Haiti, October 2012:
EMEDEX’s most recent visit to Haiti in June of 2012 marked the conclusion of a needs assessment study in Fort Liberte, a city neighbor to Terrier Rouge which houses one of the Northeast region’s referral hospitals. The study evaluated the types of emergencies seen at Fort Liberte Hospital, what prehospital care exists in the area, and what means of transportation patients use to reach the hospital for care.
Approximately 20% of patients have trauma-related complaints, the mean age of patients is 23 years old, and most patients reach the hospital by motorcycle taxi, without having received any prehospital care. These findings have important implications in developing the local prehospital and hospital emergency system. The data from this assessment will help guide the next steps in EMEDEX interventions in the region.
Visit the Journal for Prehospital and Disaster Medicine for the full report.