Tag Archives: Emergency Responders

Another opportunity to be generous

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Hurricane Dorian has dominated the news cycle for the past week. As this powerful storm moves up the east coast, we are learning the scale of devastation and human suffering in the Bahamas. The pictures canstockphoto18234898and stories of survivors are heartbreaking.

It is a humanitarian crisis that requires an international response. With airports under water, their lifeline for the basics of safe drinking water, food and supplies is extremely limited. Health workers are on the ground doing what they can.

There are many ways to give. I encourage you to find a relief organization that you can support and give generously.

As you think about those affected by this devastation, be thankful for the everyday heroes who are helping with the rescue and recovery operation as they so often do.

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Everyday heroes among us

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In a week where we remember 9/11 and brace for a major hurricane expected to hit three east coast states, we are reminded of the many everyday heroes – emergency responders and healthcare workers.canstockphoto4424174 (1) families belong together

I’ve highlighted these heroes often over the years. I am grateful for all they do every day to keep us healthy and safe.

A year ago, I commented on the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico. We now understand a year later that nearly 2,975 people lost their lives due to Hurricane Maria. 2,977 people died in the terror attacks on 9/11 seventeen years ago.

Pediatricians were the first to call attention to immigrant families being separated at the border earlier this summer. Over 2,600 children were separated from their families. As of August 30th, nearly 500 children were still separated from their families.

We’ve all seen stories of firefighters and healthcare workers who lost their homes to forest fires out west this summer yet showed up to do their jobs and help others. Dignity Health has 48 hospitals and numerous ambulatory facilities throughout California, Nevada and Arizona.  Lloyd Dean, president and CEO at Dignity Health, shared an important piece this week – “Coping with the Health Consequences of Wildfires”.

On a bright note, a team of creative and committed technologists using medical drone technology are delivering blood supplies and vaccines where roads are inaccessible in two African countries.

And we all probably know a nurse we’d consider a personal hero. Continue reading →

Providing care, no matter where

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Against all odds and in spite of personal risk – doctors and nurses provide health care, especially emergency responders. We’ve all seen the stories and images from recent disasters and war zones.

The Hospital in the Rock Museum in Budapest, Hungary is one of the most vivid examples of providing care under adverse conditions. Hospital in the RockOn a recent trip to Europe, I toured the museum; it’s an actual underground hospital built in a cave system inside Budapest’s Castle Hill.

We walked along long and twisting corridors into a series of irregularly shaped rooms. I could see that the rooms were, in fact, caves; the walls were painted rock. The ceilings curved domes. Now, the passageways and rooms are brightly lit, but I could imagine them lit more dimly in the past. The walls and ceilings were lined with pipes for water, air and electricity. Our guides told us that they turn off the ventilation systems during the tours because it would be too noisy for anyone to hear the narrations.

The Hungarians built the underground hospital in the 1930’s for about 60-70 patients. During WWII, and especially in the 1944-45 Siege of Budapest, it cared for 600 wounded soldiers. During the Cold War, it was converted to be a shelter in case of a nuclear war.

During WWII, the focus was on broken limbs and wound care and of course preventing infection. We saw small, narrow wards with bunk beds pushed next to each other; three patients could be fit into two beds if needed. We saw an operating theater that accommodated two patients.  Talk about major infection prevention challenges! Continue reading →