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“When we first started planning our response,”
Dr. Kelly wrote, “we were contacted by the CEO
of Caritas Christi (a large catholic network of
7 hospitals in New England) Ralph De la Torre,
M.D., who told us that they would support the
hospital’s efforts with medical volunteers and
supplies. They quickly put together a team of
13 physicians and nurses and sent them to Haiti
by private plane. They have provided additional
teams each week for the past 3 weeks. When
they heard we needed space to house the
patients Ralph and Jim O’Connor, the treasurer
of the American Association of Malta, tried to
obtain a portable hospital from the US military.
Despite contacting the Secretary of the Navy
and the head of USAID they were unable to
obtain one. Undeterred by this Ralph found the
company that makes the tents for the portable
hospital and discovered that they were a
subsidiary of an equity firm whose principle
Ralph knew. After a conference call the tents
were purchased for over $300,000 which was a
discount from the usual price of over $500,000
and were shipped to us in one week ahead of
other orders that the company had. The tents
are now full of patients.”
Tim Traynor and his crew of Haitians
and volunteers got permission to clear a
banana field next to the hospital, lay gravel
foundations and erect the six MASH units,
almost overnight. The hospital’s capacity
increased yet again, by another 300 beds.
Dr. Kelly and Dr. Prévil agreed that the most
sensible arrangement would be for the 24/7
Haitian hospital staff to remain the primary
medical providers at the “old” hospital where
non-earthquake related patients from the
region continued to arrive for treatment. The
constant incoming stream of medical volunteers
was directed to care for the earthquake victims
in the new “Tent City.”
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