Life and Death at Terminal Varreux
(January 26, 2010) |
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| PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 24, 2010 – I watched a woman die
yesterday.
The young Haitian woman -- call her Marie -- was fifty feet
from the helicopter that was to take her to the USNS
Comfort, the Navy hospital ship providing state-of-the art
medical care for the victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake here. |
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| A U.S. Navy sailor carries
a Haitian boy off a helicopter at Terminal
Varreux, Haiti, Jan. 23, 2010, as the boy's
mother follows behind them. The child received
treatment aboard one of the U.S. Navy ships
serving as a hospital in Port-au-Prince harbor,
and he was later discharged. U.S. military
personnel are providing aid and support to
earthquake victims in Haiti. |
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Marie was connected to medical equipment through tubes, and
medics were working on the equipment. She had intravenous
fluid drips in her arms. Her chance of survival, for even a
few more hours, hinged on getting to the Comfort.
But she didn't make it. The litter bearers who were carrying
her put Marie down, and a nurse listened to her vital signs.
A doctor came over and listened, and stepped back. The
bearers picked up Marie's litter and walked back into the
tent.
She died despite all best efforts by many organizations to
save her life. Marie was hurt in the earthquake and received
medical care from one of the local clinics. But the wound
became gangrenous, and sepsis set in. A non-governmental
organization brought her to this triage site because there
was nothing they could do for her, and the hope was that the
medical staff aboard the Navy ships in the harbor could
help.
Terminal Varreux is in Port–au-Prince's seaport area. The
site looks like the industrial area it is. The Navy chose
the site because helicopters can land and airlift casualties
to the ships providing medical aid. The Comfort is the
biggest such ship, with the most staff and facilities, but
the USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier, and the USS
Bataan, an amphibious warfare ship, also have excellent
capabilities. The USS Nassau, another amphibious warfare
ship, is joining today with much needed medical assets.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services disaster
medical assistance teams manage the site along with medical
personnel from the Navy. The site has one tent where the
medical staff, in this case a group from Georgia, assesses
the patients and another tent, where they wait for the next
lift off the site.
“This is the main evacuation area,” said Navy Dr. (Lt.
Cmdr.) Marguerite McGuignon-Shuster, a medical expert
assigned to the Comfort. “We are actually taking patients
from hospital out in Haiti that need surgical intervention
or definitive medical care, bringing them through here.”
Most of the patients come from Haitian clinics, but others
come from nearby military facilities -- the Israelis, French
and Belgians have fed patients through the facility, she
said. The Comfort, alone, receives between 80 and 90
patients a day from the site.
The Haitian clinics bring patients in a wide variety of
vehicles -- buses, vans, cars. One patient even showed up in
an actual ambulance, which surprised the Georgia team. There
are 30 Georgians at the site, with most coming from Atlanta.
“The team has doctors, nurses, mental health (specialists),
chaplains, respiratory therapists, emergency medical
technicians and logistical staff,” said Wendy Nesheim, a
nurse with the team.
Representatives from the Haitian Ministry of Health work
with the team to coordinate the efforts. Before anyone even
arrives at the site, the team works to ensure appropriate
treatments are available on the ships, and that they have
bed space. “Once that's done, they send them here, we make
sure they are medically stable and we send them out to the
ships,” she said.
Sepsis is the big killer now, said Navy Dr. (Capt.) Richard
Sharpe, a trauma surgeon with the Comfort. The earthquake
killed hundreds of thousands immediately. Those hurt in the
quake may or may not have received treatment. If they didn't
receive anti-biotics, now is the time for gangrene to take
hold an shut down the major organs. Sharpe said medical
authorities have noticed this rise in deaths in many other
disasters.
The terminal area is less than ideal. It takes time to get
patients to the site, Nesheim said. It has knee-high grass
and the ground is uneven, with mounds of dirt and concrete
semi-hidden by the underbrush. Two Seahawk helicopters
squeezed into the site once yesterday – at night by choppers
from the USS Vinson – but it is a chancy proposition.
Conditions are pretty sparse also. There is no shade and
temperatures are into the 90s during the day. The treatment
tent and the holding tent become very hot very quickly.
Conditions for the workers are sparse, but they didn't
expect a vacation spot. They have set up a rudimentary
shower, but the latrine is a tent over a bucket.
The space is constrained. So much so, that the prop wash
from CH-53s knocked the roofs off the facility twice.
The evacuation point was the grounds of the Haitian
presidential palace. Sharpe said that four birds could land
there, and it was only two blocks from the University
Hospital – Port-au-Prince's main medical facility. Even
though he had the permission of Haiti's president to fly
missions from the area, the site was shut down.
The site also receives patients back who have received
treatment. The Navy has contracted with locals to drive the
patients to their homes. Unfortunately, often their homes
are gone.
Ten days after the earthquake, Haitians are still dying.
Besides Marie, two babies died at Terminal Varreux
yesterday. This morning, the first flight into the terminal
brought the body of a Haitian who died on one of the ships.
Still, American civilian and military specialists continue
to do their best. They continue to work to make the system
better and faster.
“I never in my life expected to be doing something like
this,” said U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Sergio
Esparza, the communications chief at the terminal. “We're
helping so many.” | |
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2010
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