St. Damien Hospital - "UTC CHOLERA TREATMENT CENTER" - (Supported by: NPH/NPFS)

Per MSPP/PAHO/Health Cluster list dated 11/13/10 this hospital is a 'UTC':

UTC DEFINTION: Unit for the/Cholera (UTC): a health center, mobile clinic or hospital alone which has built a space to be able treat patients cholera, or in a tent or ente or in a house of the structure. THE UTC is able to make oral rehydration and intravenous use. Capacity 2-20 beds. Opening: at least during 12 hours. Staff : doctor, nurses, agent sanitation, health worker.

LTel: 11/19/10

UPDATE 11/17/10 from FR RICK FRECHETTE/St. Damien:

-locations/GPS coords of CTCs & other cholera tx centers
WE ARE AT TABARRE 500 METERS FROM USA EMBASSY

-who is currently organizing?
PRIVATE CATHOLIC HOSPITAL

-how many deaths in recent days?
WE HAVE HAD ABOUT 200 PATIENTS SO FAR WITH 10 DEATHS
MOST OF THESE ON ARRIVAL

-do you have body bags & disposal cleaning supplies?
WE ALWAYS NEED BODY BAGS
WE HAVE A CREMATORIUM
COULD USE HELP WITH PROPANE

-how is the water supply?
WE ARE FINE WITH WATER

-is staff exhausted? are there night-shifts & day-shifts?
YES 24 HOUR SERVICE PEOPLE ARE TIRED BUT OK

-who has been your medical equip supplier?
PURCHASE IN HAITI AND DONATIONS ABROAD OF SUPPLIES MOSTLY THE FORMER

-are any medical shipments being held in Customs?
NO

-what are main safety concerns?
ADEQUATE SHOWER SYSTEM FOR THE PATIENTS
VOLUMES OF CHLOROX THAT WE NEED CANNOT BE MET

**How are you confirming cholera? Do you have quick-tests? Do you have access to a lab?
TESTS SENT TO NATIONAL LAB
WISH WE DID HAVE QUICK TESTS

WE CN GROW TO 400 BEDS ON OUR PRESENT SITE AND 600 BEDS ON AN ADJACENT SITE IF WE HAD A ,OT OF HELP TO DO THIS
TOTAL 1000 BEDS IS ACHIEVABLE

THANKS
FR RICK FRECHETTE

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November 16, 2010
Haiti: A letter from Saint Damien Hospital

Via NPH Saint Damien Hospital Haiti, Fr. Rick Frechette writes: Cholera in PaP. Excerpt:

I worked all night at our cholera treatment area, and during the night I saw a comparison I never would have imagined. Stepping out of the tents for fresh air from time to time, I saw the pearly white crescent moon overhead, beautiful and calming.

Inside the tents, also set against a deep darkness, the eyes of the most severe of the sick people have the same form. Eyes sunk deeply to that the whites of the eye stay below the upper eyelid, with the eye rolled upward toward the forehead. Two crescent moons.

It is a scary sight to see the depth of the apathy and surrender, not an ounce of fight left. It is sadder still to see it in children.

The last time I wrote there were about 4,300 reported cases of cholera in Haiti. That number is climbing to 20,000 with 1000 deaths. I read reports that about 200,000 cases are anticipated before there is a decline.

We are setting up two more tents of 16 cots each, which will put our small base at 100 beds. You can believe me that even 100 people represent enormous human suffering, as well as enormous devotion (and work!).

The public morgue will not accept bodies, for fear of cholera. You cannot even bring the garbage to the normal dump without getting stoned by the neighbours for fear of cholera.

We are cremating our own dead. It is sobering to be the one to push the furnace button, after placing the child inside.

All night I see how closely the parents cling to their children, accepting to sleep in the most difficult positions as they find the best way to hold their child. I watch them and admire them, but the in the case of the children I am sure will die, it seems so unfair that the children are slipping away from such tender arms.

The last arms to hold them are mine, as I place them in the crematorium. The grief of the mothers is as difficult for us to take as the illness.

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EXCERPT FROM:

October 31, 2010
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Father Rick Frechette, Director of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos/Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs (NPH/NPFS, Spanish and French for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters”) Haiti

SOURCE: http://www.friendsoftheorphans.org/s/769/inner.aspx?sid=769&gid=1&pgid=252&cid=2449&ecid=2449&crid=0&calpgid=61&calcid=719

We have an organized plan to help in case of a huge outbreak of Cholera in Port-au-Prince, in a way that will not disturb the function of, or contaminate, either our children’s hospital (St. Damien) or our family hospital (St. Luke).

We have covered about two acres of land next to the St. Luke hospital with gravel, and we set up so far 4 of a total of 15 large tents, where we will receive cholera patients. We have set up a diarrhea clinic there, where our staff will evaluate anyone with diarrhea, without them needing to go into either the St. Damien or St. Luke compounds. After screening, if it is likely cholera, we will bring them nearby to Doctors without Borders Cholera site. When they have reached their capacity of 250 beds, we will begin receiving the patients in our tents. We have a capacity for about 300 people.

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Source info came from: (STATUS OPERATIONAL)
Haiti's Ministry of Health's Master Health Facility List (v2) Feb 4.

HealthC_ID....Catagory....Type....Damage
1129053.......HOP.................Field Hospital Co-Located with Hospital