Why Haiti Needs PTs
Monday March 15, 2010
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Scott Plantz, MD, FAAEM, is a member of Gannett Healthcare Group, which publishes Today in PT. He is senior vice president of continuing education for GHG’s certification preparation company, Pearls Review. Plantz volunteered at a hospital in Haiti Feb. 19 to 23.
After 20 years of working in inner-city EDs, I thought I had seen it all — until I arrived in Haiti. Late last month, I traveled to the earthquake-ravaged country as a volunteer physician with a team of healthcare professionals, including physical therapists. We worked through the relief organization Project Medishare at the Global Institute hospital established by the University of Miami just 200 yards from the Port-au-Prince airport runway.
I felt I had arrived in some version of hell. The med/surg ward, housed in a tent, took my breath away with row after row of patients in cots set 12 inches from the floor. I teamed up with PTs and others in a 10-bed ED with dirt floors, no privacy curtains and just one trauma bay. And it is the best-organized, best-manned and best-stocked hospital in Haiti.
I saw end-stage clinical findings rarely seen in the U.S. Malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid and parasitic diseases were common. I also witnessed my share of heartbreak: the father who walked 20 miles to reach the ED with his brain-injured child on his back, or the man, paralyzed from the chest down, who arrived with both of his legs rotting.
Everywhere I looked I saw patients with broken bones in makeshift wheelchairs. Their injuries were some of the worst I had ever seen. Even with the best orthopedic care, their crushed bones were impossible to repair.
Because the U.S. healthcare professionals arriving in Haiti since the earthquake are all volunteers, the staffing mix at a hospital such as the Global Institute’s is patchy at best. On any given day, one specialty might be oversupplied, while another day there may be pockets of missing expertise.
In this issue’s cover story, two PTs share their experiences in Haiti immediately after the earthquake and their view that therapists will be needed there for some time to come. I share that view. During my visit to Haiti, I noted PTs were in short supply. As the country begins a long, slow healing process, the need for rehabilitation services — and the PTs to provide it — will grow. The expertise of PTs could play a crucial role in the rehabilitation of an entire nation.
In Haiti, I was fortunate to have worked with some of the most dedicated PT professionals I have ever known. I plan to return there soon and once again have that privilege. •
After 20 years of working in inner-city EDs, I thought I had seen it all — until I arrived in Haiti. Late last month, I traveled to the earthquake-ravaged country as a volunteer physician with a team of healthcare professionals, including physical therapists. We worked through the relief organization Project Medishare at the Global Institute hospital established by the University of Miami just 200 yards from the Port-au-Prince airport runway.
I felt I had arrived in some version of hell. The med/surg ward, housed in a tent, took my breath away with row after row of patients in cots set 12 inches from the floor. I teamed up with PTs and others in a 10-bed ED with dirt floors, no privacy curtains and just one trauma bay. And it is the best-organized, best-manned and best-stocked hospital in Haiti.
I saw end-stage clinical findings rarely seen in the U.S. Malaria, tuberculosis, typhoid and parasitic diseases were common. I also witnessed my share of heartbreak: the father who walked 20 miles to reach the ED with his brain-injured child on his back, or the man, paralyzed from the chest down, who arrived with both of his legs rotting.
Everywhere I looked I saw patients with broken bones in makeshift wheelchairs. Their injuries were some of the worst I had ever seen. Even with the best orthopedic care, their crushed bones were impossible to repair.
Because the U.S. healthcare professionals arriving in Haiti since the earthquake are all volunteers, the staffing mix at a hospital such as the Global Institute’s is patchy at best. On any given day, one specialty might be oversupplied, while another day there may be pockets of missing expertise.
In this issue’s cover story, two PTs share their experiences in Haiti immediately after the earthquake and their view that therapists will be needed there for some time to come. I share that view. During my visit to Haiti, I noted PTs were in short supply. As the country begins a long, slow healing process, the need for rehabilitation services — and the PTs to provide it — will grow. The expertise of PTs could play a crucial role in the rehabilitation of an entire nation.
In Haiti, I was fortunate to have worked with some of the most dedicated PT professionals I have ever known. I plan to return there soon and once again have that privilege. •
To comment, e-mail pteditor@gannetthg.com.
Monday March 15, 2010