We started the trip being flown via the Coast Guard into Port of Prince, Haiti. We stayed overnight in tents on concrete in the middle of an already condemned compound that we made into a tent city. It was chaos after that.
The next morning we thought we were going to Pignon, but nothing was confirmed, and the on-site director of Partners in Health said that she may split the teams depending on what hospitals needed what specialties and staffing.
It was decided that that 5 people would fly into Pignon and start assessing: Myself, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Hogarth, Sue and Frank (ER physician) .
We left for the airport to board a very, very small plane. When we arrived to the chaotic airport, as we were about to board the 5 passenger plane, a missionary asked us if we knew any orthopedic surgeons. He was escorting a 9 year old girl who had been found under the rubble and dug out by her mother. She had crush wounds , open fractures in both feet , that were both were partially amputated.
We immediately transported the child “Meika”, her mother with us to Pignon.
She became our mascot of the mission; and everyone fell in love with Meika.
We arrived in Pignon and we were greeted by Stacy and her husband, missionaries in town. We went directly to the hospital, toured and then went right to work. This facility’s operating room was very sufficient. We worked straight thru until 6am in the morning. We rounded up the floor and immediately made a surgical schedule.
We thought our first patient would be Meika, but instead we performed a revision amputation on a young female who was septic and dying. She was brought back several times during the week for additional surgeries. We did a hip disarticulation on her; she had necratizing fasciitis, but with multiple wash-outs, debridements, de-bulking and the disarticulation, we think she will live.
That night we did several more wash-outs on patients with open fractures, so that the next day we could go in, explore the wounds and determine if we could salvage the limb by reducing the fracture and not having to perform amputations.
The next day the rest of the team arrived. We worked until 3 am the next morning.
Surgeries performed:
Hip disarticulation
Multiple extremity wash-outs and debridements
Hand, arm, foot amputations
Open reduction, internal fixations of several femur fractures
Open reduction, internal fixations of several humeral fractures
Application of external fixator of tibial/fibula fracture
At the hospital patients lined up in the halls. Patients’ families actually lived underneath the patients stretchers and beds. Each family is expected to bring the meals to the patient, but as this was a disaster, the missionaries were supplying 2 meals per day.
In Pignon, the medical team was housed in the missionary compound, which was owned by Dr. Guy, who is actually running for the next president of Haiti. The house was very nice and in each room there were 3-4 beds, with a toilet and shower on each floor, something we weren’t expecting.
The staff in the compound supplied our meals, with a main stay of rice and beans. Had refrigeration with bottled water and cola (nice, huh)
Each day we walked back and forth to the hospital in groups, stayed together and were safe.
We did all the patients in Pignon and some that were flown into us, and were able to get word out from the pilots who brought us to fly in anyone who needed surgery.
Flights were provided by Missionary Flights International (a christian volunteer network).
We did about 30 cases, which doesn’t sound much, but these cases were difficult & some taking 4-5 hours.
Brigitte Smith, RN, CNOR of the Grand Strand Regional Medical Center in South Carolina
