Quake victims swamp CU team

A team of nine Creighton University Medical Center staffers is working on very little sleep to treat countless Haitian earthquake victims, but help is on the way.

Four more Creighton relief workers were to leave Omaha for the Dominican Republic at 5 a.m. today to join those who reached the Caribbean nation Saturday. Haiti makes up the western part of the island of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic the eastern part.

“We've had no trouble finding volunteers,” said the medical center's Dr. Charles Filipi. “It's been quite gratifying.”

Creighton's team is based at a small clinic center in the tiny Dominican village of Jimaní, about 30 miles from the ravaged Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, said Filipi, who's helping to coordinate the effort and is in cell phone contact with the team.

Creighton officials said the clinic's two operating rooms are overwhelmed by large numbers of injured.

Hundreds of refugees have fled Haiti's capital in a desperate search for medical care. Creighton officials said the relief workers aren't getting enough sleep and face dwindling supplies.

A Puerto Rican surgical team working in the same area was forced to perform amputations without anesthesia until Creighton workers brought extra supplies, Filipi said.

There are more patients than the doctors can count, he said. “Patients everywhere on the ground.”

Many of those with critical internal injuries have died, Filipi said. The majority of patients the Creighton doctors are treating have broken bones and other orthopedic injuries.

Approximately 200 of the patients they've seen had compound fractures, in which broken bones protrude through the skin — injuries that are extremely dangerous because they can easily lead to infections, Filipi said.

Saturday's flight — led by Dr. Brian Loggie — carried three Creighton surgeons, two operating room nurses, two nurse anesthetists and two pediatric specialists.

Most space on the plane was reserved for supplies such as anesthetic, antibiotics and bandages. Today's flight will take more, including saw blades, sutures and intravenous solutions.

Creighton is working with its Institute for Latin American Concern, which is in the Dominican city of Santiago and serves as a staging area. Relief workers fly to Santiago, grab additional supplies and then ride a bus for eight hours to reach Jimaní. Dominican roads are intact and safe, Filipi said, which has been a big help.

Because Creighton's team is working in the Dominican Republic, organizers have avoided the logistical challenges in Haiti and gone straight to work.

“I asked one person, and she said that she had had two hours of sleep in two days,” Filipi said. One doctor's account, he said, was: “We haven't been here that long, but it feels like a week.”

There's no schedule for how long Creighton will keep medical workers in the Dominican Republic, nor is there much certainty about how long those there now will stay.

Contact the writer:

444-1068, johnny.perez@owh.com

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