Updates from Hopital Sacre Coeur

Updates from Haiti at the Hopital Sacre Coeur. To see more images of their work you can visit their website.

Sunday the patients continued to arrive in helos and by road. Doctors from
the French Government field hospital in Port au Prince visited to view our
facility and capabilities. They were very impressed and within an hour 2 of
their helos arrived with 10 patients.

Today the Navy was due to arrive at the hospital to see our capacity and 
capabilities and to co-ordinate efforts going forward.

We are a major player 
in the rescue effort not only because of our expanded facilities, numerous
skilled volunteers and expertise but because we seem to be the first
hospital in the country with a system in place for rehabilitation of
patients into the community. Vision of Hope, a mission 3 miles from Hopital
Sacre Coeur has opened their doors to take our discharged patients (50 so
far) and take care of them until they are ready to return to their
families. Their doctors come to Hopital Sacre Coeur during the day and so
are aware of the needs of each patient when they transfer them to the other
site. This gives us space to take additional critical surgical cases.

 Hopital Sacre Coeur is now posted on the blog of General Fraser of the
Southern Command – http://www.southcom.mil/AppsSC/Blog.php

Here is an excerpt from Dr Steve Fletcher, K.M. who just returned to New
Jersey.

”Well we finally made it back yesterday on a private jet owned by IWorks who 
has apparently donated their entire fleet of two jets and three helicopters 
to Haitian humanitarian efforts. We are exhausted and emotionally drained.
There isn’t one of us who didn’t breakdown at least once during the week.
 For the first two days after the urology team left we were it. My guys did
everything from general surgery to orthopedics. Dr. Lovejoy’s team of
orthopedists arrived on Monday and we rapidly expanded the work and the 
hospital. Rick Pitera, our anesthesiologist and K.M. to be in November was
amazing. On his suggestion we converted the little delivery room into a
fully functioning operating room but without OR lights (these are coming).



We took the three examining rooms across the hall from the OR and converted 
them into procedure rooms complete with oxygen and now monitors so we can
give conscious sedation and do wound washouts, casting and debridements. The
 waiting room is now a pre-op area. The patients who need x-ray are now 
transported up the road next to the cemetery through the back gate so they 
no longer go through the hospital. Post op patients are sent across the
 street to the school that has now become a temporary hospital. One side is
 post-op and the other, on the left as you enter the grounds, is where all
 new patients are evaluated and prioritized for x-ray and surgery.