Many Haiti Quake Survivors Left Limbless

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 19, 2010
Many Haiti Quake Survivors Left Limbless

In Country Where Life Already Difficult, Prospect of Losing an Arm or Leg Daunting to Thousands of Wounded

CBS/AP) <!-- sphereit start-->For two days, Ticia Vital refused doctors' pleas to allow them to amputate her festering left leg, even as the gangrene spread and the alternative became death.

But after a sleepless night filled with pain, the 19-year-old agreed - becoming one of scores of Haitians who have lost their limbs to the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that has devastated millions.

In a country where life is difficult in the best of times, the prospect of a future without an arm or leg is especially dismaying.

"What will I do? How will I manage to survive on my own with just one leg?" Vital asked, lying lethargically on a metal bed frame at Renaissance Hospital, which Cuban doctors founded for eye care in 2006 and swiftly converted to a trauma unit after last Tuesday's quake.

Doctors in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince say they have performed numerous amputations of hands, arms and legs. An exact count is impossible to make as overworked medical staff race to care for tens of thousands of patients overflowing hospital wards into parks and gardens.


Read more at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/19/world/main6114872.shtml

 

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Re: Many Haiti Quake Survivors Left Limbless

<TABLE class=storycontent cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>Experts warn of struggle ahead for Haiti's amputees

Page last updated at 17:50 GMT, Friday, 22 January 2010


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Health reporter, BBC News


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Surgeons say the post-operative period will be critical



</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA -->Prosthetic organisations and charities worldwide have warned of the huge task facing Haiti as it struggles to rehabilitate hundreds of thousands of amputees resulting from the island's earthquake.

Doctors say they are already struggling to cope with the sheer numbers of people needing amputations after being trapped in rubble.

Some surgeons estimate that as many as 200,000 Haitians will end up losing one or more limbs - in a country where the few rehabilitation facilities that existed before the earthquake have largely been destroyed.

And in a country where an estimated 800,000 people were already living with disability before the disaster struck, meeting all the needs of the amputees may be impossible.

Dominic Hannett, director of clinical services at Opcare, a private company that provides prosthetic services to the NHS, says many more amputations will be carried out over the coming days and weeks because of potentially fatal infections in people, who had initially fairly minor wounds or fractures.
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And he warned infection will remain a major risk in those who have had surgery to remove parts of or whole limbs.

He said: "It's fairly common sense but the more someone loses of their limb, the more complex the amputation and prosthesis is going to be - if someone loses a leg at the hip, that's a massive problem."

Prosthetic devices need to be fitted as soon as possible after healing to get people mobile and will need refitting in the first few weeks and after that at least once a year, he said.

"Amputation is a life-long rehabilitation - in the UK we still treat amputees from the Second World War because they need ongoing care."

Read more at:



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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8475806.stm

 

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Re: Many Haiti Quake Survivors Left Limbless

'Living with one leg is living'

News Type: Event ? Thu Mar 25, 2010 10:02 AM EDT
By JoNel Aleccia

DESCHAPELLES, Haiti -- Even in a community of amputees, John Markinley has seen more than his share of trauma.

The 21-year-old student from Port-au-Prince lost most of his left hand and part of his right leg in his country's disastrous earthquake, which trapped him for three days in the rubble of his school until rescuers could find and free him.

"I just waited," he says. "I knew they would come and get me."
But Markinley refuses to dwell on his disability -- and he doesn't let others stay down, either. As the unofficial ambassador of L'Escale, a housing community set up for prosthetics patients treated at the nearby Hopital Albert Schweitzer, the tall young man with the quick smile believes it's his job to be upbeat.

"I try to give joke, to give comedy," Markinley says in his best English, a language he studied in school and practiced on his own. "The doctor told me that the best thing that's good for stress is to laugh."

And there's actually a lot of laughing going on at L'Escale, where the population has shot up just this week to some five dozen people ranging from young children to grandparents. All around the compound of eight four-room houses, residents are chatting and joking, playing the card game "Casino," listening to Haitian hip-hop on the radio and generally hanging out on this sultry spring evening.

They're all either amputees who spend their days trying out new limbs at the Hanger prosthetics clinic at the hospital or family members and friends who've come to support them.

"It's a built-in community for them," says Mandy McGlynn, a physical therapist from the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute who just finished a two-week stint at the Hanger clinic.

Strangers who arrived traumatized and depressed by the events of the past two months have become companions bonded by empathy and understanding, say patients and hospital organizers alike.

"All the people here is my friend," says Markinley. "We are the same."

That's true for Genneviege Delus, a 38-year-old mother of four who was selling trinkets on the street in Port-au-Prince when the earthquake hit.

"I was running and that's when a building collapsed on me," says Delus through a translator. She lost her right leg above the knee.

Before she arrived in Deschapelles, Delus says she was sad and depressed. She'd never been around another amputee before and hated the stigma of being one.

"When I come down here, I see many people who have no legs and no arms and I feel happier," she says. "There are other people like me here. I thought I was the only one."

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http://haitiamputees.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/03/25/4036517-living-with-one-leg-is-living-