A local doctor is closely following the heartbreaking images of Haitians injured in the devasting quake being rushed to makeshift hospitals.
“We are seeing people come in with crush injuries. Arms, legs, chests, wounds that have gangrene setting in,” said retired Georgetown Hospital physician Dr. Richard Perry. “Surgeons have to amputate many and treat the wounds.”
Perry can hardly tear himself away from his home computer. Since the quake struck he has been following first-hand accounts of the disaster. In two weeks he will fly from Washington to assist other doctors in the earthquake ravaged country. It’s his seventh year volunteering his medical expertise in Haiti with a group called The Crudem Foundation. But this time, everything has changed.
“Medical care is running short,” according to Perry. “Lives are being lost by any further delays.”
Dr. Perry works with Sacred Heart Hospital in the Haitian town of Milot, about an hour north of Port-au-Prince. Perry said so far the hospital staff has seen only a handful of the quake victims that were transported by US Coast Guard helicopters. He said the staff sent him an e-mail, pleading for him to contact the media so more quake patients can be sent.
“We are not damaged,” Perry read from his computer. “We have room for 100 patients. We have over 20 Haitian doctors on site, including a medical trauma and an orthopedic team."
The Crudem Foundation sponsors Sacred Heart Hospital. To learn more about the organization and make a contribution go to its Web site. You can also follow the group’s efforts on Facebook by searching CRUDEM_Haiti.
