Kathy Welsh
MIDDLETOWN – Orthopaedic Relief Services International (ORSI) has been instrumental in delivering an ambulance donated by a local not for profit community to the town of Jeremie in Haiti.
Ms. Marie Gladice Lindy, St. Jean-MSPP Ministry of Health and Dr. Jean Wildric Hippolyte with the donated ambulance. Photo provided
The town, according to ORSI President and Founder, Dr. Ron Israelski, was nearly wiped out by category five hurricanes about a year ago and ORSI was told that patients were being transported from the outlying Hills by wheelbarrows.
ORSI is a non-profit organization created in an effort to respond to the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti that killed 250,000 people; perhaps the worst event to affect the human condition in our hemisphere in our lifetime!
Few, if any, countries on earth have ever suffered more natural, political or medical disasters than Haiti. ORSI provides Clinical, Educational and Infrastructural support for the largest hospital in Haiti: Hospital Universite D’Etat d’Haiti (HUEH) which is also home to the state medical/nursing school, as well as all medical and surgical residency training programs in the nation.
In 2010, HUEH was decimated in the earthquake. Years later, HUEH continues to struggle as it serves a catch net of patients numbering in the millions.
The magnitude of suffering in Haiti, particularly between the earthquake and the recent hurricane, is immense and unprecedented in our hemisphere.
Help is still urgently needed. ORSI has not forgotten, and through their continued efforts have made a great impact on the people of Haiti and the conditions of HUEH.
The donated ambulance. Photo provided
ORSI is committed to freeing almost 100,000 medications and cardiac equipment from the airport and delivering one more shipment of 77,000 kg of hospital beds commodes and many hundreds of surgical kits and first aid kits that are still stuck at one of the ports.
In late 2017, ORSI brought a team to Haiti led by Dr. Ken Egol from New York University to provide clinical and educational services to Haiti’s two government hospitals (HUEH and La Paix).
In other good news, Dr. Israelski was able to get a set of power drills and saws for the operating room. Finally… the c arm X-ray for the operating room was repaired.
Only with proper infrastructure can we provide assistance for excellent clinical services.
And only with excellent clinical service/outcomes can teams provide for best educational experiences for the surgical residents of Haiti.
Our successes would not be possible without the support of those who volunteered and provided supplies to help us in our mission.
Special thanks to:
- New York University School of Medicine
- Amerishare
- Amerijet
- Orange Regional Medical Center’s Administrators and Nurses
- TouroCom and local High School Students
- Local public officials
- Middletown Press & Promotions
Anyone interested in helping or making a donation for this extremely urgent and needy cause, please contact ORSI by mail, phone or through their website www.orsinternational.org.
Earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, on behalf of Dr. Ron Israelski, Orange Regional Medical Center’s Director of Academic Affairs continues. In addition to his years of humanitarian work, Dr. Israelski has been invaluable in the creation of excellence in medical education for the Hudson Valley and for developing Orange Regional into an Academic Medical Center. He was extremely instrumental in developing a partnership with Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine and the creation of Touro’s Middletown Campus. As former chairman of the Orthopedic Department at Orange Regional, Dr. Israelski led the creation of Orange Regional’s Orthopedic Bone and Joint Center which was awarded certification for hip and knee replacement by the Joint Commission.
