Theresa Fagan, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner

I have been at Sinai as a Pediatric Critical Care Nurse Practitioner for 3.5 years.  Prior to that I was PNP in primary care for 2 years, and a PICU nurse for 5.5 years.  I have been on 3 medical missions to Ecuador with Ecuadent Foundation where I have worked in hospitals in Pasaje and Esmeraldas providing pre-op and post-op care to pediatric patients receiving surgeries such as cleft lip and palate repairs, scar revisions, and hernia repairs.  Ever since hearing about the earthquake and devastation in Haiti, I have wanted to go and offer whatever help and care I could provide, so I am thrilled to be able to travel with Team Sinai.  This photo was taken in Ecuador. (I'm the one on the right)

"Physical Terrorist, I mean Therapist..."

One truism in orthopedic surgery is that it doesn't matter how good a surgeon you are, if you don't have an excellent physical therapist backing you up. For the past six years, Moshe Roth has been making sure that the good work of the fine docs at the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics, International Center for Limb Lengthening, has been followed up with diligent, high quality physical therapy to insure the best possible outcomes for the patients. Moshe is a pediatric physical therapist. PT's sometimes get a bad rap from patients, who often refer to PT's as "Physical Terrorists" and "Pain and Torture" specialists. In fact, it is difficult work, made even more challenging when dealing with children who can't always understand the concept of "no pain, no gain.." Moshe manages to pull it off with aplomb, and the kids adore him, despite all he puts them through. Moshe has a huge fan club amongst the kids he treats. In Moshe’s own words, “The opportunity to join the Sinai mission to Haiti really serves a life goal for me. When I chose to enter the Physical Therapy profession, part of my decision was motivated by the opportunity to work with the under served and to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate. Haiti is the first of what I hope will be other future medical missions.”

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...