A team of six tired intensive care specialists from the Univerity of Maryland?s R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center returned Tuesday Morning from a 10-day trip caring for earthquake victims in Sichuan, China.
“I think we developed relationships, both professional and personal with the Chinese that we will cherish for a lifetime,” said nephrologist Geoffrey Sheinfeld. “Once we got into the hospital and started taking care of patients, it was just doing what we do every day. I was surprised how quickly we became part of the team.
The magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck Sichuan province May 12 killed more than 90,000 people and left 200,000 injured. West China Hospital in Chengdu saw 2,000 quake victims in the days immediately following the quake, and many of those will be recuperating for years.
“It was heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time,” said Karen Karash., a critical care nurse. “It was tough to see the children and the missing limbs, but at the same time we were well-received.”
Dr. Thomas M. Scalea, physician in chief, said they missed the initial response to the catastrophe, but learned a lot from the way the Chinese organized and carried out their care of victims.
“There were far more similarities than there were differences between us and the Chinese,” Scalea said. “To see the people of China come together and take care of victims of this terrible earthquake was incredible.”
While all team members gave the Chinese doctors high marks for the quality and state of their care, they said few hospitals in the world would have the experience to be prepared for such a catastrophe
“Their standard patient in the ICU was a person with two limbs amputated and kidney failure, infected, on a ventilator,” Scalea said.
“On top of all this, they continued to do what they do every day, delivering babies, performing operations and taking people with trauma,” Sheinfeld added.
The Shock Trauma team taught their counterparts how to adjust dialysis for patients suffering muscle-crush injuries, and how to treat infected amputation sites.
And they saw some things you wouldn?t see in a Western emergency room.
“We went in one day and saw an IV bag full of bright red fluid going into a drip,” Scalea said.
“I asked, ?What?s going on,? and they said, ?Ancient Chinese medicine.?
“I asked, ?What?s it do?? and they said, ?Good for heart.? ”
