Mission to Haiti
Dr. Joshua Hyman, a hero of Haiti
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PrintOne of the UJA-NNJ “Heroes of Haiti,” Dr. Joshua Hyman is not new to volunteering his medical services for earthquake victims. As associate director of the Children for China Pediatrics Foundation, he said, he travels to China every year to “provide surgical services to Chinese orphans.” There he treats congenital and post-traumatic deformities in children, but last year he “also took care of about half dozen children who were injured in the [2009 China] earthquake.”
When he learned of the devastation due to the earthquake in Haiti, Hyman quickly arranged his trip, arriving on Jan. 18 for 10 marathon days of surgery and medical treatment of young quake victims. As a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, his skills were particularly essential as he and other team members addressed the needs of children whose limbs were crushed in the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Hyman described how he joined up with other medical professionals of the Florida based Project Medishare facility at the Port-au-Prince airfield, where “four big wedding tents” held operating and other treatment facilities for the victims. During his stay he found the Israeli field hospital personnel very helpful. In order to maximize the use of medical expertise of the Medishare and Israeli physicians, “there was a fair amount of trading of patients” with the Israelis, said Hyman. “I brought patients to the Israeli facility, and brought back patients that they couldn’t manage.”
Hyman encountered challenging cases. “One patient, a 10-year-old girl, had a terrible crush injury to her arm,” said Hyman. “I spent a great deal of time trying to save the arm, and brought her to the Israelis to try to get a plastic surgeon, but they couldn’t help her.” He did manage to get the youngster transferred to a Florida hospital where she could get the needed services. Each day he spent most of his time operating on victims, but Hyman also concerned himself with finding facilities for follow-up treatment of his patients. Hyman succeeded in transferring numerous patients to the U.S.N. Comfort as well as to Florida hospitals for continued treatment.
Hyman found inspiration in “the spirit of the Haitian people who suffered tremendously — physically, spiritually — who lost their homes and businesses, yet in camps and in the hospitals they wanted to help each other.” Many Haitians volunteered as translators, or helped with equipment and patient transfers, said Hyman.
Hyman is associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of Pediatric Orthopaedic Fellowship at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian. He has lived most of his life in Englewood, where he and his wife are raising their 13-year-old twins, who will celebrate their bar and bat mitzvahs in Israel shortly, and two younger daughters who were adopted from China.
Regarding his Haiti experience, Hyman said, “My wife was completely supportive and my kids just wanted to make sure that I would be safe. They were pleased that their father was involved in trying to help.”
“I’m fortunate that I have the training to do this work,” said Hyman, who plans to return to Haiti to organize rehabilitative care and to help amputees acquire the prostheses they so desperately need. He is also planning a trip to China in the fall to continue his medical volunteer work there.
“The need for additional support in Haiti is tremendous and it will be ongoing,” concluded Hyman. “A tragedy as great as this, very, very close to home, will have to stay in the minds of people in the U.S.”
More on: Mission to Haiti
Israeli surgeon, hero of Haiti, to speak to northern New Jersey physicians and dentists
Dr. Guy Lin struggled to explain why, after January’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, he dropped everything to accompany Israel’s medical team of mercy.
“I am head of the trauma unit at the Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya,” he began after pondering the question. “Every physician thinks he can do his job the best, but in Nahariya, if I am not there, many others could replace me. In Haiti, I felt that there was nobody else.
Lin, who served as chief surgeon at the Israeli mobile field hospital set up in Port-au-Prince, is scheduled to be the guest speaker for UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey’s Physicians & Dentists annual dinner on May 11. The event will pay tribute to 25 “heroes of Haiti,” local medical professionals who also volunteered their services in the wake of the disaster. Many are associated with local hospitals, including Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Hackensack University Medical Center, Holy Name Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, and The Valley Hospital.
The needs persist
Dr. Howard Zucker of Cliffside Park recently returned from a week in Haiti, where he used his skills as anesthesiologist and pediatrician to bring sorely needed services to earthquake victims. “It’s very sad,” he said. “It’s amazing how one event could impact every single person you cross paths with.” The Jan. 12 earthquake was estimated to have killed over 200,000, injured hundreds of thousands of others, and left a million people homeless. The magnitude 7 quake destroyed or hopelessly damaged hundreds of thousands of residences and commercial buildings.
Zucker did not join the rescue efforts immediately after the disaster; he understood that weeks and months later there would still be enormous need for medical assistance. “The situation is still difficult,” he said. “In a couple of months the need will still be there. It’s important that people recognize that the needs persist.”
