A second team of doctors and nurses from the Nemours Foundation's Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children leaves today for a week in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, adding their energy and skill to medical relief efforts triggered by the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.
Thursday, team members met for lunch with members of the hospital's first team, getting packing suggestions, tips for life in the tent complex at the airport where they will sleep and work, and encouragement from hospital officials.
Among the volunteers on the team leaving today are a pediatric general surgeon, three pediatricians, an anesthesiologist, four nurses -- including those with surgical, emergency and intensive-care skills -- two nurse practitioners and a surgical technician.
Dr. Christopher Raab, a pediatrician, will lead the team. He has not been to Haiti, but he has served on medical mission trips to Uganda, Honduras and Guatemala.
"I enjoy being where the need is the greatest," he said, "and right now, that's one place where the need is the greatest."
Dr. Edward Cullen Jr., who led Team One, said it was difficult to treat children who then had nowhere to go because they had been orphaned or left homeless.
The team often will work with outdated equipment, at a challenging pace, with few creature comforts.
"I swear some of the equipment was on loan from the Smithsonian," said Ruthann DeJuliis, an intensive-care nurse on the first team. "There were supplies, but not bucket loads. You have to be prudent. There were people laying out diapers in the sun to re-use them. You need to be good stewards of what you have."
"I'll never be the same," respiratory therapist John Rendle, a member of the first team, told the group. "You'll come back different -- but you'll come back better."
MaryBeth Connors, a registered nurse in the operating room, agreed.
"Your skills will be tested -- and you will rise to the occasion," she said. "Everybody has your back and you have theirs."
Connors said team members will experience uncommon cooperation.
"An orthopedic surgeon asked me what I thought about closing a wound," she said with a smile. "And I said, 'Excuse me? I have never had an orthopedic surgeon ask me about closing a wound.' And he said, 'Whatever. What do you think?' "
She urged team members to keep their sense of humor.
"You will maintain a professional demeanor, but you will laugh," she said. "This was a personal journey, a journey of my profession, a Nemours journey. If you're not proud to be a member of this foundation now, you will be after this. Our professionalism, our quality of care, our ethics and our kindness were not missed by anyone -- including the Haitians."
Scores of duffel bags -- each stuffed with more than 50 pounds of supplies -- were ready to go, packed by members of the operating-room team, said Sharon Udy-Janczuk, an operating-room service coordinator from Glen Mills, Pa., who will be on Team Two.
In contrast to freelance missions organized by the Delaware Medical Relief Team, which has sent more than three dozen medical volunteers to Jacmel on the southern side of the island, the Alfred I. duPont teams have gone with total support from their hospital -- including full salary, logistical arrangements, bags packed with medical supplies, even team T-shirts.
"The tragedy and devastation in Haiti has impacted every person in the world," said Paul Kempinski, chief operating officer of the hospital, who attended the lunch. "What you see is exactly what Nemours is all about -- helping children and families irrespective of where the need arises."
Plans already are in place for two more 12-member teams, who leave March 6 and March 20, according to Catherine Rossi-McLaughlin, who chose team members and is handling logistics.
In addition to the relief teams, the hospital last week assumed care of a 15-month-old Haitian boy who was airlifted from Jacmel at the request of a DMRT surgeon working there. The boy, Antoine Woodlyn, remains at the hospital. His mother, Augustine, is staying at the nearby Ronald McDonald House.
Rossi-McLaughlin urged team members to take advantage of counseling and chaplain services available before their return flight.
"It was harder to come home than I expected," said Becky Schorn, a pediatric intensive-care nurse. "It was physically demanding, but very rewarding. We saw a lot of miracles."
Dr. Glenn Stryjewski, a pediatric intensive-care doctor on Team One, said the impact of the trip hit him when he went out to eat on the Sunday after his return.
"My plate was piled high with food," he said. "My mind went back to Haiti and my eyes teared up. I thought I was this big, bad PICU doc. It affected me more than I expected.
"But it also made me a better doc."