltimore Medical Center who rushed to Haiti last week to help aid earthquake victims, delivered a baby there over the weekend.
She and her husband Dr. Tom Ritter, a dentist, left last week for Haiti. You can read about their efforts in Haiti on their blog: www.carolandtominhaiti.com. (That's them on the left)
The Ritters have long ties to Haiti and humanitarian efforts around the globe. Tom Ritter was actually supposed to fly to Haiti this week for a scheduled lecture at one of Haiti's dental schools to which he has long given donations and support, he told me during an interview last week. Then, disaster struck and the couple made quick plans to join the relief effort.
Here's what Tom Ritter wrote on his blog upon arriving in Haiti Saturday: Wow - we've got our work cut out for us! No one should come here unless they can feed and house themselves. 100 fully equipped docs just came with no way to feed themselves, and their hotel is 3 hours away. The public hospital is not a nice place to be. Chaos is the order of the day, but good things come in every hour to help ease the suffering.
They're not alone. Last week folks at Johns Hopkins told me they hoped to send teams to Haiti soon. GBMC also made a $10,000 donation to purchase medical supplies for the region. And a team of three medical professionals from St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, including a Haitian-American anesthesiologist, are expected to leave for Haiti tomorrow for a week-long aid mission.
photo from Tom and Carol Ritter
Comments
Way to go Dr. Ritter! Your patients are proud of you!
Posted by: Holly | January 19, 2010 10:01 AM
Cheers for being prepared for the worst and going forth! Go with you courage and endurance, as i know you will need both. I would go, but my skills are limited, and would be most likely in the way and part of the problem instead of the solution.
Posted by: Meekrat | January 19, 2010 10:42 AM
I think what the Ritters have done is admirable, and I wish more people with their skills would volunteer for such good works. However, even people who perform admirable acts can have negative qualities, and methinks the Ritters trumpet their own horn a bit much, rather than keeping the focus on the people they are helping. A quick google search for them reveals how much self-promotion is actually going on. And they always manage to subtly work in statements, like Tom's above, in which they compare other people's lack of qualities (the unprepared doctors) with their own great qualities. I recently attended a dinner at which they were guests, and they did the same thing, over and over again. So kudos, by all means, but they need to be less self-righteous, as it leads to questions about their motives.
Posted by: Chris | February 23, 2010 6:57 AM