NSU Horizons Fall 2010

w hen an earthquake demolished Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010, more than 230,000 Haitians died, while many others were severely injured. The survivors were left to face the devastation: homes reduced to rubble, cars flattened like pancakes, power poles splintered, and streets turned into canyons of cracked asphalt. The capital was largely destroyed, and all was lost except one thing: hope. Hope came in the form of an optometrist with an ophthalmoscope, a device used to look into the back of an eye. Hope was a psychologist with comforting words. Hope became a doctor with surgical tools and a stethoscope. Hope showed up as an educator with colorful art projects and a literacy program. Hope appeared as a logo with a shark embedded in the letters NSU. The faces behind those letters belonged to Nova South- eastern University students, faculty and staff members, and administrators who offered monetary and hands-on assistance immediately after the trembler struck the nation. Following the quake, NSU’s family quickly organized relief efforts, collecting food, clothing, and supplies to ship to Haiti. Faculty and staff members and students also donated thousands of dollars. NSU students from the College of Osteopathic Medicine’s (COM) Rural Medicine Club and the Student National Medical Association presented George L. Hanbury II, Ph.D., NSU president, with a $1,000 check to donate to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Representatives from NSU also offered medical services as part of the Project Medishare for Haiti/University of Miami (UM) program, working in the UM Global Institute Hospital, which was located in tents at Port-au-Prince’s damaged Toussaint Louverture International Airport. One of the NSU representatives was Brian J. Cross, D.O., clinical assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at COM and director of Orthopedic Trauma Service at Broward General Medical Center. Motivated by the images of intense suffering he saw in the media, Cross joined a medical team that flew to Haiti with Project Medishare. “The earthquake was a brutal assault on your emotions,” said Cross. “I wanted to participate in the relief effort because I felt I could help. It was as simple as that.” The medical team arrived at the airport field hospital 10 days after the earthquake. The hospital compound consist- ed of three large tents housing a surgical ward, a general medicine and pediatrics ward, and cots that served as sleep- ing quarters for the all-volunteer medical personnel. “We had no running water, no conventional bathrooms, no showers, and no hot food,” Cross said. Despite the condi- tions, Cross treated patients, some of whom were so weak they had to be carried to him. During his four-day stint in Haiti, Cross tried to treat the victims without having to amputate their limbs. “I wanted to give these patients the benefit of the doubt because, let’s face it, it is difficult enough to make it in Haiti,” he said. “If you don’t have a leg or you don’t have an arm, it’s going to be much more difficult.” Bruce Peters, D.O., professor of pediatrics and medical director of NSU’s medical clinics, went to Haiti in June. Peters was the only pediatrician in a four-member group with the James Wilson Bridges Medical Society sent to parts of the country with orphanages that had not received health care. The team spent several days providing health care to those living in the mountains and hills. “Some of the children were so badly injured that we had to transport them ourselves to the University of Miami tent hospitals. The land and people still looked totally devastated,” said Peters, who added he plans to return to help establish a school-clinic combination for the distant communities near the orphanages. Smith Blanc, a 2009 graduate from NSU’s College of Optometry, saw more than 100 patients a day after arriving in Haiti on February 22. During his time in Haiti, he became the sole provider of eye care, treating patients for dry eyes, ocular traumas, and eye infections. He also provided baseline ocular testing for patients infected with tuberculosis, one of the most prevalent contagious diseases in Haiti. “If I hadn’t been there to help, some of the patients would have lost their vision due to bacterial infections,” said Blanc, a 4 horizons nsu brings hope to haiti By Ken Ma