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Loma Linda University health officials are responding to help residents of the Caribbean nation of Haiti whose lives have been severely affected by a recent earthquake and tropical storm.
LLUH maintains an ongoing collaboration with the Haiti Adventist Hospital and has over the years sent doctors, nurses and other health workers to serve there through its partnership with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. A response team made up of providers from LLUH and Adventist Health International arrived in Haiti this week to assist local staff.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck on August 14 with an epicenter in the southwest region of Haiti, killing more than 2,200 people to date, according to press reports. A tropical storm also arrived two days later. The response of local authorities has been hampered by limited resources due to long-standing unrest. Moreover, the nation is still grappling with the assassination of its president in July.
The Adventist hospital, located nearly 80 miles northeast of the earthquake, was not damaged. While operations are ordered, the hospital is operating at twice its normal capacity. Surgeons provide free care to injured patients, many of whom have suffered serious injuries from falling walls or ceilings. Under the direction of the hospital’s medical director, Scott Nelson, MD, the hospital has grown into a top-notch orthopedic center in recent years, and surgical teams have been able to save many limbs from amputation.
Nelson, a former Loma Linda University medical school student, recently said CBS this morning that patients in the emergency department were placed on the floor and outside due to limited space.
LLUH leaders are working with local hospital leadership through the Global Health Institute to provide subsequent specialist teams in the coming weeks. LLUH has been engaged with the hospital campus since the 1970s, and efforts are underway to further develop it as a global LLUH campus.
Loma Linda University Health responded to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti by providing similar services, as well as specialized continuing rehabilitation services. The School of Paramedical Professions produced a certificate that has trained over 60 people to work with physiotherapists and other professionals stationed in Haiti.
To donate to relief efforts, visit ahiglobal.org/donate and designate the donation “Haiti”. Or donations can be made to Loma Linda University Health Global Health Institute at give.lluh.org/GivingHaiti and designate “LLUH Global Health Institute”.
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