Betty Sparks, Chair of MNA’s Emergency Preparedness Task Force, departed Monday, February 1, 2010 as an IMSURT (International Medical Surgical Urgent Response Team) volunteer.
IMSURT is DMAT’s international component. DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team) operates under the jurisdiction of the NDMS (National Disaster Medical System), the Office of Homeland Security and FEMA. Betty joins a number of MNA nurses who have left for Haiti in recent days from Brigham and Women’s, Caritas Norwood , Caritas Good Samaritan and Caritas St. Elizabeth. There most likely are other MNA nurses or provider units represented in Haiti but this is our current information).
Several additional MNA nurses hope to leave for Haiti shortly under a contract NNU (National Nurses United) has formed with the US Navy. The 1,000-bed USNS Comfort medical ship, stationed off Port-au-Prince operates as a full service hospital. NNU is vetting other geographic areas of potential deployment for safety prior to arranging for nurse volunteers in those locations as well. If you are aware of nurses who are In Haiti, particularly if you know whether they would like that information shared on the MNA website, please let Mary Crotty know. Over 12,000 nurses have currently volunteered nationally through NNU. To volunteer or to donate funds to support NNU nurse volunteers in Haiti go to: http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/
The Emergency Preparedness Task Force of MNA will be meeting shortly to consider ways to acknowledge the contributions these nurses have made and to provide any needed emotional support upon their return. If you are interested in joining the “EP” Task Force please contact Mary Crotty at mcrotty@mnarn.org or 781 830-5743.
The Haiti photos are especially vivid
February 1, 2010
Haiti Three Weeks Later
Tomorrow will mark three weeks since the massive January 12th earthquake in Haiti, and tent cities remain full, even as some businesses and factories are beginning to reopen in Port-au-Prince. Now that massive amounts of aid have arrived, distribution problems have cropped up and are being addressed. The World Food Program has begun a new system of delivering rice to 10,000 Haitians per day at each of 16 women-only distribution points around the city – restricted to women, since young men often muscle their way to the front of distribution lines, and the women are viewed as more likely to fairly divide up the food. Aid chiefs and donor nations are warning that Haiti will need at least a decade of painstaking reconstruction. (40 photos total)
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