HPIC at Work

Canadian Medical Assistance Teams hits the ground running in Haiti

Take an open field, a tent and a team of dedicated Canadian medical professionals - add medicine and supplies, including Physician Travel Packs from HPIC - and you have the makings of a make-shift clinic, ready to treat the flow of people who were injured when the earthquake struck the town of Léogane.

Canadian Medical Assistance Teams, composed of volunteer doctors and nurses from across Canada, sent their first team into Haiti only two days after the earthquake. Other medical teams have since been deployed, including a physician who can provide full spinal anesthesia, essential to the numerous amputations that are required.

"The city of Léogane, which has a population of 134,000, is about 80 per cent devastated, including a five-story nursing school" reports Valerie Rzepka, Registered Nurse and CMAT Chairperson, who went to Haiti with CMAT's assessment team. "The people here are experiencing many fractures and wounds. Supplies are very limited."

Paramedic Bill Coultart told the National Post, "I had a kid come in with a plate-sized hole in his head right down to his skull. It's infected. Whether he'll survive that, I don't know. We do what we can."

And amidst the tragedy, there are glimmers of hope. One week after the earthquake, clinic staff were overjoyed to deliver a healthy baby boy.

HPIC continues to send Physician Travel Packs with CMAT teams to serve the sick and injured in and around Léogane. Every PTP contains a wide range of basic medication and dressings - enough to treat up to 600 people for their basic health care needs.