Surgery During Natural Disasters, Combat, Terrorist Attacks, and Crisis Situations by COL Robert B. Lim

Author:COL Robert B. Lim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

11.2 The IMSuRT Response to the Haiti Earthquake

The on-call members of the IMSuRT teams were put on alert for deployment shortly after the quake, and members from all three IMSuRT teams were mobilized. Several DMAT teams were also deployed both to support the IMSuRT mission and to provide medical assessment teams across the affected region. Early after the quake there were significant challenges with transportation of the team and their equipment cache due to significant disruption of the Port au Prince airport . Upon arrival in Port au Prince, the team was staged at the US Embassy until a secure site for the field hospital could be identified and all equipment arrived. A site for deployment of the field hospital was identified at the former infectious disease treatment and research center known as Gheskio . While many of the buildings sustained damage as a result of the quake, the central courtyard was of sufficient size to construct the tent-based field hospital and the surrounding buildings provided the ability to establish a secure perimeter. The 82nd Airborne was tasked to provide security as the area was considered a “hot zone .”

Figure 11.1 shows a Google map image of the field hospital at Gheskio . The upper part of the image shows a refugee tent city that formed immediately adjacent to the compound. Once the location was established, team members rapidly assembled the tents and equipment so they could begin seeing patients. Operating room and ICU capability were quickly established as there was a significant demand for these services. Figure 11.2 illustrates the OR and ICU configuration. The field hospital began seeing patients 5 days after the quake. Personnel were deployed for 2-week rotations with the hospital fully operational for 6 weeks followed by a draw down period. At the conclusion of the deployment, all tents and remaining equipment were donated to the Haitian government.

Fig. 11.1Aerial view of the IMSURT field hospital at Gheskio, Port au Prince, Haiti, Jan 2010: courtyard with tents reflects the footprint of the field hospital with selective use of surrounding buildings based on structural integrity. Lower part of image shows a refugee tent city that formed in an open field adjacent to the hospital

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