Posted: Feb 1, 2010 12:46 PM
Updated: Feb 1, 2010 12:46 PM
TUCSON-MONDAY, February 1-Four Tucson doctors are back home after spending 5 days in Haiti helping victims from the January 12th earthquake.
Orthopedic surgeons Dr. Russ Cohen, Dr. Joel Goode, Dr. Eric Anctil and anesthesiologist Dr. Luis Esparza are now home after teaming up with Doctors Without Borders.
Later today only on News 4 see exclusive video the doctors shot while in Haiti about their experiences.
TUCSON - FRIDAY, JANUARY 29 - 10:45 a.m. -- We have just learned one of the Doctors helping in Haiti was not allowed on their flight home and one has decided to stay behind.
Dr. Cohen, Dr. Joel Goode and Dr. Eric Anctil from Tucson Orthopedic Institute and Dr. Luis Esparza, an anesthesiologist from Old Pueblo Anesthesia all work together at TMC. They left Tucson Monday morning (see more info below).
According to the wife of Dr. Anctil, he couldn't get on the flight which Dr. Goode and Dr. Cohen were on. He has had to travel to the Dominican Republic and catch a commercial flight out of Santo Domingo. She also says Dr. Esparza stayed behind to do more work.
Dr. Anctil is expected to be in Miami tonight and Tucson tomorrow.
TUCSON - FRIDAY, JANUARY 29 - 9:30 a.m. Update -- 4 Tucson doctors who spent the last few days helping Haiti earthquake victims are on their way home.
Dr. Cohen, Dr. Joel Goode and Dr. Eric Anctil from Tucson Orthopedic Institute and Dr. Luis Esparza, an anesthesiologist from Old Pueblo Anesthesia all work together at TMC. They left Tucson Monday morning (see more info below).
"My goal was to help as many people as we could," said Dr. Cohen, an orthopedic surgeon. "We made a little difference."
All 4 doctors boarded a private flight with about 80 Haitian children on board who will be adopted in the United States. The pilot joked he would give them a ride if they know how to change diapers!
"It's been an incredibly gratifying, yet frustrating type of engagement," Cohen said. "You can't solve the world in a day or two."
We will talk to the doctors when they return to Tucson.
TUCSON - THURSDAY, JANUARY 28 - 5 p.m. Update - All week we've been telling you about four Tucson doctors who are helping in Haiti.
They left Monday, and since then we've been following their journey.
Last night we got a telephone call from one of the surgeons Dr. Russ Cohen. He says, "You have no idea what it's like down here for these people. It's just absolutely awful."
Tucson orthopedic surgeons Russ Cohen, Joel Goode and Eric Anctil and anesthesiologist Luis Esparza have hooked up with Doctors Without Borders outside Port-au-Prince.
Cohen says, "I've got to tell you there are a lot of kids and a lot of adults here with devastating injuries that are going to affect them forever, not just for a few weeks or a few months."
Cohen says one of the most memorable patients they've treated is a seven year old boy who had one leg amputated and the other broken, but not treated.
Cohen says by phone, "The house was pancaked. They (residents) saw my scrubs on. And they said there was a kid who was through the rubble and in a tent. He was obviously in a significant amount of pain. So I scooped him up, picked him up, put him a car and took him to a makeshift clinic that we'd set up. Turns out the leg he has remaining has a femur fracture close to the left knee that hadn't been treated or splinted or managed at all, because he has no means. So we stabilized that and sent him home with his mom."
Cohen says Haiti is hot and the stench is overwhelming. He and his partners haven't had showers, much food or sleep.
But they feel great.
Cohen says, "My goal coming here was to try to make a difference to one person. And I think we've made a difference to a lot of people."
TUCSON - THURSDAY, JANUARY 28 - 11 a.m. Update:
Word has spread throughout the area where 4 Tucson doctors arrived on Tuesday. Patients are now streaming into their makeshift clinic for desparately needed care.
Dr. Cohen, Dr. Joel Goode and Dr. Eric Anctil from Tucson Orthopedic Institute and Dr. Luis Esparza, an anesthesiologist from Old Pueblo Anesthesia all work together at TMC. They left Tucson Monday morning (see more info below).
This morning, a 25-year-old man hobbled in with a tibia fracture (broken shin bone). Through a text message Dr. Cohen, said this is a very painful fracture and this man has had no treatment since it occurred over 2 weeks ago.
He also treated a 2 year old boy this morning. His mother has been carrying him around for more than 2 weeks. He has a broken femur (thigh bone). Dr. Cohen said he was "very touched" by this family.
The Doctors Without Borders group will be taking the Tucson doctors by bus this afternoon to a very remote area. This area has a number of earthquake victims in desperate need of orthopedic care.
We'll have a story on our Tucson Doctors on News 4 at 5 p.m. today.
TUCSON - WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27 - 6 p.m. Update:
The 4 Tucson doctors helping out in Haiti are preparing to sleep once again in a driveway 20 miles from Port-au-Prince. But Dr. Russ Cohen told News 4, "Today was a very productive day."
Dr. Cohen, Dr. Joel Goode and Dr. Eric Anctil from Tucson Orthopedic Institute and Dr. Luis Esparza, an anesthesiologist from Old Pueblo Anesthesia all work together at TMC. They left Tucson Monday morning (see more info below).
Dr. Cohen said they worked 8 to 10 hours straight through on Wednesday after teaming up with a Doctors Without Borders crew there. He said initially the DWB team was not receptive to them, but once they convinced them they could do some good, Cohen said they were allowed to treat several people at the camp there.
They spent the bulk of their day tending to amputees and people with broken bones who were left to suffer without much help. He said, "These people have wounds that will change their lives forever."
Cohen said his goal was to make a difference for 1 person, but said he feels his team made a big difference in many lives there today. And, when asked how he and the other doctors were holding up, he said, "We are keeping in good spirits." He says they haven't showered, eaten a hot meal or had much water in 2 days, but says that is just an inconvenience compared to those they have seen and treated today. He says conditions there are "absolutely awful."
We'll talk more with Dr. Cohen and Dr. Goode tomorrow. Check back for more updates.
TUCSON -- WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27 -- 10 a.m. UPDATE
Four Tucson doctors have now set up a makeshift clinic in a Haiti township about 20 miles from Port-Au-Prince.
Dr. Russ Cohen, Dr. Joel Goode and Dr. Eric Anctil from Tucson Orthopaedic Institute and Dr. Luis Esparza, an anesthesiologist from Old Pueblo Anesthesia all work together at TMC. They left Tucson Monday morning (see more info below).
Tuesday night they slept at a local Pastor's home in the dirt driveway. They were too afraid to sleep in his house because of the fear of collapse. It was severely damaged in the earthquake 2 weeks ago.
Dr. Cohen's wife is getting text messages from her husband. The 4 men have set up a makeshift clinic at the Pastor's house. Then they went in search of victims who needed medical care. They didn't have to go far.
They found a Doctors Without Borders Camp and started helping folks there. They were told of a young child in a nearby tent who needed help. When Dr. Cohen went there, he immediately picked up the 7 year old boy who had a poorly done amputation and carried him to their car. They drove back to their clinic to "fix it."
The boy also had a broken femur bone in his leg which hadn't been treated.
The doctors say it is extremely hot and the stench all around them is horrible.
We will continue to update their story as information comes in.
TUCSON - TUESDAY, JANUARY 19 - 6:30 p.m. UPDATE
Dr. Russ Cohen and 3 other doctors arrived Tuesday night in Haiti. They were immediately dispatched to a small township about 20 miles from Port-Au-Prince.
Dr. Cohen says the drive was made in complete darkness. The township also has no power.
It's hard to imagine but this township has been without medical care since the earthquake hit 2 weeks. Dr. Cohen and his team are the first doctors to arrive.
They are unloading their gear at this time.
Continue to check back -- we'll update their progress as soon as we get information.
MONDAY, JANUARY 18 ORIGINAL STORY
On Monday afternoon four Tucson doctors left for Haiti. In the group are three orthopedic surgeons and an anesthesiologist.
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Russ Cohen set up the trip through the group Hope International.
Cohen says, "My 11 year old and I were sitting watching the news and there was a call for surgeons and orthopedic surgeons and we both looked at each other and he said ‘Dad, you need to go'."
Two of Cohen's partners at Tucson Orthopaedic Institute, Dr. Joel Goode and Dr. Eric Anctil, decided to go too. And then anesthesiologist Luis Esparza, who works at Old Pueblo Anesthesia, signed on.
Esparza says he's been moved by images on TV showing patients who've had surgery without anesthesia.
Esparza says, "It's horrifying when you think about it. I can't imagine doing this kind of operation without some type of anesthetic and yet it's happening because it's either that or the patient dies."
Esparza says he hopes to offer some comfort, "trying to make it as humane as possible in very primitive conditions."
Cohen says, "We're probably going to be doing anything from putting on band aides to washing out grossly contaminated wounds, trying to stabilize fractures and I'm sure there'll be some limbs that will need to be amputated as well."
The doctors do surgery at Tucson Medical Center. And folks at TMC are supporting their trip.
TMC administrator Linda Wojtowicz gave Dr. Cohen a credit card. She says, "We're just glad to do it. We have something that we can hang onto solid that we can actually make happen."
TMC operating room staff packed up thousands of dollars of supplies for the physicians to take.
Nancy Maloney, the operating room day shift supervisor, says, "Our management said to give them whatever they needed."
Debby Anderson, a supply technician, says, "I was just wishing I could be there to help. Parents losing children, children losing parents, I just can't fathom the loss."
The doctors are expected to return home from Haiti on Sunday.
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