The cost in human suffering was even greater and continues today as Haitians recover from serious injuries, like amputations, spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries. Hundreds upon hundreds of Haitian victims are still in need of medical attention. Rehabilitation nurses are still desperately needed in Haiti, even though the 1-year anniversary of the earthquake is almost here.
The need for rehabilitation nurses
According to the article, Helping In Haiti: Caring For The Newly Disabled, Gail Buck, a nurse from Portland, Ore., coordinates volunteer teams for Healing Hands for Haiti, an organization that provides rehabilitation care for many types of earthquake-related injuries and disabilities. Buck said that the injuries she deals with include traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and "peripheral nerve damage from being caught in the rubble and not being able to move for days and days until rescued."
Buck describes a number of earthquake victims as being "almost totally helpless." She explains, "A spinal cord injury patient may have pressure sores or injuries all over their body, but they're not going to feel them to know that there's a potentially life-threatening infection."
Educating local health care workers
Rehabilitation nurses who have traveled to Haiti not only cope with the variety of serious medical issues patients have, but are also there to help Haitian health care workers learn new skills, so that they can take over patient care when the rehabilitation staff return homes.
The blog: Rehab In Haiti
One rehabilitation health care worker, Jamie Young, a physiotherapist from Toronto, writes in the blog, Rehab In Haiti, initial thoughts about Haiti:
"All I can say is that the concept of SCI (Spinal Cord Injury) and SCI rehab were quite foreign to everyone, including the Haitian staff we were educating and to the patients especially.
"I could fill volumes telling you all that wasn't known. There was much gnashing of teeth, banging of heads and testing of patience as we tried to implement strategies of care and to educate everyone (including nursing staff, doctors, rehab assistants and the patients themselves). Bowel and bladder care…what's that? Flexion and extension of joints? Promotion of mobility and independence? Prognosis? It was a lot of information that we had taken years to integrate into our practice and culture that we were now asking people to adopt and learn in a matter of weeks. The learning curve was more like a vertical line."
Cultural differences and lack of money, sleep, medical equipment and supplies, all couldn't stop the rehabilitation team from finding ways to get the job done and done well.
Progress
The author continues, "Flash forward to now…We've had five people discharged (all ambulators) who are now examples to their communities that life after an SCI is possible. More patients are now doing self-catheterization and independently doing their bowel routines. Every patient has been getting up into their wheelchair and are learning the nuances of wheelchair skills."
Rehabilitation nursing
"National Nurses United and 12,000 of its registered nurses have answered the call to volunteer in Haiti, and the nurse's union continues to accept volunteer applications," according to the website. If you or someone you know is interested in bringing rehabilitation nursing skills to an area that is still in desperate need of trained health care workers, you can visit the website or fill out a volunteer form here.
