Mainers Share Specialized Skills
Mainers Share Specialized Skills
Maine Equipment Helps Haiti Earthquake Survivors
Equipment manufactured by Howell Laboratories Inc. in Bridgton and
its Shirley Labs Division is proving instrumental in Haiti.
The company’s mixed oxidant electrolytic disinfectant generators
are being used to provide more than 400,000 gallons of drinking
water a day.
Shirley labs also manufactured and donated a custom FM antenna to
help the United Nations re-establish radio broadcasting in Haiti.
Source: January 26, 2010, issue of the Portland Press Herald
Mercy Health System of Maine
Several staff of Mercy Health System of Maine have volunteered to travel to Haiti with Catholic Health East’s Global Health Ministry to deliver medical care and work to rebuild the Hospital St Francis de Sale in Port au Prince. They also are working with their local healthcare partners to potentially bring patients to Maine for surgery. Mercy donated medical supplies and equipment, which were picked up by International Medical Equipment Collaborative (IMEC). IMEC sent four containers to Haiti this week and will help to re-equip the clinics and hospitals in the coming weeks.
Source: http://www.mercyhospital.com/content/haitiresponse.htm
Dr. Stephen Katz and Dr. Hector Rosquete
Dr. Stephen Katz of West Bath, an orthopedic surgeon, and Dr. Hector
Rosquete of Freeport, a hand surgeon, and nurse practitioner Karmen Blackstone are working at an orphanage in Haiti to treat injuries from the earthquake. They are based at Project Hope or Powje Espwa, an orphanage with more than 600 children in southern Haiti, founded by Lewiston native, Marc Boisvert, a Roman Catholic priest.
The two doctors and nurse practitioner, who are on the staff of Coastal Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Brunswick, are scheduled to be in Haiti for several weeks.
Source: January 26, 2010, issue of the Portland Press Herald
To read their blog, go to:
Kim Moody and Nancy Nickerson of Konbit Sante Left for Haiti
on January 30, To Share Their Medical Skills
January 28, 2010 from Konbit Sante’s website: http://www.healthyhaiti.org/News/01-28-10.php
On Saturday, January 30, two area nurses will travel to Cap-Haitien as part of Konbit Sante Cap-Haitien Health Partnership’s ongoing work in Haiti.
Kim Moody (Kimberly Ann Moody, Ph.D., RN, ANP), who is a nurse practitioner and professor of nursing at University of Southern Maine’s College of Nursing is traveling to Haiti on Saturday to work on curriculum development with the head of nursing at the nursing school affiliated with the Justinian University Hospital and located on the hospital campus. Although the nursing school is closed for a period of national mourning, as are all schools in Haiti since the earthquake, the director of the school, Angelina Liané (Ms. Angelina Liané, RN, MPH), who met Kim during an educational visit to Maine several years ago, wants to take this opportunity to collaborate on ways to improve education. Moody has served on Konbit Sante’s board of directors, and this is her first trip to Haiti.
Also traveling, making her third working trip with Konbit Sante, is Nancy Nickerson, RN, ANP. Nancy is working with Konbit Sante’s nursing team to collaborate with the nursing staff at Justinian Hospital. In 1980, she spent four months in Haiti working with Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity. Nancy is the wife of Konbit Sante executive director, Nate Nickerson.
According to Konbit Sante’s Nate Nickerson, “While this visit was already planned before the earthquake, it is extremely timely. The agenda and focus of the trip has changed, but the partnerships and relationships built over the years are needed now more than ever, and nursing is a critical element. Few people know that there are actually fewer nurses in Haiti than doctors, so building their capacity is going to be important for the future. In the aftermath of the earthquake, after the urgent rescues and emergency surgeries are over, there is still a lot of nursing care required both in the hospitals and in the communities.”
Andrew Sachs Brings Emergency Management Skills To Haiti
Andrew Sachs, of Freeport, Maine, and former Brewer economic development director, will bring his emergency management skills to the crisis in Haiti. To view the article that appeared in the Bangor Daily News go to:
Driven by the need for street-level maps of Port-au-Prince, DeLorme established a team of
cartographers and map technicians to create map data for first responders. Urgently-needed GIS
software and GPS hardware were also included.
“Shortly after the disaster we received a number of calls from frustrated first responders who were
looking for a simple solution that integrated GPS, map data, and mapping software,” explained
David McKittrick, DeLorme training specialist. “DeLorme has now provided free digital map
downloads of Haitian street and road data to responders and relief workers who were in desperate
need of that assistance but unable to find it elsewhere.“
“DeLorme is continuing to update the data for Port-au-Prince, prioritized around the responders’ requirements. In addition, the DeLorme cartography team is now working on data for other
impacted areas, such as Cap Haitien and Jacmel.”
First responders using DeLorme XMap software and the Earthmate PN-40 GPS receivers have been
able to overlay aerial imagery, routable roads and streets, as well as pertinent GIS layers for
applications in the field including navigation, field data collection, and resource allocation and
identification. XMap makes it easy for responders to view these disparate data layers and to
transfer the data to rugged DeLorme PN-40 GPS receivers for field use.
Shortly after the quake hit Haiti, McKittrick flew to Miami to quickly train first responders deploying
DeLorme field data collection solutions using XMap and the PN-Series GPS device. “One of the key
challenges for first responders is finding a fully integrated solution that provides the needed map
data, imagery, GPS field collection tools, and interoperability with existing GIS systems,” added
McKittrick. “It was truly gratifying to be able to provide a unique one-stop resource, offering a
variety of software, map data with imagery, and GPS tools, all interoperable, to address the many
challenges of fast-changing events on the ground in Haiti.”
DeLorme will continue to respond to requests for assistance. “We welcome and encourage inquiries
from any government agencies or non-governmental organizations involved in the Haiti relief
effort,” said DeLorme vice president Jim Skillings. To inquire, email [email protected].
Please use that email address only if you or your organization is directly involved in the relief or
recovery. All other inquiries should go to [email protected]. For access to DeLorme’s updated
datasets or other products to assist in the effort, please visit www.delorme.com.
DeLorme of Yarmouth, Maine, Proves Instrumental in Earthquake Recovery Efforts
Source: http://www.delorme.com/about/pressreleases/HaitiReliefEffort.htm
As many as 500 responders and relief workers in Haiti have been using GIS software, GPS receivers, and crucial map data provided by DeLorme of Yarmouth, Maine, and the company has offered to provide additional assistance.
Based on feedback the company has received, the unique combination of DeLorme XMap mapping software, Earthmate PN-Series GPS devices, and DeLorme Digital Map Data for Haiti have proven invaluable to a variety of first responding organizations during the early phase of the earthquake recovery efforts.
Dr. Robert Chagrasulis, Trauma Surgeon in Calais, Helps In Haiti
For the story: please access the story that appeared in the February 3, 2010 issue of the Bangor Daily News:
Adam Cote, Former Congressional Candidate and Sanford Native, Helps Haitian Amputees
Adam Cote, former Congressional candidate and Sanford native, Adam Cote, has been in Haiti with a group from Global Relief Technologies, to gather data on amputees who need artificial limbs. He will use the technology the company designs to collect names, addresses and medical data, make measurements of damaged limbs, snap photos and generate wrist bands with bar codes that will help doctors and nurses identify the patients and access their records. The information will be sent to New England Brace, a New Hampshire-based company with an office in Lewiston, which plans to lead an effort to provide prosthetics for the injured.
Source:
http://mainebusiness.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=310800&ac=PHbiz&hcode=pph
Dr. Samuel Broaddus Returns Once Again To Help Haitians
Source: February 5, 2010 issue of The Bowdoin Orient
http://orient.bowdoin.edu/orient/article.php?date=2010-02-05§ion=1&id=6
“Dr. Samuel Broaddus, the 2003 recipient of the Bowdoin College Common Good Award, spoke about the health care conditions in Haiti, before and after the January 12 earthquake at the Bowdoin College’s “Homage to Haiti” on February 1, 2010. In addition to being the director of the Division of Urology at the Maine Medical Center (MMC) and serving on the Board of Directors of Maine Medical Partners, he has made it a personal mission to improve the health care services in resource-poor countries for nearly 30 years. He volunteers as a surgeon with the Maine-based nonprofit Konbit Sante, for which he also serves on the board of directors. Konbit Sante works in conjunction with the Haitian public health system to improve the quality of medical care available to Haitians.”
“Broaddus's ties to Haiti formed after his colleague at MMC told him of his time volunteering in the country, and encouraged him to travel there. Since 1994, Broaddus has provided free urological care on regular volunteer trips to Haiti, and from its inception in 2000, has worked with Konbit Sante at Justinian Hospital in Cap-Haitian, a city located on the northern coast.”
“‘Even before the earthquake, the health situation in Haiti was very fragile,’ Broaddus said Monday night. Health facilities ‘were already severely stretched to the limitations of staff, supplies, basic infrastructures, including water and electricity, two things that are critical in running an operating room.’”
Broaddus explained that though the earthquake's geologic impact did not reach Justinian Hospital, many Haitians were transported to the hospital for treatment. He left for Haiti once again to provide medical care.
Scarborough Architect M. Curt Sachs Assists Haitian Hospital
Source: Maine Sunday Telegram - February 7, 2010
Architect M Curt Sachs of Scarborough has helped with building plans with Konbit Sante for the renovation of the emergency rooms at the Justinian Hospital in Cap Haitien in northern Haiti.
Sachs is currently teaching a course in sustainable design at Southern Maine Community College. He has asked his students to focus on durable houses for
Haiti that could be quickly and easily built and that would be designed to provide
cooling and possibly domestic hot water from solar panels.