Penn Medicine team heads to Haiti to provide expert medical care

At approximately 2:30 pm on Monday, January 25th "Penn Medicine Team One" -- the first medical team from Penn Medicine to fly to Haiti to provide expert medical care -- departed from the Philadelphia International Airport. The nine-member team was bid farewell by fellow colleagues shortly before boarding a bus for the airport and consisted of orthopaedic and trauma surgeons, anesthesiologists, critical medical and surgical care nurses, OR and peri-operative nurses, and OR technical specialists.

The team expects to be in Haiti for approximately two weeks. Over 150 Penn Medicine faculty and staff have volunteered for the relief effort to date. Given the challenging situation in Haiti, the first team members were chosen because, in addition to their medical expertise, they had previous military, Foreign Service, or missionary work experience.

Penn Medicine Team One is going to a 200-bed hospital an hour outside of Port-au-Prince in Cange. In addition, faculty and staff across Penn Medicine worked hard throughout the weekend to identify and obtain critical equipment for this mission. Due to their dedication and diligence, 1,200 lbs of medical supplies were sent with the medical team Monday.

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) was the first institution in the US to treat Haitian citizens when three critical patients were evacuated from Haiti and brought into Penn's Trauma Center on Sunday, January 17th.

The patients were flown to HUP as a result of the extraordinary efforts of Naomi Rosenberg, a second year Penn medical student and member of Partners in Health, a non-profit organization committed to helping Haiti during this time of extreme crisis. Since the day of the earthquake, Naomi spearheaded a coordinated effort to get Haitian earthquake victims to HUP for life saving treatment. With the help of Richard Shannon, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine, her efforts were made a reality as four patients were flown to Philadelphia for emergency treatment and surgery. All three patients currently in HUP are in good condition.