Mercy sends supplies to Haiti

Friday, February 12, 2010

Mercy Health System of Kansas is climbing on board the effort to provide relief in Haiti.

On Saturday, a plane loaded with $55,000 worth of medical supplies departed from the Spirit of St. Louis Airport near St. Louis, Mo., for Hopital Sacré Coeur, a hospital in Milot, Haiti. The supplies were donated by several hospitals operated by the Sisters of Mercy Health System, including Mercy Health System of Kansas-operated facilities in Fort Scott and Independence. The flight was arranged by David Pratt, a member of Mercy's board of directors.

According to Mercy spokeswoman Niki Burgdorf, Mercy Health Center in Fort Scott contributed sutures, cotton umbilical tape, iodoform packing strips, a skin marker pen, Gelfoam absorbable gelatin sponges, and tracheotomy tubes.

Mercy spokeswoman Barb Meyer said nearly every Mercy hospital contributed various equipment including EKG machines, defibrillators, microscopes, centrifuges, pulse oximeters, incubators and infusion pumps, and supplies such as blood pressure cuffs, wound kits, syringes and needles, bandages, disposable diapers, sheets, gowns and drapes, surgical gloves, masks and dressings, IV poles and tubing, splints, walkers and crutches, and other items.

The shipment on Saturday was in addition to nearly $200,000 in medical supplies, equipment and pharmaceuticals -- more than five tons -- that have been collected from Mercy hospitals and shipped to Haiti through other relief organizations, a Mercy statement said.

Hopital Sacré Coeur, located about 100 miles north of Port-Au-Prince, was built and is operated by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart of the Montreal Province. It is the largest medical facility in northern Haiti. Before the Jan. 12 earthquake, it operated as a 73-bed facility. In the wake of the recent disaster, the small hospital has swelled to include as many as 400 beds.

"Like many others around the world, Mercy and its coworkers have eagerly supported relief efforts in Haiti, and we are particularly gratified that we could respond with specific supplies requested by the Hopital Sacré Coeur," Mercy President and CEO Lynn Britton said. "Mercy will continue to look for ways to help the people of Haiti with money, supplies and medical services."

The recent shipment of medical supplies is only one example of the ways that Mercy is responding to Haiti relief efforts. Mercy coworkers and physicians have contributed more than $42,000 in cash donations, and several Mercy physicians have traveled to Haiti to aid victims of the recent 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck the impoverished nation and devastated Port-Au-Prince, the nation's capital city.

It was the country's most severe earthquake in more than 200 years, killing 230,000 people and injuring many more. The quake affected about three million people.