2/2/10 – Team 2 Day 4

Update from Dr. Goldberg:
-16 inpatients and over 100 patients seen in clinic today

-3 surgeries: a femur fracture, a hindfoot amputation & closure and a skin graft, the first we know of in Haiti

-two helicopters came in with one surgical patient, an ankle fracture. We had four patients ready for transfer.

A few stories:

A huge Navy helicopter landed at MOH today, causing a huge cloud of dust upon landing. It was a very surreal moment, through the dust walked a Navy officer. Dr. Goldberg introduced himself and told him they needed help transferring some patients. The pilot said, “I’ll take all your patients”. It was just phenomenal.

Dr. Goldberg recounted, “It’s nice to see the team is working so well together. Everybody has their job. They are eager to work. We have this one doctor, Dr. Mahelia, who is a wound care doctor and she is absolutely a super star. She is so good with these wounds and so good with these patients. It’s fantastic when she is around.”

Another interesting story is about a guy who is 52 with a proximal femur (hip) fracture. He was able to be transferred today on the first Blackhawk. Dr. Goldberg said: “I gave him a little salute like he was going to be okay and he was grinning from ear to ear and he was looking up at the US military officer on the helicopter and he couldn’t have been happier, broken leg and all, he was just smiling ear to ear. He was so happy to be finally transferring to some place where he could get some help. That was just a really wonderful special thing that happened.”

The team taught a man to bowel and bladder train his wife who is a T12 paraplegic because of her injuries sustained in the earthquake . The man showed so much love for his wife, he will have to do this for the rest of her life.

As Dr. Goldberg left the message for this update, he described: “I’m dictating down by the wards because we’re watching the patients and I wish you could hear them in their rooms. They are singing hymns as they are bedding down for the evening as it’s getting late and all the patients and family members are just sitting, the rooms are dark and they are just singing hymns together. It’s quite impressive. There are only lights in the hallway and we are just listening. They are just trying to calm their loved ones. The love that they have for each other is incredible.”

The nurses had dinner in town. The doctors were left to close up the operating room and manage patients, a funny sight to see without the help of the nurses.

Sharon Depmore, LVN shared a story with her husband about the shoulder amputation from yesterday. He was very depressed about the surgery but by the end of the day was already sitting up, maneuvering and eating with one hand.

Pictures:

Picture #1: Skin graft procedure. This was done manually with a weck blade and a skin mesher, an “old school” method.

Picture #2: Dr. Mehta seeing patients in clinic.

Picture #3: Helicopter “negotiations”

Picture #4: Group picture of Team 2