Physicians heading to Haiti

Citing superlative training and a long tradition of disaster relief support, an emergency room doctor at Martinez’s Contra Costa Regional Medical Center (CCRMC) told the Gazette on Friday afternoon the reasons why she and three of her ER colleagues are leaving for Haiti on Monday.

CCRMC Doctors Brenda Reilly, Bill Peterson, Pramita Kuruvilla and Neil Jayasekera are scheduled to arrive in Haiti on Wednesday to wield their medical training on a population overwhelmed by disaster following the 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12.

“We’ll be bringing supplies and medications, and our sleeping bags, as we have no idea what the conditions will be,” said Dr. Kuruvilla. “We just want to help, and are prepared for the worst.”

The team is joining other U.S. medical staff with the non-profit group No Time For Poverty, working in conjunction with an umbrella group called Partners in Health, formed by renowned international disaster team leader and chairman of Harvard Medical School’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Dr. Paul Farmer. Partners in Health established a hospital in Haiti in 1985, and has been active on the Haiti health scene since, hence it already has an infrastructure in place.

“Things on the ground are changing very rapidly, and now the [U.S.] military is controlling who can come in and out of the airport. There is a tremendous amount of unknown right now, but we are ready to go,” said Kuruvilla.

Kuruvilla, an Oakland resident who has practiced in the CCRMC’s Critical Care Unit since 2004, said she and the rest of the team are able to go due to the caring spirit alive and well at the County hospital. She mentioned the late CCRMC ER legend Dr. Mark Stinson, who was ‘on a plane’ whenever and to wherever disaster struck until his death in 2007. Stinson created an atmosphere of disaster relief response at the medical center, which Kuruvilla hopes to keep alive.

“Our colleagues are so supportive, the rest of the ER staff is going the extra mile to cover us while we’re gone,” she said. “The [CCRMC] administration is great, and provides us with excellent training.”