InterVol Makes Second Trip to Leogane, Haiti; Team of RGHS Physicians to Volunteer Services

InterVol has sent a second medical/surgical team of Rochester General Health System physicians and nurses, along with badly needed medical/surgical equipment to Leogane, Haiti.  This trip will not only assist the injured Haitians but also provide relief for the first group of doctors who are presently in Leogane.  The planes left from the Constellation Brands Hangar (Number 7) at the U.S. Airports facility on Scottville Road last Friday.

Ralph P. Pennino, MD, President of InterVol and Associate Chief of Surgery at Rochester General Hospital, stated that surgical equipment has been donated by Rochester General Hospital and its affiliates, along with other national organizations. The team of doctors and 2000 pounds of supplies will be transported from Rochester to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Constellation Brands has again generously donated the charter service for this humanitarian mission. Once in Santo Domingo the team of medical personnel and supplies will be transported by prop plane to a road in Leogane which is serving as an air strip.  This group will work with the Notre Dame Haiti Program and other associated NGO’s who are working together to provide medical care for the residents of Leogane. 

Leogane, Haiti is a town 18 miles southwest of Port Au Prince and is the largest town closest to the epicenter.  The town had approximately 200,000 residents and it has been reported that upwards of 30 – 40,000 people have perished after the earthquake.  The United Nations estimated that 80 to 90% of the buildings in Leogane have been destroyed or structurally compromised. 

InterVol Background

• InterVol is a Rochester Community based 501-C non-profit organization that is affiliated with Rochester General Health System
• It consists of three programs:
  • RUMS -  Recovery of Unused Medical Supplies
  • VMP – Volunteer Medical Professionals
  • FAB – Friends Across the Border

Relationship to Haiti

• InterVol volunteers made several trips to Haiti in the mid 1990’s
• Over the past few years, InterVol has teamed up with the Notre Dame Haiti Program that is in place Leogane, Haiti
• Notre Dame uses grant funding from the Gates Foundation to eradicate lymphatic filariasis in Haiti
• InterVol is dealing with the secondary effects of this disease and had an already planned medical/surgical trip for February 2010
• Joey Leary (Notre Dame, 2009) has been the InterVol/Haiti intern in Leogane since August of 2009. His initiatives:
  • Coordinating teams of doctors to volunteer in Haiti
  • Facilitating shipment of supplies from InterVol warehouse

The Rochester General Health System team of physicians includes: 

• Ralph P. Pennino, MD, Associate Chief of Surgery, Rochester General Hospital, Chief of Plastic Surgery, Rochester General Hospital
• Andrew Smith, MD, plastic surgeon, The Plastic Surgery Group of Rochester
• Jeffrey Wasserman, MD, anesthesiologist
• Paul Cross, DO, anesthesiologist
• Patrick Riggs, MD, vascular surgeon
• Emmy Branigan, RN, Rochester General Hospital operating room nurse
• Bill Joyce, InterVol volunteer EMT

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