East End doctors help Haitians
International Surgical Mission members tackle the aftermath
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Dr. Gregory Dalencourt, a surgeon at Peconic Bay Medical Center who attended school in Haiti as a child, is part of a local medical team that left Saturday for the earthquake-ravaged country.
With 14 other medical personnel who are part of the International Surgical Mission, Dr. Patel left New York Saturday morning, uncertain whether the group would even be able to land in Haiti. The U.S. government is controlling the single runway serving Port-au-Prince and trying to coordinate the many planes carrying supplies and rescue workers.
The group made it in, but efforts to reach Dr. Patel on the ground have been unsuccessful.
"Right now we are walking into something we don't know," Dr. Patel said. His previous ISM trips have been to clinics in other third-world countries, but not in the wake of disasters.
ISM's local unit was formed by Dr. Medhat Allam, a bariatrics surgeon in Hampton Bays and Robert Mineo, a nurse anesthetist at Southampton Hospital, who also works at Eastern Long Island Hospital.
"We need a lot of money," Dr. Patel said of the contributions that have been flowing in to help pay for the mission.
In addition to the money that has been coming from PBMC staff members, the hospital and its pharmacy have been generous in providing supplies, he said. ELIH also has contributed supplies.
On the ground, team members were to be housed at the home of Dr. Gregory Dalencourt's parents in Delmas, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. It was damaged in the quake but is still usable. Dr. Dalencourt is a general surgeon on the staffs of both PBMC and Southampton Hospital.
"I'm only a ride-along," Dr. Dalencourt said about his handling of logistics. Born in Brooklyn, his parents sent him to Haiti as a child to live with relatives because they thought the educational system was better there. Because he knows the country and speaks both French and Creole, he thought he could be helpful.
Seeing the images from Port-au-Prince has been hard for this doctor so familiar with the capital city. The primary school he attended lies in ruins. His church was destroyed.
"That's the part that's been the toughest," Dr. Dalencourt said. But Haitians are resilient, he said,
"We've done the impossible already," noting that the country gained independence through a slave revolt, survived dictatorships and in 2008 alone took heavy hits from four hurricanes.
"We always surmounted adversity" he said. There's "a lot of pride and a lot of fight" among Haitians. "We will be back and stronger than ever."
Contributions have been flowing to the Haitian relief effort from the North Fork community through churches, civic groups and individuals.
Brewer Yacht Yards -- with marinas and boat yards in cities from New York to Maine, including Greenport -- contributed $25,000 to Hope for Haiti. During the month of January, the Brewer Yacht Yard Group added to its donation by matching all individual donations made to Hope for Haiti made by its employees.
jlane@timesreview.com
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Building Communities -- Bridging Continents : 1/28/2010
These physicians are Riverhead Rotarians, and an example to us all... May God go with them and look after them..
