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Fortunately, a 40 foot container of medical supplies
cleared customs days before the earthquake and
boosted the hospitals’ inventory, but with the
increased and projected patient flow, the supplies
would barely last a week. Within minutes after
the earthquake hit, AmeriCares, an international
medical relief organization in Stamford, Connecticut
contacted Joni Paterson, Ph.D., CRUDEM’s Director
of Development & Administration at the Ludlow
office, with an offer of medical supplies. Within
a week, the first of several planes chartered by
AmeriCares arrived at the Cap Haitien airport
with critical supplies bound for the Milot hospital,
eleven miles away. Over the course of three weeks,
AmeriCares provided Hôpital Sacré Coeur with $2
million in supplies.
Philips Healthcare also offered assistance as soon as
news of the disaster broke. CEO Steve Rusckowski
coordinated the donation of $1.9 million in critical
care medical equipment so desperately needed in
the diagnosis and treatment of trauma patients
including cardiac monitors for the OR and ICU,
ultrasound machines and ventilators. In addition,
Philips generously agreed to fly the supplies to Cap
Haitien and provide two Philips technicians to set
up the equipment and train the staff for a week.
“The ICU has been full. Lives have been saved with
the assistance of this equipment,” reported Peter
Kelly, M.D. “The equipment allowed us to increase
our ORs from two to five, and the ORs have all been
busy 12 hours a day.” A large medical team from
Caritas Christi Healthcare System in Boston and
CRUDEM President, Dr. Peter Kelly joined the Philips
flight that arrived on January 20th. A week after the
earthquake, Hôpital Sacré Coeur was arguably the
best equipped hospital in all of Haiti.