Hello Friends & Family,
A team of doctors from Bronx Lebanon Hospital and I will soon be traveling to Haiti to participate in relief work in the aftermath of the recent hurricane which caused massive damage and loss of life. The trip will be from Nov 13- Nov 20. We are going to a town on the far western end of the southern peninsula about 10 miles from where the hurricane made landfall, so hit as hard as anywhere. Beyond the immediate damage, disruption of water sources is now causing a major outbreak of cholera with numerous deaths in the town already recorded and many more expected. We will be participating in direct patient care as well as doing what we can to aid in an intense national campaign to vaccinate folks against cholera.
The town is called Les Irois. One of the doctors on our team (Dr. Paul Beach - https://www.bronxcare.org/physicians/find-a-physician/detail/paul-beach/)
worked there intermittently from 1991-2010, a total of about 2 years on the ground. Until 1991 there was no doctor in the town and until 1998 there was no clinic. Before the clinic was built doctor visits were done in people’s houses, most of which are 2, 3 or 4 rooms on one floor. Read more about the clinic's founding here (http://www.quaker.org/fb/quakes/page12.html)
The clinic is a 2 story building which had its roof blown off in the storm, destroying the second floor and doing extensive damage to the first floor. Our contact at the clinic in Les Irois is named Rode and she provided the list of medicine/supplies they are in need of at this time.
This information is provided as background to request any financial help you might want to provide. While helping people to repair their houses might be the most pressing need, there would be no way to do this in a fair way, so the funds we are able to collect will go to repair of the clinic and to buy medications and rehydration supplies which will be desperately needed for people suffering from cholera. As you can imagine the needs are enormous. Any help you are able to provide will be greatly appreciated.
Some clarity on how the funds will be spent: 100% of the money donated will go towards buying supplies (full list below) and repair of the damaged clinic. The 5 of us volunteers are paying our own way for flights/travel/food/lodging. My withdrawl plan is to total all of the donations and purchase necessary medicine/supplies with my money upon our arrival in Port-au-Prince. Whatever is left will go to the clinic as a donation. I will not withdraw the money from this gofundme until we arrive back in the States so I can properly account for everything we bought. You can donate in whatever method is easiest for you:
Cash/check
PayPal: paypal.me/GregoryRicciardi
Venmo: @Greg-Ricciardi
GoFundMe
Many, many thanks.
Greg
PS - here is the link to the Bronx Lebanon Family Medicine Residents page - the doctors on our team are Angela Azor, Camille Dunkley & Freddie Versoza
http://www.blhfamilymed.com/MedicalEducation/residency-program/meet-the-blfm-residents
PPS - Below is a translation of the list of supplies that was sent to us by the nurse who is our contact in Haiti. We will bring whatever we can from the states and purchase whatever is available in Port-au-Prince:
1) First Aid Materials : Sutures, bandages of different sizes, Triple antibiotic ointment , Adhesives, sterile gauze
2) Oral Antibiotics: Amoxycillin, Erythromycin, Bactrim, Doxycycline
3) Oral antacids: ranitidine, omeprazole...
4) Oral Analgesics: Tylenol, Advil...
5) Oral Antihypertensives: HCTZ, Amlodipine, Enalapril, furosemide with potassium.
6) Multivitamins for adult and children: Vit D, Calcium, Magnesium, Vit C, Iron and Folic Acid
7) Oral antihyperglycemics: metformin, glipizide, glyburide
8) Oral antihistamines: Benadryl
9) Asthma medications: salbutamol and others (prednisone)
10) 1 Nebulizer machine + Albuterol solution for acute asthma attacks
11) 10 surgical scissors and curved scissors for surgical sterile trays and labor trays
12) 1 glucometer and glucometer supplies
13) 2 sphygmomanometers
14) Adult and pediatric stethoscopes
Given the current cholera epidemic, we also need:
- IV supplies
- As much IVNS as we can possibly carry
- Water purifying tablets ( iodine or chlorine)
- As many boxes of gloves as we can carry
- Hand Sanitizer