Local surgical team on the ground in Haiti

A group of three local medical care providers arrived in Haiti Monday night to assist in relief efforts after last week's devastating earthquake.

The group includes Jennifer Ohle, surgical nurse and preoperative services director for Erlanger Health System; Dr. Chris Young, an anesthesiologist with Anesthesiology Consultants Exchange and Dr. Chris Moore, developer of the Odyssey Company on Lookout Mountain.

According to a news release from Erlanger, the hospital's employees and medical staff responded largely to the call last week for a surgical team to serve in Haiti. Because of travel and support problems in the devastated area and the need for people with experience in medical relief efforts, the number of local volunteers on this mission was limited.

Ms. Ohle is a nine-year medical missionary veteran who has traveled to Nicaragua six times to provide medical assistance in recent years.

Dr. Moore, who is working with Erlanger Health System to develop an austere wilderness medicine program, has traveled to Haiti five times in the last 10 years with the Children's Nutrition Program of Haiti. He also helped at Ground Zero in New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Young has served in Haiti eight times since 1996.

With the help of Global Outreach International, a missionary organization headquartered in Tupelo, Miss., the team and medical supplies donated by Erlanger were transported 15 miles north of the Port-au-Prince airport to a medical compound that was once a burn center, the news release states.

Several classrooms have been converted to operating rooms and volunteers are equipped with supplies to care for adults and children.

There is an immediate need for orthopedic services since the unit treated up to 30 patients a day with open fractures last week. The team also will provide care to hundreds of Haitians with cuts and other wounds.

Upcoming Events