Diary of a Tsunami Doctor |
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January 18th, 2005 - 07:04AM |
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Photo: The IRC Hilarie Cranmer, M.D., is a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine in Boston. On only a day’s notice, Dr. Cranmer departed for Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on January 7 to join the IRC’s tsunami relief teams there. Cranmer has been sharing highlights of her travels and observations in an e-mail diary. Lhokseumawe, Indonesia Greetings all, forgive the randomness of the message below, I only have about 30 minutes, so I’m trying to squeeze it all in. The last week and a half has been a flurry. We landed in Jakarta after 24 hours of travel. Then 2 days later we flew to Banda Aceh, in the north of Sumatra, via c-130 military cargo plane. We would have had another 3-day wait if we flew commercial. The only airport in Banda Aceh is working round the clock to accommodate all the flights/aid. The trip wasn't bad, the New Zealand military flew the plane, and we were ensconced with Australian military, local NGOs, returning Aceh people, as well as aid and cargo. One person passed out from the heat, but revived soon after. Flying in, we had to circle for about an hour, waiting for a landing slot. So we saw lots of damage, I’m sure you've seen more pictures than me. But there were wasted, brown, littered places where there used to be houses, green, lush vegetation and lots of people. The tsunami wiped out the busiest part of town, where the Ministry of Health was (they lost 300/350 people), as well as the police, and the large housing complexes that were housing the pilgrims headed to Mecca (Banda Aceh is one the first places that Muslims were)—so very populated. Aceh, incidentally, stands for "Arabic, Chinese, European and Hindu." It is really a melting pot of cultures/peoples. The devastated area that we are serving is of all types, although the city of Banda Aceh was perhaps more Chinese heritage, the west coast more European. We’re learning more and more each day. We stayed in Banda for a few days, in a region that is not affected. We did several rapid health assessments of several camps, as well as several health facilities that we’re now trying to deal with the influx of refugees (called pegunsees). IRC is joined with CARDI, which is a consortium of NGOs that have been in Aceh for years, predating the tsunami and a lot of the military rule. Our teams are composed of ex-pats (expatriots) like me as well as nationals, so our ability to communicate and navigate the system is superior, when compared with some of the other NGOS we have met. IRC/CARDI now has 6 teams all over Aceh, and each team has a doc, nurse, team leader, a water sanitation expert, field coordinator and a child protection specialist. We hear that Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) will be sending more psychiatrists along. The teams are in Banda Aceh, Meulaboh, Challan, and Medan. Speaking of psychiatry, PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) is big, and most of the population willingly takes Valium, amitryptilline and haldol for their nightmares. Other tsunami related injuries include aspiration pneumonia, although I think that we’re seeing less and less of it. Those that got it 14 days ago, are dead or are getting sick now, but those that are surviving have already survived the tsunami so will survive this one. MSF has been trying to helicopter out the handful that are in the hospitals to the military ships that have ventilators. We are currently in Lhokseumawe, which is on the northeast coast, where the tsunami wiped out very small villages up and down the coast. We are working in 6 camps and 2 main villages, about 15,000 pegunsees all together. Our biggest thing has been measles vaccinations; we're starting to see lots of cases. No other NGOs are working in these camps, but we are trying to coordinate with MSF and Red Cross who have recently come here. The biggest problem is water and sanitation. All the wells were salinated, and the latrines are overflowing in the mosques where most of the camps have settled (about the only open space that isn't flooded, or naturally used for rice/fish farming). So our water/sanitation guy is VERY busy. Other medical is tetanus, wound infections, and the basic care that many didn't have before the tsunami. We're safe, have plenty of food and water, and even showers! More when I can, Hilarie Posted By: Dr. Hilarie Cranmer | Asia, Diaries & Journals, Health, Tsunami Relief Permalink |
