The University of Nebraska Medical Center will send a group of 13 health professionals to Haiti this weekend to help treat victims of the massive earthquake on Jan. 12.
The group includes seven physicians and six nurses. They represent UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center. One of the physicians is from Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, which has a pediatric affiliation agreement with UNMC.
“I salute these courageous doctors and nurses going to Haiti,” said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D. “They are true humanitarians and make us proud that they are part of the medical center family. It is a very risky adventure, as I’m sure they will be going to places in Haiti that have been devastated by the earthquake.
“They are great individuals who are making major sacrifices to go there. They recognize that taking care of people in need is really the reason they entered the health care profession. They undoubtedly will make a huge difference for the people they touch in Haiti. I wish them godspeed.”
The deployment is the first of likely several deployments of volunteers to Haiti that the medical center will make.
“We are proud to be the first team from Nebraska to send volunteers into the eye of the storm in Haiti,” said Ayman El-Mohandes, M.B.B.Ch., M.D., M.P.H., dean of the College of Public Health and a co-leader of the medical center’s response to the Haitian tragedy. “But obviously the needs in Haiti won’t be fulfilled by 13 people in two weeks.”
The other co-leader is Rubens Pamies, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs, who will join the volunteer group in his native Haiti this weekend.
At a news conference this afternoon at UNMC, 10 of the volunteers met with media and gave their thoughts on their upcoming mission to Haiti.
David Young, M.D., associate professor of surgery at UNMC, said: “I don’t think anybody can ever be prepared for anything like this.”
The medical center workers will deploy to Port-au-Prince and other hard-hit areas to provide aid. Most will spend one to two weeks in Haiti, others will be there longer.
The volunteers include:
- Two trauma surgeons;
- An orthopaedic trauma surgeon;
- An adult anesthesiologist;
- A pediatric anesthesiologist; and
- Nurses with various specialties including trauma, orthopaedics, intensive care and organ transplantation.
In addition to this group, other medical center personnel are involved in the Haitian relief effort. Tim Glidden, chief nurse anesthetist in the department of anesthesiology, travelled to the Dominican Republic earlier this month with a group from Creighton University. The Dominican Republic borders Haiti, and many earthquake victims are crossing the border to go to the Dominican Republic for their care.
Jean-Claude Desmangles, M.D., an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics and a native Haitian, will soon travel to with a separate group to provide aid on the ground in Haiti.
As the state’s only academic health science center, UNMC is on the leading edge of health care. Breakthroughs are possible because hard-working researchers, educators and clinicians are resolved to work together to fuel discovery. In 2009, UNMC’s extramural research support topped $100 million for the first time, resulting in the creation of 3,600 jobs in Nebraska. UNMC’s academic excellence is shown through its award-winning programs, and its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through its commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading health care centers. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 550 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.
With a reputation for excellence, innovation and extraordinary patient care, The Nebraska Medical Center has earned J.D. Power and Associates’ Hospital of Distinction award for inpatient services for four consecutive years. It is a US News & World Report 2008 “Best Hospital” for Cancer, Neurology and Neurosurgery. It also received the 2009 Consumer Choice Award, a mark of patient satisfaction as selected by healthcare consumers and has achieved Magnet recognition status for nursing excellence, Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals Performance Improvement Leader recognition, as well as the Award of Progress from the state of Nebraska’s Edgerton Quality Awards Program. As the teaching hospital for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, this 624 licensed bed academic medical center has an international reputation for providing solid organ and bone marrow transplantation services and is well known nationally and regionally for its oncology, neurology and cardiology programs. The Nebraska Medical Center can be found online at www.nebraskamed.com.