This weekend  Lawnwood Regional  Medical Center and Heart Institute opened its doors to Haiti’s injured.  The hospital offered to treat up to 8 trauma patients and 20 total patients per flight.  Through a partnership with St. Lucie County Fire District, patients received immediate transport from the St. Lucie International Airport to Lawnwood Regional Hospital. 

Lawnwood Staff Exceptionally Prepared for Trauma Care

Hospital spokeswoman Jana Eschbach noted that Lawnwood is uniquely equipped to treat serious trauma patients because it is a Provisional Level II Trauma Center.  The hospital has 18 specialty doctors and over 200 physicians ready to respond.  Dr. Danny Jazarevic brings first-hand experience of emergency trauma operations.  He served as the former head trauma surgeon of medical mass casualties in Iraq. 

The Provisional Level II Trauma Center designation means that Lawnwood provides comprehensive trauma care and offers patients 24-hour access to specialists, equipment, and personnel as needed.  In addition to the medical treatment available in a traditional emergency room, a trauma center is staffed with trauma specialists who reach trauma patients’ bedsides within minutes of the patients’ arrival.

Injured Patients Slow to Be Evacuated

So far the majority of evacuees have been missionaries who were stationed in Haiti at the time of the earthquake and relief workers who got injured during rescue efforts.  Both of Lawnwood’s evacuated patients arrived via Missionary Flights International, a non-profit agency that delivers relief supplies throughout the Carribean.  Since the earthquake, the organization has clown continuous relief flights. 

Fifty passengers arrived on the flight that bore Lawnwood’s patients.  Of those fifty, only two needed medical care.  Alan Good, a doctor who had been doing relief work in Haiti, was in stable condition, while another unidentified woman remains in poor condition. 

 Eschbach expects to treat Haitians at Lawnwood, once the US government has implemented an evacuation plan.  “Obviously, there are political issues, health issues and infection issues that would have to be worked out with the governments of both Haiti and the United States,” Eschbach told TCPalms.com.  The staff at Lawnwood is planning now, so they will be prepared once evacuees start to arrive.  Eshback said that the facility will likely treat orphaned children in the coming days. 

Photo courtesy of Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers