Disaster Relief Pediatrics in Haiti
by Dr. Lane Robson

For two weeks in March I was part of a physical medicine rehabilitation team in Haiti.  Team Canada Healing Hands for Haiti (TCHHH) is a Haitian-approved Non Governmental Organization (NGO) and a registered charitable organization in Canada. 

My role was to provide medical support for the rehabilitation patients and otherwise to support local pediatric services.  Over 90% of my time was spent supporting local pediatric services; for the first 10 days I served as the pediatrician for the outpatient department at St. Michelle, a Jacmel hospital that sort of survived the earthquake; for the last two days I served as an inpatient pediatrician at the Project Medishare tent in Port-au-Prince.

Jacmel is major city on the south coast of Haiti.  Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, and the 80 km of mountainous land between these two cities suffered severe damage during the January earthquake. There were wide cracks and upheavals in the paved road to Jacmel.  Apart from a two story-sized boulder that blocked one lane near the top of the pass, the rubble had been cleared over the two months since the earthquake.  The trip to Jacmel from the capital takes 3 or 4 hours depending on the time of day and weather.  Most everything but disaster and disease moves slowly in Haiti. 

Soon after dawn, the families and individuals who live in the Jacmel area and who desire medical care turn up at the St. Michelle site and they wait patiently to be seen by a physician.  Some wait the entire day.  During my time at St. Michelle there was usually a Haitian physician in the ER and a foreign disaster relief physician in the outpatient area.  Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ran an inpatient service in tents on the site. 

Once I arrived in Jacmel I took over the pediatric outpatient care, which we provided in a United Nations tent next to the ER. Article continued »

The photography in the Haiti photo gallery is by Dr. Lane Robson. To activate the gallery so that you can view larger images, please click on the thumbnails above. To read the caption for each photo please hover the cursor over the photo.