Any Haiyan Typhoon Relief Missions Forming Up ???

[ToppDog]

I have visited the areas hit in the past & have great admiration & respect for the people living there.  If there is a group that could use an old timer medic/corpsman to go along, I would seriously consider it.  In the past I have been able to assist mission groups going to Sudan, etc. but I could never go myself due to time off restrictions from prior employers etc.  I am going to approach my current employer with the idea of doing something along these lines, but they probably only have the ability to help contribute to a larger effort.

 

If you hear of anything forming, or of groups that could use extra manpower, etc. please post it here so those of us who may be interested can see what we can do.  Also, any recommendations on things to do to prepare, etc. would always be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[EMEDPA]

NYC MEDICS IS SENDING AN ASSESSMENT TEAM MONDAY WITH MORE TEAMS LIKELY TO FOLLOW . WWW.NYCMEDICS.ORG

I was invited and can't go. working 200 hrs this month and have a final paper due soon for one of my capstone doctoral courses.

[EMEDPA]

any licensed PAs interested in going or anyone who knows docs, PAs, or NPs interested in going contact Phil suarez at nycmedics.org

if it is as bad as predicted they may send several teams.

[EMEDPA]

assessment team just got in country. things are worse than portrayed in the media. current plan is to send 2 teams; 1st in next few days, 2nd in 2 weeks or so. I am making every effort to be on team 2 without much support from my colleagues at work to cover my shifts. I need to cover 10 shifts and have commitment for 2.

they are in need of volunteers and donations, even small ones of 5-10 bucks helps as they can send a volunteer anywhere in the world for 80 bucks/day.

see nycmedics.org if interested in volunteering or donating.

Thanks-

emedpa

[ToppDog]

Thanks for the updates E.

[EMEDPA]

sent you a PM Topp

[jmj11]

I would give my right arm to go this time.  If anyone wants to come up and run my clinic for three weeks, for free, then I can go without going bankrupt.  I hope the next time the call goes out, may god forbid, I can go. Only met Phil once, 3 AM at a "safehouse" out side Islamabad. But he is a great guy and it is a great team.

[EMEDPA]

I am trying the full court press to cover my shifts but response from my colleagues has been lukewarm at best. covering shifts on short notice around the holidays is tough.at times like this I wish I worked for a larger group with lots of part time and on call folks hungry for shifts. alas, I have but 2 of 10 needed shifts covered. probably not going to happen.Have been in contact with Phil daily and am trying to help with some other logistics stuff.

[EMEDPA]

update:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/13/world/asia/typhoon-haiyan/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[swooshie1]

these folks are already there, but their time is limited

 

mammothmedicalmissions.org

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/53547043/#53547043

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mammoth-Medical-Missions-Inc/292110607512174

[EMEDPA]

update from NYCM:

NOV 14, PHILIPPINES DISASTER RELIEF UPDATE

A Mobile Medical Team of 12 doctors, nurses, PA’s, and paramedics will be leaving the US tomorrow, bound for Cebu.  The team has been assigned to work in Region 8 – Samar Province, specifically in Guiuan and Borongan.  As per OCHA, establishing temporary points for delivery of health services is critical as infrastructure is damaged and people do not have access to medical care. From past experience we know that the ‘emergency’ phase of a disaster is lengthened considerably when the scope is of the damage is catastrophic, as it has been in the Philippines.  There are many, many people in the affected area who have literally had no outside help, and our job is to find them as quickly as possible. Many of the interventions we use are very simple, wound cleaning, rehydration, and treatment for infections that can quickly become life threatening. In short, interventions that are medically basic, but have profound  implications.

Thank you to everyone for your support so far. There has been a wonderful response from around the country and we promise to put all funds raised to very good use. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

I got my shifts covered so if there is a team 2 I will be going as well-Emedpa

[EMEDPA]

Team enroute now. more to follow. hope to join them in 2 weeks or so. have all my shifts covered, mostly due to the help from 2 of my colleagues who each agreed to pick up multiple shifts(one is doing 5 extra shifts in a 2 week period in addition to her own. I figure I owe her a case of wine or something when I get back).

[ToppDog]

That's awesome!  Glad they came through for you.

[ToppDog]

Here's another regional organization I found that is sending teams to the PI:  http://www.empactnorthwest.org

 

I don't know much about this organization.  Just putting it out there for those that are interested.

[ToppDog]

If you're in the Seattle area this may be of interest:

 

The Filipino Community of Seattle will hold a fundraiser Friday, Nov. 22 at 6 p.m. at the Filipino Community Center for the people of Bohol, Philippines; click here for details.

[EMEDPA]

update:

NOV 18, PHILIPPINES DISASTER RELIEF UPDATE

The team is now working in  Guiuan, one of the areas reporting 100% damage to buildings and infrastructure and in need of almost every kind of assistance.  Upon arrival they  immediately set up a clinic and began treating patients.  On their second day,  a team of 9 boarded a US Navy helicopter to travel to one of the many remote islands that have seen little assistance. They will run a day clinic and assess the ongoing need for medical care.

Because of the complete destruction of communications infrastructure it is extremely difficult to assess needs in the ‘silent’ affected areas, places where no news is available. This lack of reliable information makes the planning by our team leaders particularly difficult. We are in daily contact with the UNDAC and the Philippine authorities but we are always concerned about what is just beyond our field of vision.  So even while we’re working a clinic, we are speaking with the patients about where they are from, and what is the story ‘back home’. Each and every day we assess our work and discuss options for improving our impact in the area.

Thanks again to all our volunteers, their families, and the donors who make our work possible.

[PASomeday]

Thanks so much, Emed, for letting TD know about nycmedics. God bless their selfless efforts and your upcoming trip to Philippines!

[EMEDPA]

update:

NYC Medics first in to this area:

NOV 21, PHILIPPINES DISASTER RELIEF UPDATE

Working on Homonhon island. For the last three days the team has been traveling via a US Navy helicopter to Homonhon island to treat patients at each of the 10 villages on the island. Arriving in the morning, and then getting picked up at the end of the day to return to a home base in Guiuan. The villages had not yet received any medical attention whatsoever and so the work is exactly on mission for our team.

Our core concept, that we find those in need, rather than the other way around,  is working once again. On a call from their sat phone this morning the team leaders sounded exhausted, they have been working in extremely difficult conditions for days. A 90 minute deluge of rain had just ended and soaked everyone and everything, turning the camp into a muddy swamp, and yet, they also sounded happy. It may sound strange, but when you are having a real and significant impact on people’s lives, exhaustion and physical misery become tolerable.

As of today, the people of Homonhon island have all had access to care and those who needed more extensive care have been evacuated. Tomorrow the team will head north to Hernani.

Thanks again to everyone for their support of the mission.

[EMEDPA]

update-

NOV 24, PHILIPPINES DISASTER RELIEF UPDATE

Llorente and rain. For the member of the Mobile Medical Team, their work in the Philippines will likely filled with memories of mud, and sleeping in damp clothes. They have moved north to Hernani and then north again to Llorente and are now encamped in the roofless remains of a church at the invitation from the sisters of a local convent. The rain comes and goes, but when it arrives, it is often torrential, soaking everyone and everything. Keeping the medical supplies dry, and keeping people’s spirits up during these mini-monsoons is not a simple task.

The medical work continues, with the larger team spitting up on most days. Day clinics are arranged a couple days in advance so that the local communities can spread the word that medical help will be available and a few hundred patients a day is an average workload. A smaller, more mobile team will travel out to destinations where the population cannot travel to a clinic, a boat trip to an island off the coast yesterday, and a hike up a nearby mountain to a remote village is scheduled for today.

While the larger affected region is making progress on the repairs to basic infrastructure, enabling the larger relief efforts to spread further out from the larger cities and towns,  there are still many areas where access to medical care is, and has been. absent. We will continue to hunt for these areas and get to them in the time we have left.

 

NYCM has decided they will not be sending a second team.

[ToppDog]

Looks like these guys are on their way back now too.  http://www.empactnorthwest.org/empact-northwest-disaster-team-2-returning-home/

 

No indication that they are sending a 3rd team.

[EMEDPA]

Final update( I think). read the link to the piece in the Irish Times. Note : "Dr. Summers" is actually a PA, my friend Chris from the Haiti trip in 2010.

NOV 27, PHILIPPINES DISASTER RELIEF UPDATE

Faustina and preventable death. Peter Murtagh, a reporter for the Irish Times worked alongside our team for a few days last week and chronicled the way our teams work. One of the stories he tells is that of Faustina Eucio (70) whose badly injured and untreated foot wound was almost assuredly lethal in the absence of proper treatment. Because our team traveled to her, to her village, on her island, Faustina will now live, and her story sits in sharp contrast to many thousands of those injured who do not get access to basic medical intervention in the aftermath of a major disaster like this typhoon. The story of Richard Pulga, who died of a broken leg, is exactly why our volunteers work so hard to get out the door and onto a plane so quickly. Disasters will happen, and some loss of life is inevitable, however a fatalistic ‘that’s mother nature’ interpretation of these events is simply not accurate.  Many, many deaths and injuries are quite preventable, sometimes easily so. Finding the next Richard Pulga is what we think about every time we have planning meetings or ask people for money. IF people could see and understand what’s possible, instead of just absorbing what has already happened by watching depressing disaster chronicles, then they’d know what we know: there is much that can be done.

The team is now headed back now to the US, exhausted but well. Again, a big thanks to them and to their families, and to all of the donors who made their work possible.

 

[skyblu]

I've been working on a trip but not for another couple of months. Got turned down by the first organization within the Philippines, but am in contact now with the Dept. of Health and with a hospital in Northern Cebu region, so I'm hoping that, while not as emergent as going right after the typhoon, some medical relief will still be needed in March-ish.

 

If anyone wants to join us, please send me a PM and I can add you to our email list.

 

Can't guarantee the trip is going to happen, but a couple of docs from my job and I are trying really hard. We just had 4 people give notice at our place (one with 2 weeks o=notice) so we are really tight on scheduling and could not finagle the time off until March.