Less than 48 hours after the earthquake, a team of PIH/ZL medical and engineering staff arrived at the shattered General Hospital in Port-au-Prince—l’Hopital de l’Université d’Etat d’Haiti (HUEH)—to assess the situation at the capital’s largest medical institution. They immediately began providing clinical and infrastructure assistance. Upon finding several buildings on the campus flattened and others badly damaged and abandoned for fear of further damage from aftershocks, the team immediately began providing clinical and infrastructure assistance. Staff who survived the earthquake returned to the hospital only to struggle to treat thousands of badly wounded patients. Their efforts were seriously compromised as they worked without electricity or running water, and with little or no surgical equipment, anesthesia, pain medication, or sterilization.
Over the following days and weeks, PIH/ZL helped to restore electricity and brought in volunteer surgical teams (read more about these teams in the Volunteers section) and urgently needed surgical equipment and supplies (learn more in the Supplies and Logistics section). With the aid of numerous partners, we set up and staffed 12 operating rooms that performed surgeries 24 hours a day. Most patients were cared for in tents pitched on the hospital grounds. At the request of the Haitian hospital administration, PIH/ZL also played a central role in coordinating the relief efforts of more than a dozen large non-governmental organizations and the US Army. Medical personnel from major US hospitals such as Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General, and many others participated in this effort.
In the six months since the earthquake, PIH/ZL has continued to support the hospital by organizing teams of clinical specialists to meet the evolving needs of patients. As the need for emergency orthopedic surgery waned and more of the Haitian hospital staff were able to return to work, we have assembled teams of volunteers for the night shift, the emergency department, and other services the hospital’s staff are not yet able to cover.
Now, six months after the earthquake, PIH/ZL’s role is changing once again. As the hospital staff resumes responsibility for most clinical services, our focus has shifted to increased training, capacity, and professionalization of the nursing staff. We have also taken on a leading role in establishing a Friends of HUEH Foundation to build partnerships and financial support for rebuilding and strengthening Haiti’s flagship referral and teaching hospital.
