Update on Duke Medicine Response to Haiti
In keeping with my commitment to continue updating you on our response to Haiti, I wanted to share with you the following news.
First, I'm pleased to say that we have now worked out the details related to having a 12-member Duke Medicine medical team travel to Haiti on Feb. 5 to assist Partners In Health (PIH) in their medical relief efforts. We have been in touch with PIH representatives on the ground in Haiti and we have been able to assemble a team of health care professionals that match the specific needs that they have expressed and described. Our team comprises four surgeons, an anesthesiologist, an emergency physician, an infection disease physician, a certified registered nurse anesthetist and four registered nurses. I'll have more to share with you in coming days about this team, but let me just say I am thrilled by the willingness of our people to help in this situation.
Second, the number of people signing up for the Duke State Medical Assistance Team (SMAT) has continued to grow and just this week we have begun the orientations for people who have signed up for the SMAT. Obviously these orientations will continue over the coming weeks and months so that we are prepared to deploy these volunteers if called upon.
Finally, we have prepared additional shipments of medical supplies that will soon be delivered to Family Health Ministries (FHM) in Haiti. A week, or so, ago, we sent initial shipments of supplies and antibiotics to the FHM staff, and we look forward to providing additional supplies very soon through our REMEDY program.
Thanks, again, to all of you who have volunteered for the SMAT or have made donations to organizations working in Haiti. I will continue to keep you informed of future actions.