Building Orthopaedic Capacity in Haiti

Dr. Sam, Dr. Oda, Dr. Max, and Dr. Zirkle nearly finished with this non union case.  The patient is a 78 year old woman. She was injured in 2008 and treated with a K nail. It was removed because it was thought her femur had healed but in 2009 her femur began causing her pain again. She has been disabled for nearly two years now. Dr. Getho will send a photo of her walking again on crutches in a few days.










A happy SIGN patient.  Squatting means that her injured leg has healed and she has full function of her knees. 

Drill cover after being sterilized. It's in good condition; fabric is relaxed making it easier to use.

Future ortho. operating room. The SIGN cases for today have been delayed because the previous cases were taking longer than expected. We were shown several rooms which are nearly ready to become orthopaedic operating rooms. They are missing equipment to have their own suites, however we can work with IMEC to supply equipment.  Once they have the equipment and support staffing these surgeons will be able to treat fractures more timely due to elimination of delays. 




Below: Post op of Tuesday's floating knee.

Randy Huebner explains Acumed plates to Dr. Pierre Pierre.

Dr. Pierre Pierre expresses his gratitude of SIGN's support.

Dr. Max describes drill cover to Dr. Pierre Pierre.

Dr. Gilbert shows Jeanne the database that the HUEH residents have built full of cases done since the earthquake.  They plan to present a few papers at the SIGN conference from these cases. In turn, Jeanne showed him how to access the Orthoweb database. Designed by Voyant Systems, this database will allow SIGN surgeons to record cases of interest to be shared with other SIGN surgeons worldwide.

Dr. Zirkle gives impromptu discussion on fat embolism to HUEH medical students.

Dr. Zirkle presents Surgical Treatment of Orthopaedic Trauma book to HUEH residents program.  Dr. Pierre Pierre is the head of orthopedics at HUEH.