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Groups throughout the Pittsburgh area continue gathering medical supplies for earthquake-devastated Haiti, with hopes to continue shipments until the situation stabilizes in the island nation.
The Jan. 18 mercy mission, sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, to rescue 54 children from Port-au-Prince, placed Pittsburgh front and center on an international stage in organizing relief efforts for earthquake victims.
That role continued last weekend as UPMC, Global Links, health officials and medical supply companies shipped 15 tons of additional supplies to Haiti.
Those supplies were destined for Hopital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles, about 50 miles north of Haiti's capital city of Port-au-Prince that was near the epicenter of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Jan. 12 followed by aftershocks registering as high as 6.1.
Global Links, a Pittsburgh-based not-for-profit organization, collaborates with U.S. institutions, including UPMC, to salvage surplus medical materials before they end up in landfills. It then makes those supplies available to hospitals throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America.
PDF mapSince its creation in 1989, Global Links has provided more than $160 million in medical aid to developing nations, including Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica and Nicaragua.
Global Links announced Monday that it received a $250,000 grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies to continue earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. The grant will help the organization work with the World Health Organization to fund a network of 400 Haitian physicians in their efforts to address healthcare issues in Haiti.
It also received a donation Tuesday from Heritage Valley Health System. Global Links has appealed to all its member hospitals -- Jefferson, Washington and St. Clair hospitals, Excela Health and the West Penn Allegheny Health System -- for donations and contributions of specific supplies needed in Haiti.
Global Links' goal is a sustained response to the Haitian crisis.
When UPMC began organizing a mission to rescue 54 children in the care of Ben Avon natives Jamie and Ali McMutrie at a quake-damaged orphanage in Port-au-Prince, it sought Global Links' assistance to gather intravenous kits, bandages, treatments for dehydration and diarrhea and suture material, among other medical supplies.
Angela Garcia, Global Links deputy director, said the organization worked nearly round the clock after the earthquake to collect medical supplies, then package and ship them to Haiti. When the orphan-rescue mission proved successful, Global Links and UPMC decided to continue the collaboration and focus on providing supplies to Hopital Albert Schweitzer, which reportedly has been caring for 500 patients in the 80-bed hospital.
"With a flood of patients, supplies have been depleted, so they sent out urgent appeals," Ms. Garcia said.
To date, UPMC has donated 10,000 doses of antibiotics, other medications and medical supplies, Global Links reported.
Ms. Garcia said Global Links employees and volunteers now are working to mobilize resources throughout the region to help the Hopital Albert Schweitzer, which had been short of supplies even before the earthquake.
In addition to antibiotics, Global Links has gathered X-ray film and supplies, bandages, IV kits, surgical gloves and laboratory supplies. It also has provided 350 pairs of crutches and 100 walkers from its warehouse inventory and donations.
"We're depleting our entire supply of crutches and walkers, but everyone is stepping up to the challenge," Ms. Garcia said. "But we did not meet their needs over the weekend. We need more crutches all the time."
Hundreds more wheelchairs and crutches are needed, she said.
UPMC vendors Merry X-Ray and Carestream have donated X-ray film and chemicals. Large pallets of supplies were shipped by FedEx at no cost, Global Links' news release states.
Global Links also provided supplies to six local physicians who went on missions to Haiti and carried the supplies with them on their flights.
The medical crisis in Haiti grew so critical that American doctors were using vodka as an antiseptic and hacksaws to perform amputations without anesthesia, said Leslie Merrill McCombs, UPMC senior consultant for government regulations, quoting from an e-mail she received from UPMC nurse Nicole Douglas who has been working in Haiti.
Ms. McCombs was a key figure in organizing the orphan rescue last week and continues working to help Haitian orphans while participating in other relief efforts.
She's now working to coordinate shipments and more orphan rescue missions through the Department of Homeland Security, other federal agencies and Haitian authorities.
"My hope is to work tirelessly until everyone is safe and taken care of," she said, noting last Friday that she had received her first full night of sleep since the earthquake occurred.
While the Jan. 18 orphan rescue was a "rogue" mission, done without government sanction, it opened doors and generated government cooperation in providing assistance to private organizations interested in assisting Haiti.
"Now we're able to do so much more," Ms. McCombs said. Late last week, she said, 1,100 planes were trying to get clearance to land in Port-au-Prince.
"We're trying to work out a smooth and orderly process now," she said. "UPMC and I are devoting our time indefinitely. We are not leaving this alone. I think everyone in the country feels the same way."
Ms. Garcia said Global Links is planning "a multi-year campaign" in Haiti. What's been provided to date has been only "a drop in the bucket."
"We need support from companies willing to donate products, our health-care partners, hospital partners, volunteers and financial support to make this happen."
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