A Charlottesville doctor returns from Haiti this week after treating hundreds of patients in the tent cities surrounding the earthquake zone in Port au Prince.
It’s Dr. Michael Ashby’s first day back to work at Martha Jefferson Hospital after spending 10 days treating patients in Haiti. As an emergency room doctor, he’s seen a lot, but he said he’s never seen conditions like he saw there.
“You see patients, you do what you have to do to take care of people, but afterward, it’s pretty intense,” Ashby said.
He’s had a chance to reflect on his experiences in Haiti since being back. Despite packing plenty of supplies, Dr. Ashby’s team still ran out because of all the patients that needed treatment.
“We ran out of antibiotics,” he said. “We ran out of vitamins.”
Part of the reason Haiti needs outside medical help is because their major hospitals collapsed. It hits close to home for Ashby. Many medical students died, including one who stayed with Ashby’s friend.
“One of the physicians was supporting the medical student that he lost, so that city has one fewer doctor than they would have had,” he said.
There are fewer doctors to treat the many infections associated with living in close quarters. Since the earthquake, tent cities have sprouted up, which have become breeding grounds for certain diseases.
“We saw scabies, which is a skin mite. We saw lots of diarrhea. If one person got a cold, it would spread through the community, so we were seeing lots of things with infections.” Ashby said.
He took thousands of pictures to better remember the hundreds of patients he treated. Ashby treated an elderly woman who needed care for her infected foot. It was a painful operation, but it was successful. Despite the suffering, she still managed to smile, and Dr. Ashby has a picture of the two embracing in a hug. It’s clear that neither doctor nor patient will soon forget the other.
Ashby is the vice president of medical affairs at MJH. He traveled to Haiti with a team of two dozen doctors and nurses through International Christian Resources charity out of Blacksburg.