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Victoria doctor talks about medical care in Haiti

Victoria doctor talks about medical care in Haiti

Dr. Donald Plowman surveyed some of the damage from the Haiti earthquake. He was in Niche, a town that was not directly affected by the earthquake in January.
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  • J.R. Ortega •
  • Originally published March 10, 2010 at 7:09 p.m., updated March 11, 2010 at 12:14 a.m.
  • WHAT IS OPERATION SMILE? Operation Smile is an organization of a mobilized force of medical professional who offer safe and effective reconstructive surgery like facial deformities such as a cleft lip or cleft palate. Each year more than 200,000 children are born with the cleft condition and can't eat, speak or even smile. Since 1982, the medical volunteers have provided free surgeries in more than 50 countries. They helped contribute to Haiti by sending medical volunteers to Hinche to perform critical surgeries and provide medical care for earthquake victims. For more information visit http://www.operationsmile.org/
    WHAT IS OPERATION SMILE? -2010-03-10 22:27:00

Only a low-watt head light casts a faint glow on a leg dressing of a woman's broken femur.

It's an environment semi-retired Victoria orthopedic surgeon Dr. Donald Plowman isn't used to working in, but it would have to do.

After all - he was in Haiti.

"I think it's a pretty catastrophic thing to happen to the poorest county in the Western hemisphere," he said as he loaded his laptop with hundreds of photos of his eight-day February volunteer mission with Operation Smile to help with earthquake relief efforts.

Since the January 7.0 magnitude earthquake, news coverage has been high; however, that coverage is beginning to lessen, and Plowman feels it is still of importance.

"It all just sort of fades away over time and you know the needs are still there," Plowman said, as he clicked through the photos of his mission.

Plowman was flown by Operation Smile supporter Harrison Ford along with plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and supplies.

Bandages, a power drill made for tools that would have to be used for medicine and surgical masks helped add weight to the nearly 140-pound bag Plowman packed for the trip.

Plowman smiles at the photo of him and Ford outside of the St. Thérèse Hospital in Hinche, a town about 70 miles outside of Port-au-Prince.

That photo captured one of the only shining moments of the whole trip.

Though there was little earthquake damage in Hinche, the aftermath health-wise was evident.

Electricity was run by generator, there was no sewage system, and that's not because of the earthquake - but because of the state of Haiti's poor economy, he said.

Injuries ranged from burns to broken bones.

At least 100 of the injured in Port-au-Prince were sent to the hospital where Plowman was.

While there, Plowman conducted several surgeries and follow-ups on victims with fractured femurs.

Many were kids, but they weren't as depressed as the adults, he said.

There were even points where Plowman helped deliver babies.

In one instance, the mother and child died; another, the baby survived.

"It wasn't all earthquake-related, we were just helping take care of the health problems Haiti's got," he said.

The Library of Congress has Haiti's health care ranked last in the Western Hemisphere, and that was before the earthquake.

"Everything that was in anyway more advanced was in Port-au-Prince and they lost all that," he said. "You have an idea that the people in Haiti are poor, but you have no idea how poor they really are."

Plowman has had some follow-up with some of the patients he treated while there.

What's saddening for Plowman is that they are going to need further care that they may or may not get, he said.

If he could go back, he would.

"It was very worthwhile, and I felt I had the training and talent to do that kind of work," he said.

Plowman tried to remember the good things about Haiti.

From the trip he brought home two things, a wooden vase-like structure and a painting.

Hues of green splash over rolling hills and Haitians are seen around the river.

The painting reminds Plowman of Haiti - a colorful one.

"It's a totally different world," he said. "It's not something you can solve going down there for a couple of weeks. It's going to be health problem for a time to come."


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