Medical Missions for Haiti: URGENT Need For Volunteer Physician Staff at St. Joseph Hospital

URGENT Need For Volunteer Physician Staff at St. Joseph Hospital

Dear Members, Volunteers and Friends of A.H.D.H.,

Greetings to All From the Field

As you have no doubt heard in the news, Haiti is now dealing with an outbreak of cholera.

At St. Joseph Hospital in Ridore, La Vallee de Jacmel, we have admitted four patients with suspected cholera. All have come from outside of the La Vallee area, principally from Port au Prince, to be with family and seek help at St. Joseph Hospital.

Based on the experience in the rest of Haiti, we expect to see more cases in the next several weeks.

Just at this moment of crisis we will loose our young interns and nurses who have worked at the hospital this year fulfilling their public service commitment. Additionally, the volunteers of the 49th AHDH Mission have completed their work and returned home. In normal years this would not be a great problem while we wait for their replacements, but this year we fear will be exceptional.

Cholera patients arriving at the hospital are at great risk of death without a physician ready to apply aggressive rehydration and antibiotics and guide their care. The community at large is at risk as well for the spread of the disease if these patients go home without proper care.

So we are inviting all medical professionals to volunteer for a week or two at our hospital over the next several weeks. We will welcome all qualified volunteers. We will provide food, lodging and ground transportation during this period. If you have been considering a medical mission trip to Haiti, please consider doing so now. Your help is very much needed.

We are facing a crisis with staff here in La Vallee, as we still can’t afford a full time MD and RN. We just barely saved the 4th life, which makes me even wonder if I will have the courage (or lack of) to leave this place next weekend, as the potential for worsening is just frightening.

Share this message with your colleagues and see if any staffing or financial help is possible.

Please, let me know.

Charles Rene, MD, FACOG
Clinical Associate Professor of OB/Gyn
Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Coordinator of Medical Missions for Haiti, AHDH
phone: 011-509-3-757-7264

Nicole Vincent Michael MD
michaelnvm@yahoo.com

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