January 14, 2005

MGH clinicians to be deployed to support tsunami relief efforts

Many MGH clinicians have offered to travel to Southeast Asia to help the victims of the tragic tsunami that devastated that area Dec. 26. The opportunity to help came this week when the MGH was invited to participate in an important mission spearheaded by an organization called Project HOPE, which is coordinating the deployment of health care professionals to the USNS Mercy — a U.S. Navy hospital ship — to provide medical support for the Navy crew already serving in the relief effort.

Project HOPE has requested volunteer doctors and nurses to participate in Task Force Hope-Mercy by staffing the ship's operating rooms, intensive care units and medical care facilities. The volunteer clinicians will provide direct care to the patients of that area, who will be triaged to the ship by Task Force specialists. The specialists will coordinate these efforts with local medical and public health authorities. Larry Ronan, MD, director of the MGH Durant Fellowship, and Susan Briggs, MD, director of the MGH International Trauma and Disaster Institute, will co-direct the MGH response to this invitation. Jeanette Ives Erickson, RN, MS, senior vice president for MGH Patient Care Services and chief nurse, Theresa Gallivan, RN, associate chief nurse for MGH Nursing, and Jeff Davis, senior vice president for Human Resources, will assist in coordinating the volunteers.

"I believe linking with Project HOPE's Task Force Hope-Mercy will give us the best opportunity to serve in a meaningful, organized and safe way," says Ronan. "This request is a great honor."

The USNS Mercy set sail for Sri Lanka Jan. 5 with about 275 medical personnel on board, and the remaining volunteer medical staff will join the ship en route later in January. The mission is expected to last for approximately three months. The MGH and other Partners institutions are organizing volunteers into several teams to serve in different phases for four weeks at a time. Volunteers will need to have approval from their department supervisors.

"The MGH and Project HOPE have worked together for many years to provide excellence in disaster medical care in places such as Armenia, El Salvador and Russia," says Briggs. "This mission continues that tradition. I am honored that the MGH has the opportunity to play a leadership role in helping the victims of the Southeast Asia tsunami, a disaster unparalleled in recent history."