American journal of disaster medicine
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On January 12, 2010, one of the most destructive earthquakes in history struck the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. This study aims to characterize the impact of the earthquake and humanitarian response on well being of the affected households as means of evaluating the effectiveness of response efforts. ⋯ The immediate impacts of injury and mortality had marginal influences on long-term household economic security, whereas displacement into camps was stongly associated with negative outcomes for income, employment, and food access.
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The provision of critical care in any environment is resource intensive. However, the provision of critical care in an austere environment/mass disaster zone is particularly challenging. ⋯ Based primarily on our experiences at a field hospital in Haiti, we created a short guide to critical care in a mass disaster in an austere environment. This guide will be useful to the team of physicians, nurses, respiratory care, logistics, and other support personnel who volunteer in future critical care relief efforts in limited resource settings.
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To describe humanitarian aid following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. ⋯ Following major disasters, even highly modernized countries will face an urgent surge in the need of medical resources. These situations emphasize the need for global responsibility to provide assistance.
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On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude Richter earthquake devastated Haiti, leading to the world's largest humanitarian effort in 60 years. The catastrophe led to massive destruction of homes and buildings, the loss of more than 200,000 lives, and overwhelmed the host nation response and its public health infrastructure. Among the many responders, the United States Government acted immediately by sending assistance to Haiti including a naval hospital ship as a tertiary care medical center, the USNS COMFORT. ⋯ Volunteers' demographics, such as age and gender, as well as linguistic skills, work background, and prior humanitarian assistance experience varied. Volunteer efforts were critical in assisting with informed consent for surgery, family reunification processes, explanation of diagnosis and treatment, comfort to patients and families in various stages of grieving and death, and helping healthcare professionals to understand the cultural context and sensitivities unique to Haiti. This article explores key lessons learned in the use of volunteer interpreters in earthquake disaster relief in Haiti and highlights the approaches that optimize volunteer services in such a setting, and which may be applicable in similar future events.
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To identify strategies with tactics that enable point-of-care (POC) testing (medical testing at or near the site of care) to effectively improve outcomes in emergencies, disasters, and public health crises, especially where community infrastructure is compromised. ⋯ Careful implementation of POC testing will facilitate evidence-based triage, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of victims and patients, while advancing standards of care in emergencies and disasters, as well as public health crises.