Loma Linda University Health

Responding to Need in Haiti

Provider teams arrive in Haiti to assist local Adventist hospital; more on their way.

Loma Linda University Health officials are responding to help residents of the Caribbean nation of Haiti whose lives have been severely impacted by a recent earthquake and tropical storm. LLUH maintains an ongoing collaboration with Hôpital

Adventiste d'Haïti (Haiti Adventist Hospital) and has over the years sent doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers to serve there through its partnership with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

A response team of LLUH and Adventist Health International providers arrived in Haiti to assist local staff the week following a magnitude-7.2 earthquake on August 14.

The earthquake’s epicenter struck in Haiti’s southwest region, causing the deaths of more than 2,200 people to date, according to news reports. A tropical storm also arrived two days later. The response from local officials was hampered by limited resources due to longstanding unrest. Additionally, the nation is still grappling with the assassination of its president in July.

The Adventist hospital, located nearly 80 miles northeast of the earthquake, is undamaged. While operations are orderly, the hospital is running at twice its normal capacity. Surgeons are providing free treatment to injured patients, many of whom sustained major injuries from falling walls or ceilings. Under the guidance of the hospital’s medical director, Scott Nelson, MD, the hospital in recent years has developed into a high-level orthopedic center, and surgical teams

have been able to save many limbs from amputation. Nelson, a Loma Linda University School of Medicine alumnus, told CBS This Morning that patients in the emergency department were being placed on the floor and outside due to limited space. LLUH leaders are working with local hospital leadership through the Global Health Institute to provide subsequent specialty teams in the coming weeks. LLUH has been engaged with the hospital campus since the 1970s, and efforts are underway to further develop it as an LLUH global campus. Loma Linda University Health responded to Haiti’s 2010 earthquake by providing similar services, as well as specialized ongoing rehabilitation services. The School of Allied Health Professions produced a certificate program that trained more than 60 people to work with physical therapists and other professionals serving in Haiti. To donate to relief efforts, visit ahiglobal.org/ donate and designate the donation “Haiti.” Or donations can be made to the Loma Linda University Health Global Health Institute at See the latest news and Health & Wellness giving.lluh.org/GivingHaiti and designate stories from Loma Linda University Health “LLUH Global Health Institute.” at news.llu.edu. ____________________ By Ansel Oliver