Dr. Vivian McAlister of the Department of Surgery in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry is back at work this week after returning from Haiti where he worked in the Canadian Field Hospital.
London surgeon Vivian McAlister has just returned from a month of intense medical service in earthquake ravaged Haiti. Here, he interviews a Haitian patient during a medical outreach clinic. The Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry professor and surgeon at London Health Sciences Centre is a major in the Canadian Forces Medical Service.
A major in the Canadian Forces Medical Service, McAlister joined up in 2008 after volunteering as a civilian surgeon in Afghanistan.
The following interview was conducted by Marisa Kanas, Information & Resource Specialist, in the Department of Surgery.
Marisa Kanas: How long did you have to get ready?
Dr. Vivian McAlister: I received a phone call in the evening of January 15 as my family and I were leaving the house to visit friends for dinner. I was asked if I could leave immediately to help preparations for the mission. My wife drove while I organized coverage for my patients with my very understanding partners in University Hospital. I had a great meal and I flew out the next morning to go to Petawawa.
MK: Why did you go to Haiti?
VM: I was asked to join the mission organized by 1 Canadian Field Hospital as a general surgeon. This was the first time that the Canadian government had decided to deploy a field hospital as part of emergency relief.
MK: What usually happened before?
VM: The Disaster Assistance Response Team or DART is made of small mobile teams capable of entering areas affected by disasters to provide immediate help such as fresh water supply and primary medical aid. These teams are unable to perform surgery. The earthquake in Haiti killed over 200,000 people but injured many more, most of whom required surgical help. After we got the go ahead from the government, the field hospital deployed to Leogane, the epicentre of the earthquake, and was operating within two days.
MK: What did you find there?
VM: The area was reduced to rubble. Almost nothing over six feet was standing. The roads were blocked and the people were homeless without any means of survival. A Canadian NGO (non-governmental organization), the Canadian Medical Assistance Team (CMAT), had set up in the area and was providing fantastic surgery such as limb amputations in extraordinarily primitive conditions, operating on a stretcher resting on concrete blocks in an open tent. We were able to provide two modern operating rooms with full support of diagnostic imaging, laboratory services and critical care.
MK: What type of surgery did you do?
VM: The immediate care of earthquake victims mainly consisted of orthopaedic surgery such as amputations and fracture care. I believe patients who might have required general surgery for chest or abdominal procedures had died before we got there. As a general surgeon I found people who had poor medical care before the earthquake and none after it. I operated every day for over a month. My colleague Dr. Vincent Trottier of Quebec and I resected (removed) cancers of the thyroid, neck, breast, chest wall, colon, kidney, uterus and testis. Once the demand for urgent surgery subsided the commonest surgery we performed was hernia and hydrocoele (testicular) repair in men and hysterectomy in women.
MK: What will happen after you leave?
VM:
There were two hospitals in Leogane that collapsed in the earthquake. Engineers from the Van Doo (22nd) regiment of the Canadian Forces cleared the rubble and made the hospitals safe. NGOs such as Medicins Sans Frontiers and World Wide Village plan to remain in Leogane for at least one year helping the Haitians rebuild their hospital system. We supported these efforts with materials as we prepared to come home. It will take a decade of support to help Haiti rebuild. We were all struck by the resilience of the Haitian people. In spite of living in ramshackle huts, they kept themselves clean and spotlessly dressed. We lived in tents, eating rations, using dugout latrines and therefore understood what an achievement this was. If rebuilding Haiti makes it a better place than it was before the earthquake, all their heartache and suffering will have some meaning.