Hurricane Relief

 

 

As part of its continued humanitarian response to the plight of the bateyan populations, BRA dispatched a team of American-trained volunteer medical experts on a eight-day medical mission from November 28th through December 6th, 1998 to bring medical help to victims of hurricane GEORGES in the Barahona bateyes.

 

The decision was made primarily to provide emergency medical care to the victims of the hurricane in the bateyes. The relief effort took place in the Barahona region where bateyes such as the Algodon, Bombita, and Altagracia were virtually wiped out by the fury of the storm.

 

 

Among the medical staff that traveled with BRA were two internists, three optometrists, two pediatricians, one podiatrist, two infectious disease specialists, three registered nurses, and one assistant. Some of the staff belongs to groups such as the Guyana United Mission (G.U.M), the Volunteer Optometric Service to Humanity (V.O.S.H), and the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad (AHPA). A Dominican-trained medical staff also joined the team in the relief effort.

 

Dr. Raymond Thertulien helps one of Hurricane Georges victims.

 

The goals for the mission were to ensure that victims were given emergency medical care - control heath hazards - prevent further human losses among the vulnerable, i.e., children and the elderly. The recipients were mainly the poverty-stricken and forgotten Haitian migrant farm workers, Braceros, and their families.

Medical services were also extended to as many other victims as time and supplies permitted. Approximately more than three thousand patients were seen by the medical staff. Patients were screened and treated for infectious/parasitic diseases, diarrhea, dehydration, malnutrition, dengue fever, cholera, malaria, and HIV.

 

Patients were also given free medicines, vitamins, and eye glasses to complete their short-term treatment. During the mission, BRA distributed basic commodities, bottled water, canned food, medicines, vitamins, and other emergency aids that were necessitated to help the victims cope with their tragedy. BRA received donations in medicines, commodities, and money from pharmaceutical companies, governmental institutions, the non-profit sector, and private individuals.

 

The mission was made possible in collaboration with the Dominican Republic's State Sugar Council Consejo Estatal del Azucar (CEA), the Haitian Embassy in Santo Domingo, and the Haitian Consulate in Barahona.

 

The same medical resources used in the last medical relief will be used in the Barahona mission. The purpose for this mission is to provide care and assess the medical needs for long-term medical services in the area. We will use the same procedures in Barahona as was used in the Naranjo.

 

 

 

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