Probable cases of cholera at Visitation Hospital (Petite Riviere de Nippes)
Friday, December 3, 2010 6:48 AM
From: "Amy King"
To: haiti-epidemic-advisory-system@googlegroups.com, serentriphard @yahoo.fr, frajotte @aol.com, ayitialive @gmail.com
Hi All -
I am adding Visitation Hospital (Petite Riviere de Nippes) to the HEAS Watchboard.
http://www.visitationhospital.org shows this amazing facility & what it can be as a cholera resource for the south.
See needs below:
Hi Amy,
I wish to thank you for your email and your concern to help the Clinic somehow with the cholera outbreak in the country.
I can say that until today we received 5 patients with cholera. Unfortunately, we don't keep those patients. We give them the first care (IV fluids for about 4 to 6 hours) and send them to the nearest Hospital in Miragoane. We cannot keep those patients yet since the Clinic does not have the structure for that with a long and complicated protocol required and applied at the cholera sites.
In fact, what the Clinic needs now to be a at least a medium cholera site are:
1- An outside room to keep and treat the patients (can be built with plywood and post-wood) or a big tent.
2- A lot of IV fluids (ringer)
3- Human resources ( at least 3 to 5 Nurse's aides according to the number of patients)
4- A lot of bleach water and other supplies that can be useful
5- Patients bed (specially made for patient who has cholera, they have a hole in the middle)
We have enough IV fluids(ringer) for about one month or so in case we would receive 3 or 4 cases of patients with cholera.
Public Health promised to provide us a tent. I don't know when they will give it to us,but I'm trying to convince them to do that as soon as possible.
Hope that those information find you well Amy and to hear you and work with you very soon.
Killy
serentriphard@ yahoo.fr
011-509-3768-2291
www.visitationhospital.org
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From: VisitationHF @aol.com
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:25:10 -0500
Subject: Cholera outbreak
To: visitationHF@ aol.com
Dear Friend of Visitation Hospital Foundation,
As you have no doubt read in the news, Haiti is now dealing with an outbreak of cholera. Yesterday, our clinic reported its first cases of suspected cholera. Of the three patients we treated, two were travelers from the Artobonite department which is the center of the outbreak. Based on the experience in the rest of Haiti, we expect to see many more cases over the next several weeks.
While there is never a good time for a contagion like this, the upcoming months of December and January are particularly bad because are clinic operates with a reduced staff. This is because we will loose our young doctors and nurses who have worked at the clinic this year fulfilling their public service commitment. In normal years this would not be a great problem because we do see a decrease in patients during the holiday season as people travel or defer elective care. This year, we fear, will be exceptional.
So we are inviting our friends who are medical professionals to volunteer for a week or two of service at our clinic over the next several weeks. We will welcome all qualified volunteers and we will provide food, lodging and ground transportation to our clinic during this period. If you have been considering a medical mission trip to Haiti, please consider doing so now. Your help would be very much needed.
Art Judy
Executive Director
Visitation Hospital Foundation