Crudem Update: Dr Fleming - March 10th

Today is very hot after five days of cool weather. The activity is winding down but we are never sure what will come in the door. We saw an 18 year old with a stable compression fracture from the quake on the 12th. He should have had a brace to prevent his angulation but at least he is stable and has no deficit.
 
Jean Baptiste is not thriving. We did more lab tests today and are trying to decide about removing the shunt.
 

Crudem Update: Dr Fleming

March 9, 2010

Got up early to go to the Citadel that is 3000 feet up from us. Wild switchback ride in the back of a pickup truck to within 500feet. I started walking but two guys with a horse called "Toyota" had the old "Boss" spotted and I got on the horse after walking straight up for several hundred feet. Slow day after that until this afternoon when the spinal ortho and I did a fusion at T12 L1 for instability from a fracture. Jeanne Baptiste, the hydrocephalic has a kiddie infection and it does not appear to be the shunt.

Enjoying a beer and slapping mosquitoes.

Mike

Greetings from Crudem - Dr. Michael Fleming

Dr. Fleming is a Knight of Malta from the Federal Association, he is from Atlanta, GA.  Listed below are several updates he has sent from Crudem in Milot.

March 6, 2010

The rainy season has arrived. Fortunately, the number of casualties is decreasing and there is a lot of secondary wound care. The infection rate is very high especially with instrumentation for Orthopedic injuries.

World Women Day: The ABC of sustainable poverty reduction

World Women Day on 8 March: The ABC of sustainable poverty reduction
Malteser International supports CaTu women in Vietnam with literacy courses  
Cologne/Danang. „Finally I am able to read and write and thus to perform better with the authorities and other traders,” Bling Thi Cam reports proudly. The 34 years old mother of five belongs to the ethnic group of the CaTu from the isolated mountainous region of Tay Giang in Central Vietnam. With a smile she adds: “I had always been afraid that the traders cheated on me. But now I know exactly which price I have to pay.”

CRUDEM Hôpital Sacré Coeur Update - Mar. 4

HOSPITAL VS. REFUGEE CAMP

I’ve decreased my updates to weekly because the acute phase of this catastrophe has ended. However the catastrophe continues and in many ways is worse than the acute phase. We still have 300 patients in Hôpital Sacré Coeur and still have over 50 volunteers a week. Our staff continues to work without complaint and we are receiving calls from around Haiti to accept patients. The most recent was for a patient who had a cervical spine fracture that left him paralyzed on the left side. This patient was deaf and taught sign language so his injury was especially incapacitating. Only the spine surgeons at Hopital Sacre Coeur could give him a chance to recover his mobility.