A message from Thomas Krummel, MD, Emile F. Holman Professor and Department Chair

Length: 2:02 mins

Emergency Medicine Physicians Part of Team Caring for Haitians

( Chuck Liddy/The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)


In an effort to manage the devastation brought on by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake, Stanford Hospital & Clinics deployed a group of physicians and nurses to help with relief efforts.  The team, led by Robert Norris, M.D., Division Chief of Emergency Medicine, arrived in Haiti on January 16, 4 days after the devastating earthquake hit the country.  The group consists of three other emergency medicine physicians, Paul Auerbach, M.D., Anil Menon, M.D., and Ian Brown, M.D., plus four SHC nurses, Gaby McAdoo, Heather Tilson and Julie Rachioppi. 

Since their arrival in Port-au-Prince, the team has been supplying emergency medical care to the wounded.  Each member took two bags filled with supplies such as splints, tongue depressors, scalpels, thermometers, swabs, sutures, and medications including antibiotics, and to treat pain and asthma.  When they arrived at the hospital, the group encountered patients with very serious injuries.  “… crushed limbs, mangled tissue, open wounds with maggots, fracture dislocations, etc. Some of them had crude bandages, and virtually none of them had a medical evaluation. There were still approximately 40 dead bodies in one area, and the smell of death and cries of pain were everywhere,” stated a report written by Dr. Auerbach and Dr. Norris about the situation in Haiti. The SHC team will stay in Haiti for three weeks.

The full report by Dr. Auerbach and Dr. Norris can be found here.