OU-COM helps Haiti heal

College alumni, faculty, residents supply medical care

Despite years of serving as a surgeon and international volunteer relief physician, David Drozek, D.O. (’83), assistant professor of surgery, had never encountered the level of need he saw in Haiti.

 “One lady, who had been buried for three days, had some of the deepest wounds I have ever seen. She had lost control of one foot on the side of the deepest wound,” he wrote in reports to OU-COM, later adding that, “the work [in Haiti] is becoming more specialized.”

Aside from Drozek, 15 physicians and other volunteers affiliated with OU-COM traveled to Haiti in late February to help provide that specialized care. The college sponsored the efforts, which included dozens of surgeries and other medical care for survivors of the January 12 earthquake.

On February 20, the volunteers met in Haiti and split into two teams that included physicians, surgeons and anesthesiologists, some of whom work within the Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education (CORE).

One team, led by Mark A. Foglietti, D.O. (’82), F.A.C.O.S., plastic and reconstructive surgeon at the Cosmetic Surgery Institute in Beachwood, consisted of three Cleveland Clinic South Pointe Hospital residents, including:

Marc Polecritti, D.O., CORE chief resident in plastic and reconstructive surgery;

Grant Hunter, D.O., CORE anesthesia resident; and

Megan Rogers, D.O., CORE anesthesia resident.

They were dispatched to the Quisqueya Crisis Relief Center and assigned to a hospital in Port au Prince. According to Foglietti, the team typically rose before 4 a.m. and worked until evening, facing major aftershocks, sleepless nights and back-to-back amputations.

The second OU-COM team was led by Drozek, who also serves as a surgeon at Doctors Hospital in Nelsonville. His group of nine volunteers, including family practice residents and physicians, nurses, paramedics and non-medical logistics and construction volunteers, supplied a full range of medical care, from severe wounds to malaria treatment. They worked in cooperation with DELTA Ministries International at Clinic Lilavois, a village charity mission hospital, and later, via the Quisqueya Crisis Relief Center, at a medical clinic at the Centre D’Imagrerie Medicale, in downtown Port-au-Prince.

Drozek’s team included:

Peter Dane, D.O., associate dean of predoctoral education, associate professor of family medicine and physician at University Medical Associates of Athens’ Express Care facility;

Joanne Bray, M.S.N., director of clinical assessment, nurse practitioner and emergency room nurse;

Krista Duval, D.O. (’08), and Dorinda Midwood, D.O., CORE family practice residents at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital;

Brian Kessler, D.O., clinical associate professor of family medicine and director of medical education, Cleveland Clinic South Pointe Hospital;

Katherine Kropf, D.O. (’02), family practice physician with University Medical Associates of Athens and OU-COM assistant professor of family medicine;

Beverly Meade, life flight nurse;

Kathleen Marshall-Dane, non-medical/logistics;

Jesse Midwood, construction volunteer;

Gregory Schano, life flight nurse; and

Jeffrey Warner, life flight paramedic.

The college and CORE sites aim to support medical relief in Haiti. The remaining funds raised through the Ohio University Foundation will go toward medical supplies for groups of independent volunteers, many of whom work for OU-COM or within CORE sites. As Drozek says, “the job is not done. We encourage continued volunteerism in Haiti, and we will help as we are able, using funds we’ve raised to buy supplies, maintaining useful contacts and helping Haiti heal.”