Dozens of doctors have boarded planes from cities across the country--all with one destination in mind, Haiti. One such volunteer is Oregon physician Dr. Mark Rampton. His journey with a 20-member medical team is chronicled in his hometown newspaper, the Corvallis Gazette Times.
This effort is part of a coordinated aid project to get medical supplies and expertise into Port-au-Prince.
Dr. Rampton and his team joined other doctors in treating broken bones and infections while preparing victims of the 12 January earthquake in Haiti for much-need plastic surgery procedures. Working from a makeshift medical center in one of nine converted LDS meetinghouses, he describes the conditions as "war medicine."
On one typical day, Dr. Rampton said he had seen 80 patients and "more tragedy in one day than I would want to see in a lifetime."
"A man came in, a 42-year-old handsome Haitian man with one leg swollen to twice the size of his other leg," said Dr. Rampton. "He'd lost the feeling in his foot (from the infection), and a general surgeon had to open up his leg to drain it. We got him on antibiotics. Halfway through surgery, someone poked their head in and said a woman was in labor in the hallway. (She delivered), and that was the best thing all day." (See Corvallis Gazette Times for full story).
Sound bites from Dr. Rampton experiences in Haiti: "success stories", "tough as nails" and "stitching up wounds".