Courriel ISN
Courriel de l'ISN à ses membres - 20-10 13:23
Ensuring kidney relief for the victims of the Haiti earthquake
The ISN Renal Disaster Relief Task Force is in motion once again
An assessment team from the ISN Renal Disaster Relief Task Force (RDRTF) has entered Haiti on 15 January via Santo Domingo on the flight from Paris. The team included one doctor, R. Caluwe and one nurse, S. Claus from the hospital of Ghent, Belgium and is working in close collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). A second team including one renal nurse, S. Maddens and one dialysis technician, P. Stockman with further equipment reached Port-au-Prince the 17th January.
All members of the team carried light material (e.g. Kayexalate, dialysis catheters) in their hand luggage. A cargo with heavy material (4 dialysis machines, an inflatable hospital) left Europe already on the 16th but it was not possible for the carrying plane to land in Haiti. The material was rerouted to Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic from where it had to be shipped to Port-au-Prince on smaller planes and eventually got there on the evening of January 17th.
All the time we were confronted with serious communication problems, whereby only sporadic contacts can be held by satellite phone (early morning, local time) and email (late evening, local time). No contact is up to now possible by mobile phone.
The situation with which our team is faced is dramatic. Most wounded people are lying in the streets without care, although the situation is improving (or rather is not as bad as at the beginning). All local hospitals are overcrowded and there is a shortage of all kinds of medical material including drugs, as well as water and electricity. Identification, triage and transport of victims with potential crush are hard to organize.
Our team found a hospital with three intact dialysis machines [General (University) Hospital] which were no longer used (all chronic patients had apparently left when the earthquake occurred and did not return). To the best of our knowledge, this is the only potentially operative dialysis unit in the city. The building had first to be declared safe. The planning was to make the unit operational before the evening of the 17th, then adding our own four machines. MSF would generate its own water and electricity. The whole process was unfortunately delayed due to chaos. The three Haitian machines could not be made operational as some materials were locked in closets and the local nephrologists could not be reached to open them. Once our cargo arrived in Port-au-Prince we had problems with transport and unloading.
It goes without saying that these are the most extreme disaster conditions we have ever been faced with during the existence of the RDRTF. Fortunately, we can rely on the excellent logistic support of MSF. We also are grateful for all the help and support we received from colleagues from all over the world. But structural chaos together with a disaster of unseen dimensions makes progress extremely difficult. Nevertheless, all these tiny acts of support together will help save a substantial number of lives.
The ISN President, Bernardo Rodriguez-Iturbe, is personally involved in coordinating efforts across the various scientific societies and organizations (SLANH, the Dominican Society of Nephrology, some of the dialysis manufacturers and of course the ISN members from Haiti and Dominican Republic).
A third team composed of one volunteer nephrologist (Dr. J. Vanmassenhove, Belgium) and two renal nurses (N. Eyhartz and D. Borniche, France) is now preparing to leave for Haiti.
More updates will be sent soon depending on the availability of email and phone connections.
About ISN RDRTF:
The ISN’s Renal Disaster Relief Task Force (RDRTF) provides essential medical care to people in the wake of natural disasters. The Task Force consists of a worldwide network of experts in the management of patients with acute renal failure. It was created after the severe earthquake in Armenia in 1988 to provide future renal aid in action wherever needed around the globe. For more information on RDRTF visit the ISN Gateway.
You can help:
Nephrologists and intensive care specialists who are interested in enrolling as volunteers for the RDRTF should contact the coordination centre through RDRTF@ugent.be.
Thank you in advance for your help and support.
On behalf of
Ray Vanholder
Chairman ISN/RDRTF:
Luca Segantini
ISN Executive Director
Tel: +32 2 213 1370
Email: lsegantini@isn-online.org
Ensuring kidney relief for the victims of the Haiti earthquake
The ISN Renal Disaster Relief Task Force is in motion once again
An assessment team from the ISN Renal Disaster Relief Task Force (RDRTF) has entered Haiti on 15 January via Santo Domingo on the flight from Paris. The team included one doctor, R. Caluwe and one nurse, S. Claus from the hospital of Ghent, Belgium and is working in close collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). A second team including one renal nurse, S. Maddens and one dialysis technician, P. Stockman with further equipment reached Port-au-Prince the 17th January.
All members of the team carried light material (e.g. Kayexalate, dialysis catheters) in their hand luggage. A cargo with heavy material (4 dialysis machines, an inflatable hospital) left Europe already on the 16th but it was not possible for the carrying plane to land in Haiti. The material was rerouted to Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic from where it had to be shipped to Port-au-Prince on smaller planes and eventually got there on the evening of January 17th.
All the time we were confronted with serious communication problems, whereby only sporadic contacts can be held by satellite phone (early morning, local time) and email (late evening, local time). No contact is up to now possible by mobile phone.
The situation with which our team is faced is dramatic. Most wounded people are lying in the streets without care, although the situation is improving (or rather is not as bad as at the beginning). All local hospitals are overcrowded and there is a shortage of all kinds of medical material including drugs, as well as water and electricity. Identification, triage and transport of victims with potential crush are hard to organize.
Our team found a hospital with three intact dialysis machines [General (University) Hospital] which were no longer used (all chronic patients had apparently left when the earthquake occurred and did not return). To the best of our knowledge, this is the only potentially operative dialysis unit in the city. The building had first to be declared safe. The planning was to make the unit operational before the evening of the 17th, then adding our own four machines. MSF would generate its own water and electricity. The whole process was unfortunately delayed due to chaos. The three Haitian machines could not be made operational as some materials were locked in closets and the local nephrologists could not be reached to open them. Once our cargo arrived in Port-au-Prince we had problems with transport and unloading.
It goes without saying that these are the most extreme disaster conditions we have ever been faced with during the existence of the RDRTF. Fortunately, we can rely on the excellent logistic support of MSF. We also are grateful for all the help and support we received from colleagues from all over the world. But structural chaos together with a disaster of unseen dimensions makes progress extremely difficult. Nevertheless, all these tiny acts of support together will help save a substantial number of lives.
The ISN President, Bernardo Rodriguez-Iturbe, is personally involved in coordinating efforts across the various scientific societies and organizations (SLANH, the Dominican Society of Nephrology, some of the dialysis manufacturers and of course the ISN members from Haiti and Dominican Republic).
A third team composed of one volunteer nephrologist (Dr. J. Vanmassenhove, Belgium) and two renal nurses (N. Eyhartz and D. Borniche, France) is now preparing to leave for Haiti.
More updates will be sent soon depending on the availability of email and phone connections.
About ISN RDRTF:
The ISN’s Renal Disaster Relief Task Force (RDRTF) provides essential medical care to people in the wake of natural disasters. The Task Force consists of a worldwide network of experts in the management of patients with acute renal failure. It was created after the severe earthquake in Armenia in 1988 to provide future renal aid in action wherever needed around the globe. For more information on RDRTF visit the ISN Gateway.
You can help:
Nephrologists and intensive care specialists who are interested in enrolling as volunteers for the RDRTF should contact the coordination centre through RDRTF@ugent.be.
Thank you in advance for your help and support.
On behalf of
Ray Vanholder
Chairman ISN/RDRTF:
Luca Segantini
ISN Executive Director
Tel: +32 2 213 1370
Email: lsegantini@isn-online.org
