Orthopaedic care provided by the 14^th combat support hospital in support of humanitarian and disaster relief after hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico

• 作者: Bradford Scanlan Fernando Lopez Kyle Bockelman Marc M Serra Nathan Lanham
• 来源期刊: 世界骨科杂志(英文版)
• 学科: 地球科学
• 关键词: HURRICANE Maria Disaster relief COMBAT SUPPORT HOSPITAL Army
• 年，卷（期）: 2020,（2）
• 页码范围: 76-81
• 页数: 6页
• 分类号: P44

摘要

On September 20,2017 Hurricane Maria,a category 4 hurricane,made landfall on the eastern coast of Puerto Rico.This was preceded by Hurricane Irma,a category 5 hurricane,which passed just off the coast 13 d prior.The destruction from both Hurricane Irma and Maria precipitated a coordinated federal response which included the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA)and the United States military.The United States Army dispatched the 14^th Combat Support Hospital(CSH)to Humacao,a city on the eastern side of the island where Maria made landfall.The mission of the 14^th CSH was to provide medical humanitarian aid and conduct disaster relief operations in support of the government of Puerto Rico and FEMA.During the 14^th CSH deployment to Puerto Rico,1157 patients were evaluated and treated.Fifty-seven operative cases were performed to include 23 orthopaedic cases.The mean age of the orthopaedic patients treated was 45.7 years(range 13-76 years).The most common operation was irrigation and debridement of open contaminated and/or infected wounds.Patients presented a mean 10.8 d from their initial injury(range 1-40 d).Fractures and infections were the most common diagnoses with the greatest delay in treatment from the initial date of injury.The deployment of the 14^th CSH to Puerto Rico was unique in its use of air transport,language and local customs encountered,as well as deployment to a location outside the continental United States.These factors coupled with the need for rapid deployment of the 14^th CSH provided valuable experience which will undoubtedly enable future success in similar endeavors.