96 PR health workers to aid Haitian quake victims

http://www.prdailysun.com/index.php?page=news.article&id=1263614304

Some 96 doctors, nurses and University of Puerto Rico medical students left for the Dominican Republic Friday to set up a camp next to a hospital in Jimani, a town on the border with Haiti, to provide medical care to thousands of Haitians injured in the earthquake that devastated the country earlier this week, Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz said Friday.
The effort was coordinated by Rivera Schatz and Dominican Republic authorities and the site was chosen because of the difficulties entering chaotic Port-au-Prince. Rivera Schatz said the hospital in Jimaní is a 45-minute drive from the Haitian capital and that the facility has been swamped by injured victims since the earthquake. The doctors brought medical supplies and medications donated by local companies.
The health professionals, including three native Haitians, will be in the Dominican Republic until Tuesday, when they will be replaced by a contingent of 30 doctors who have volunteered to support the Senate’s aid efforts. This second group will include three island mayors who are doctors. They are Ponce Mayor María “Mayita” Melèndez, who is a dentist and will work trying to identify bodies, Salinas Mayor Carlos Rodríguez Mateo and Aguada Mayor Luis Alberto Echevarría.
Rivera Schatz said he and a group of senators will also be visiting Haiti next week to deliver supplies. The Senate has set up a collection center in front of the Capitol to deliver food, clothing and medicine to Haitians and the House has set up collection centers in all district offices. The goods will be delivered in coordination with the U.S. Southern Command since the government in Haiti has effectively broken down.
“The [Haitian] president [Rene Preval] does not have a home, and he is working from the Dominican Republic,” Rivera Schatz said at a news conference in the Capitol.
Rivera Schatz said the doctors will have translators to help them out. He said Max Antoine, the executive director of the Border Development Authority in Haiti, will serve as liaison with the Haitian government. Ricardo Jacobo, executive director of the Dominican Government Institute, will be helping doctors and the Dominican Senate president.
The Dominican airline PAWA agreed to transport the doctors free of charge. Fred Sosa, PAWA manager, said the Haitians desperately need humanitarian aid, especially doctors.
“Besides their services, the health experts will take with them all of the surgical materials and instruments donated by Johnson and Johnson, UMECO, Glaxo, the Health Department and the Dr. Center Hospital,” said Rivera Schatz, who was accompanied by first lady Lucé Vela.
“This is a time when we have grown as a people,” Vela said.
Rivera Schatz said that Transporte Sonnell, Reliable, Agua de la Montana, Campo Fresco, Copa Airlines, Margaritas Restaurant, the Ports Authority and Ferries del Caribe also contributed to the effort. Ferries del Caribe will transport two ambulances donated to the Haitian government and Copa Airlines has agreed to provide transportation.
The Senate leader said his counterpart in Haiti, Kelly Bastien, is very ill and is undergoing medical care in the Dominican Republic. “The Haitian government has collapsed. This could happen here. We live in a seismic area,” he said.
Although Rivera Schatz called for unity, he did not invite the Popular Democratic Party minority delegation to the activity. PDP Sen. Alejandro García Padilla said the Senate leader did ask for their help in the effort “but we really do not mind if we were not there. The important thing is to help out.”

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