PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
As you are all aware, the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti has resulted in an unprecedented amount of death and destruction. Steven Fisher, MD, the President of Healing Hands for Haiti International Board (HHHI), estimates that there are an estimated 3,000 amputees and “tens of thousands” with fractured limbs that require rehabilitation services. It is unclear how many individuals there are with spinal cord injuries and/or traumatic brain injuries.
As an international organization with physiatrists located throughout the world, ISPRM can serve as a communication link to immediate and long term Haitian physical rehabilitation needs for post earthquake survivors. ISPRM has a network of physiatrists who have worked in these situations previously, such as Professor Jianan Li of China with the Sichuan earthquake, the Japanese physiatrists in the aftermath of the Great Hanshin earthquake and the Israeli and Turkish physiatrists who went to work after the Izmit earthquake.
The ISPRM in conjunction with its various subsidiary Committees, take a very serious interest in humanitarian service. One of the Committees—The Exchange Committee, through ‘Operation Functional Recovery’, has previously played an important role in rehabilitation planning, education, and service delivery following contemporary natural disasters including Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (_Uploads/dbsAttachedFiles/October.pdf) and more recently the Sichuan Earthquakes (http://www.nycpm.edu/newEvents/china.pdf).
The ISPRM and its membership stand ready to once again rise to the challenge of humanitarian service. Consistent with the ISPRM’s mission of helping to “improve the quality of life with people with impairments and disabilities”, our organization and its constituent membership and committees will take an active interest in rendering assistance and leadership during times of natural disaster. The ISPRM Exchange Committee will once again dedicate energy to planning, organizing, and orchestrating exchange opportunities for volunteers wishing to provide assistance.
We have been working with “The Healing Hands for Haiti” (www.healinghandsforhaiti.org) a well organized NGO, to take the lead in organizing physiatrists and rehabilitation medicine assistance to the Haitian people. Another useful source of information is the International Rehabilitation Forum (www.rehabforum.org) founded by Andrew Haig, MD.
It is the ISPRM’s role to facilitate the distribution of information on what the HHHI identifies as the rehabilitation needs in Haiti. We need to work with DAR/WHO to aid in the disaster relief efforts.
Joel A. DeLisa, MD, MS
President, ISPRM
