Update Haiti

This page is updated on a continual basis. Check back again for updates.

Thank you for your interest in assisting relief efforts in Haiti. Nearly six weeks out from the event much of the acute surgical need has been addressed, though attention to surgical sequelae and follow up care continue to be quite important.  As the situation evolves, the focus on rebuilding medical infrastructure, allocating and distributing needed resources, and coordinating care between relief efforts, Haitian medical professionals and those agencies that are long term partners are all critical.  ACS remains in contact with a multitude of NGOs, government agencies and Haitian medical colleagues to lend support and solidarity.  For mid to long term recovery, professional partnerships, medical education support, and ongoing surgical assistance are part of the spectrum of support we can provide.
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Surgical team members, click here to add your name to the Operation Giving Back database as a potential volunteer.

OGB Volunteer Toolkit for Haiti

SPECIAL ALERTS: Update Haiti

RESOURCES FOR RESPONDERS

Update on the Health Response to the Earthquake in Haiti, published by the Pan American Health Organization/WHO, February 16, 2010

The following document is a prepublication version of an article that will be published in the March 2010 issue of the Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons.

Ten Questions and Answers about Disasters and Disaster Response (170K PDF)
by Eric Frykberg, MD, FACS; Leonard Weireter, MD, FACS; and Lewis Flint, MD, FACS

Handicap International

• Full List of Haiti Situation Reports
• Preliminary findings about persons with injuries
• Haiti Situation Update

Disaster Management and Emergency Preparedness Course^©
Developed by the Ad Hoc Committee on Disaster and Mass Casualty Management Committee on Trauma, American College of Surgeons

From Briggs SM, Brinsfield, KH. Advanced Disaster Medical Response, Manual for Providers. Boston, MA: Harvard Medical International Trauma and Disaster Institute. July 2003. (1500K PDF)

Centers for Disease Control

Selected Readings in General Surgery
Educational readings on fundamentals of general surgery and specific trauma management practices. These files are Microsoft Word documents.

Excerpts from Emergency War Surgery

ORTHOPEDIC AND EXTREMITY TRAUMA

• Revision of amputation stumps in Dodoma — Tanzania in Prosthetics and Orthotics International, 1992, vol. 16, pp 133-136
• Long-term Physical Outcome of Patients Who Suffered Crush Syndrome after the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake: Prognostic Indicators in Retrospect in Injury, vol. 38, issue 5, pp 607-613
• Long term results of compartment syndrome of the lower limb in polytraumatised patients in The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care, January 2002, volume 52, issue 1, pp 33-39

MANAGEMENT OF INJURED EXTREMITIES

Trauma and Fracture Care - Core Curriculum Lectures
(from the Orthopaedic Trauma Association)

The Mangled Extremity: Amputations (PDF)
Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposures in Trauma (ASSET) Course

Injuries to the Extremities: Compartment Syndrome and Fasciotomy (PDF)
Anatomically Based Surgery for Trauma Course

Above Knee Amputation (Supracondylar Amputation)
by InsideSurgery Medical Information Blog

Two Incision Four Compartment Fasciotomy by Mark W. Bowyer, MD, FACS

INFORMATION FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS/RESIDENTS

Agencies and Other Organizations Involved in Haiti Relief Efforts

Revised April 22, 2010

Trauma Programs