Getting Ready for Haiti

Hi!

My name is Merrill Chaus, and I would like to welcome you to our blog. We're blogging so that friends and family can follow our progress. Moreover, I've found that the blogs of previous HAH volunteers have been very informative and allow us to prepare better for our upcoming mission.

www.teamsinaihaiti.blogspot.com

In just a few weeks, our 18 member team will be leaving Baltimore for Port au Prince, Haiti. We represent Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. Our mission is to provide support to the Hopital Adventiste d'Haiti (Haiti Adventist Hospital - "HAH") in Carrefour, Port au Prince. This is a 70 bed hospital, though we've been told that the hospital census has swollen to ~300 following the earthquake of January 12, 2010. The focus of our team is to provide reconstructive orthopedic surgery to the earthquake victims, and general support to HAH. Our team members include three orthopedic surgeons, one podiatrist, one anesthesiologist, one family practicioner, five nurses, one physical therapist, one surgical instrument technician, and three volunteers.

This is my second mission to Haiti, the first having been in January 2010, shortly after the earthquake. During that mission, I worked with a group called IMANA (Islamic Medical Association of North America) in an impromtu field hospital set up in an abandoned amusement park.

This time, I am organizing a group together with my husband John Herzenberg, an orthopaedic surgeon at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. We have assembled a great team of volunteers who are highly motivated and eager to help at Adventist Hospital. HAH survived the earthquake relatively intact, and has been functioning under the leadership of an incredibly dedicated young orthopedic surgeon from Loma Linda, California, Dr. Scott Nelson (more about Scott in a later post) since January. Tomorrow we are having an organizational meeting at our home. More to follow...