Update on first medical team from Rush available at http://rushnews.rush.edu

A second group of physicians and nurses from Rush University Medical Center will be providing medical relief in earthquake ravaged Haiti. Seven medical professionals from Rush and other area hospitals left on Friday, January 29th on the first leg of their journey to Haiti to treat earthquake victims. The team will be working with a nonprofit organization called International Medical Corps and will stay in Haiti for two weeks. 

The physicians and nurses are from Rush University Medical Center, Stroger Cook County Hospital, Loyola Medical Center and the Illinois Medical Emergency Response Team.

Among this group is Dr. Joel Augustin, a family practice physician at Rush, who grew up in Haiti and earned his M.D. from the State University Medical School in Haiti. This team is being led by Dr. Jamil Bayram, an emergency medicine physician and chair of the Emergency Preparedness Committee at Rush.

The International Medical Corps is working throughout Port-au-Prince, including the Hôpital de l'Université d'État d'Haiti (State University Medical School in Haiti), the largest hospital in the city. Doctors and nurses are performing 30-50 surgeries daily and treating more than 1,000 patients a day across all its facilities – hospital, static clinics and mobile clinics. Beyond the capital, the organization's mobile medical teams are providing medical care and delivering supplies in underserved areas.

The first team of 20 doctors and nurses that departed from Rush on January 25 is now treating patients in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. They are being lodged on the campus of the Quisqueya Christian School, an elementary school that is serving as a medical coordination center. The team is being sent to a variety of neighborhood clinics and hospitals where they can provide the most assistance.

On their first day in the field, the anesthesia group went to the General Hospital and worked in the operating room with several teams from other countries. A group of internists went to a clinic across the street from Adventist Hospital and saw about 170 patients. And a group went to the refugee camp and saw about 250 patients. 

"We are exhausted, but I can say it was one of the most satisfying days of work I have experienced.  The Haitian people are very warm and are very grateful for our help.  We are safe and exhausted, but feel good about what we accomplished today," said  Dr. Keith Boyd, associate chair of pediatrics at Rush.

Follow the medical team's progress and see photos on the Rush news blog at http://rushnews.rush.edu.