[ back ]
Children’s staff provide aid after Iran quake
ust hours after a December 26 earthquake devastated the Iranian city of Bam, five Children’s staff members were on their way to join medical teams from across the world to provide emergency relief.
When Emergency Department (ED) nurses Alan Bouchard, RN, and Renee Charbonneau, RN, and ED physicians Mark Waltzman, MD, and Debra Weiner, MD, PhD, and Gary Fleisher, MD, pediatrician-in-chief, arrived in Bam, they found the city in ruin. Seventy percent of homes had been leveled, more than 40,000 residents were dead and the city’s hospital had been destroyed, killing half of the doctors who had worked there.
“It was very chaotic,” says Fleisher, leader of the pediatric team for National Disaster Medical System. “These families had higher priorities than medical care, such as food, water and a warm place to sleep. It was often several days before they would bring their children to us.” Many of the children treated by the team had lost their entire families in the disaster. “That was the most difficult part for me. Part of me just wanted to reach out and hug them and take them home.” says Fleisher.
The clinicians worked up to 18 hours a day for 10 days, setting up field hospitals and treating over 700 patients for untreated lacerations, fractures and paralyzed extremities, among other conditions. In addition to treating disaster-related injuries, the team treated many common infections such as streptococcal pharyngitis, otitis media, bronchiolitis and gastroenteritis. “We also had the opportunity to treat a number of interesting cases that are quite rare in the U.S.,” says Fleisher. “For example, we treated a child with thalassemia for a pathological fracture caused by the bone weakening symptomatic to that disease.”
Related links:
Within days of the earthquake, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies started construction of a new, 200-bed hospital equipped with a radiology department, laboratory and operating suite. By the time the Children’s team left, the hospital was opening its first 25 beds. The equipment, supplies and patients from the emergency tent hospital were turned over to local doctors and a consortium of European physicians at the new facility.
Despite the severe conditions, limited resources and freezing temperatures, Weiner was grateful for the opportunity to help. “The people were in desperate need, but they were also incredibly welcoming and grateful for our presence,” she says “This is one experience that I will never forget.” —AD
