Roovens’ Miraculous Rescue & Reunion from Haiti to Atlanta
Posted by: MedShare on: March 9, 2010
Remember Roovens? Well, he’s become our little miracle. Since he was med-evacted from Haitian
Roovens is alive and well at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Community Hospital to the USNS Comfort hospital ship, Dr. Larsen and the rest of the Atlanta medical team has been frantically searching for him, and trying to find out the status. Was he alive? Were they able to salvage his leg?
There were so many unanswered questions regarding Roovens, and today those questions were answered. After searching high and low, Tina Morrison, Rooven’s nurse in Haiti, found out that he is right here in Atlanta recovering at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta!
When Tina informed Dr. Larsen late last night of Roovens’ whereabouts, Dr. Larsen immediately raced over to the hospital to reunite with his most treasured patient. Using supplies collected from MedShare, Dr. Larsen operated on Roovens in Haiti four times. His leg was an open wound with an infection that went septic, and he needed to get to more specialized care.
Dr. Larsen and the rest of the team left Haiti not knowing if Roovens would live or die. But today, we know that he’s not only alive, but he’s walking! And he’s smiling, talking and becoming an expert wii player.
Here’s the miraculous rescue and recovery of 11-year-old Roovens Monchil:
MedShare in Vietnam
Posted by: MedShare on: March 5, 2010
MedShare Trustee, Pat Robinson, Egan Short and I are touring Vietnam in an effort to better understand the needs here and what MedShare’s role might be. The first part of our trip is being hosted by the Lawrence S. Ting Fund, headquarter in Ho Chi Ming City (HCMC). Their hospitality could not be more gracious. They have arranged various appointments with a variety of healthcare providers. From the small community based Phuoc Kien Medical Station in Nha Be District, a basic healthcare unit in a commune to the larger Nha Be Hospital, a district hospital. We also visited the new for profit hospital VF, designed to meet the needs of the growing number of the upper and middle class.
One of the most meaningful visits was with the staff of the University Medical Center in HCMC. There we were given a tour of the cardiovascular surgery department by Dr. Nguyen Hoang Dinh. He was pleased to know that our Vietnam partner at this point has been the Vina Capital Fund. He has had a good working relationship with them and has received support from them. Most likely some of MedShare’s donations through Vina have gone to the Medical Center.
They perform 2 open heart surgeries each day, Monday thru Friday, in one
Heart surgery being performed on 3-yr-old boy
small OR, with only 4 ICU beds and two small recovery rooms. With very limited resources, this team is performing miracles. There is a new hospital under construction and this facility will provide a new home for this department.
Pat, Egan and I were permitted to enter the OR during a heart operation on a 3 year old boy. It was very moving to see this small heart beating as the surgical team was working to repair a hole in the young boy’s heart. The surgeon explained that they were limited in their ability to work on smaller and younger children because of the lack of ventilating equipment designed to serve smaller bodies. This needed piece of bio-medical equipment is high on their needs list.
Hopefully I can report on our visit later this week with Vina Capital here in HCMC and in Danang. We also will visit with Children of Vietnam, a North Carolina based NGO also working in Danang.
Making a difference for mothers and babies in Ecuador
Posted by: MedShare on: March 1, 2010
Yesterday afternoon was an exciting event for the people of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The 40-foot container of medical aid materials that MedShare shipped from California back in December, 2009 finally arrived at the warehouse of the Ecuador’s largest and oldest charity, Junta de Beneficencia de Guayaquil (JBG). Thanks to the financial sponsorship of the Kimberly Clark Corporation, the 1,000-plus boxes of MedShare gloves, catheters, bandages, nebulizers, and more that were unloaded from the container yesterday will soon be put in the hands of doctors and nurses treating Ecuador’s poorest patients throughout the JBG’s four major hospitals.
JBG staff unload MedShare container sponsored by Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly Clark and JBG representatives celebrate arrival of medical donations
The JBG was founded 122 years ago by philanthropists concerned about the living conditions of the poor of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Today, it operates schools, orphanages, nursing homes, as well as 4 of Ecuador’s largest referral hospitals: Enrique C. Sotomayor Gynecologic and Obstetrics Maternity Hospital, Dr. Roberto Gilbert Children’s Hospital, Luis Vernaza General Hospital, and Lorenzo Ponce Psychiatric Hospital. Over one million Ecuadorians receive medical care from the JBG each year, most of whom live off of very limited incomes and receive sliding scale or free rates. Due to the overwhelming amount of needy patients showing up at their hospitals every day, the JBG relies on donations of medical equipment and supplies to continue their work.
Patient entering post-op room at JGB hospital
The JBG is currently fundraising for the construction of a new maternity hospital with more space and equipment, but at the moment, conditions are tough. Around 80-90 babies are born at the hospital each day, and there simply aren’t enough beds or space for all the patients, as seen in video below.
On the positive side, after decades of planning and fundraising, the JBG was able to open a new pediatric hospital in 1999. Today the Dr. Roberto Gilbert E. Children’s Hospital has over 450 beds and state-of-the art facilities, thanks to donations from all over the world. Staff often receive transfer patients in critical condition that governmental hospitals simply don’t have the adequate resources to treat.
- Toddler and mom at JGB children’s hospital
The work that the JBG is doing in Ecuador is helping the poorest of the poor to receive the same quality of health care that the upper classes do. It’s imperative they be able to continue their humanitarian mission. More medical supplies and equipment are needed now and will continue to be needed. Let this be the beginning of a long, fruitful relationship between MedShare, Kimberly Clark, and the Junta de Beneficencia de Guayaquil!
500th container arrives in Ecuador!
Posted by: MedShare on: February 24, 2010
The MedShare container arrived the the ocean port of Guayaquil, Ecuador on December 6, 2009. Thanks to the help of the Prefect of El Oro Province and MedShare’s Regional Representative Marco Galarza, the container was quickly cleared through customs and trucked to the Ecuadorian Army Base in Santa Rosa, where soldiers unloaded the supplies and equipment and stored them safely in their warehouse. Then, throughout all of January, under the capable leadership of Santa Rosa Rotarians Sonia Paredes and Marisol Vite and with the input of local physicians, the medical items were carefully sorted and assigned to either the Angela Loayza de Ollague Maternity Hospital or the Santa Teresita General Hospital. The Canton Fire Department also was assigned a few boxes of supplies for trauma care, such as gauze and IV sets.
Santa Rosa Army Base where supplies were safely stored during sorting process
Supplies and equipment in army warehouse after sorting
This morning a brief ceremony was held at the army warehouse covered by local press, in which the Rotary Club and the hospital directors publicly thanked MedShare. And then, finally, the big moment everyone had been waiting for: the delivery of the first equipment to the hospitals. The doctors selected a defibrillator to present to the General Hospital and a portable infant incubator to present to the Maternity Hospital. In an Ecuadorian army truck, the equipment was ceremoniously delivered to each hospital, while patients and staff alike looked on in awe. The remaining supplies and equipment will be delivered over the next few days.
- Delivery Ceremony
Below is the video of the delivery of the infant transport incubator to the maternity hospital. Hospital director Dr. Richard Chiriboga explains that the hospital did not have a portable incubator before. Now staff will be able to transport critically ill babies to referral hospitals for a higher level of care, saving many young lives.
Also here is a video of the delivery of the cardiac defibrillator to Santa Teresita General Hospital. Previously the hospital only had one other defibrillator, which was outdated and often broken. At the end of the video, hospital director Dr. Rosa Aguilar explains how the defibrillator will save many patients from dying of cardiac arrest and expresses heartfelt thanks for the gift.
As is evident in these photos and videos, the poverty in Santa Rosa is overwhelming, but the supplies and equipment being delivered over the next few days will undoubtadly make a difference. It’s thanks to a widespread group of partners and organizations from all over the world that this delivery was made possible. Let this be the first of many more MedShare shipments to come!
MedShare Photos
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