Plastic surgeon's recent trip to Haiti reveals ongoing need for care

By Jim Leonardo

07/19/2010 at 2:30PM

A United Nations report released July 12 outlines the chronic shortage of disaster relief in Haiti, which is still recovering from a Jan. 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000. David Halpern, MD, a plastic surgeon from Tampa, Fla., echoes the urgency of the situation; a relief trip that took him to Haiti from May 15-22 demonstrated a need for medical aid that will not soon subside, he says.

"There are ‘chronic earthquake' injuries by the thousands - conditions that have lingered for these past several months. We could work 24/7 and still not make a dent," says Dr. Halpern, 49, chief of the Tampa General Hospital Department of Plastic Surgery and 2006-08 president of the Florida Hand Society.

"ASPS members should know the need for medical help in Haiti is no less crucial than it was in the days immediately after the earthquake," he says. "But while fewer lives hang in the balance right now as compared to the immediate aftermath, the need for plastic surgeons is still great."

Dr. Halpern encourages fellow ASPS members to consider volunteering their skills to help Haiti's injured.

"There are countless cases involving acute trauma and other conditions with which plastic surgeons could really help," says Dr. Halpern.

He adds that many of the procedures needed are commonly performed by plastic surgeons, the stories behind the injuries are as foreign as the French-Creole language spoken by the locals.

"One of my patients was a 16-year-old girl with a 30 percent total body surface burn that was 12 days old, and she had lost half her hand due to burns," he says. "She suffered these injuries because people threw her into a bonfire in order to exorcize ‘demons' and her epilepsy. Amazingly, even without medical care she was totally alert and not septic.

"We also treated several missionary kids from Missouri who were injured in a truck roll-over on May 16," Dr. Halpern says (picture on right). "The driver was heroic - the truck lost its brakes, but instead of jumping from the cab or driving over an approaching embankment - which likely would have killed everyone on board - he edged the truck sideways into a berm and was able to lay it down on its side. The kids had injuries ranging from broken vertebrae to upper- and lower-extremity and maxillofacial trauma. It was a good thing we were there. And that's the point: You never know what will come your way."

Dr. Halpern, who says he performed dozens of procedures in makeshift operating rooms erected on the Port-au-Prince International Airport tarmac, says plastic surgeons who are considering a trip to Haiti should contact Project Medishare or visit the ASPS website to access a list of organizations involved in the Haitian earthquake relief effort.

"Project Medishare helped me get to Haiti," he says. "I was the only plastic surgeon and I'm certified in hand surgery, so I joined forces early on with two orthopedists. We were like the Three Musketeers; we combined our skills sets, and we rounded and operated together - we quickly became a very effective team.

"We weren't guaranteed scrub techs or nurses in the O.R., we had to pick our own instruments and circulate for one another, and at times the physical conditions in the O.R. were extremely challenging," he says. "But it was exciting to be part of a team that needed to think and act quickly - and it reinforced for me the reasons I became a plastic surgeon in the first place."

Dr. Halpern acknowledges that while conditions in the Port-au-Prince medical facilities were challenging at best, the amount of positive change that just one plastic surgeon can bring to the suffering nation will more than offset the challenges that he or she will encounter - and after all, the things worth having are usually acquired through hard work, he says.

"What U.S. physicians in general don't know is that there's still a huge need," Dr. Halpern says. "We don't hear about Haiti anymore, but the need hasn't gone away. Our members still need to get down there to help. It may be tough, but the sense of having contributed to the greater good of humanity is a feeling that's second to none."

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