(2010-02-05) Our Trip to Hait - A Healthcare Perspective

Our mission was to save as many lives, and prevent fatalities from wound infections. Towards the end of our trip, we felt that we had accomplished that mission. The lives that we touched were precious.

Our Trip to Haiti - A Healthcare Perspective

On January 21st, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. when a huge medical team gathered at Miami International Airport, little did they know that they were about to undertake a mission of a lifetime. Just after midnight, the flight of over 100 people, including doctors, nurses, and paramedics, traveling from Miami, got to Haiti's airspace and could not land. There were four airplanes waiting ahead of us 'in the air.' We had to wait in line. The tension among us was high. We were parked up 'in the air', in the middle of nowhere. When we eventually landed, I had to practice my jumping technique in order to get from the plane onto the ground. (Written by Jennifer Townsend, RN, CCRN, BSN, JD, Owner of Health Management Ventures, www.healthmanagementventures.com.

Our medical team arrived at where we would be staying. Crowds of homeless-like individuals were already asleep on the ground.. We stepped over them, looking for a place to rest our heads, away from the homeless. It wasn?t long before we realized that the homeless people sleeping outside were actually doctors and nurses from the previous flights We chose a spot on the ground and went to sleep. It was about 2 a.m. ((Written by Jennifer Townsend, RN, CCRN, BSN, JD, Owner of Health Management Ventures, www.healthmanagementventures.com.

Later that morning, we arrived at Haiti General Hospital. Sick patients were laying along the sidewalk. They were sweating profusely from the boiling hot sun. Many were groaning with pain. Others were grimacing. The leg and knee stumps, head wounds, and general body wounds, were too many to count. Mentally traumatized patients stripped themselves naked in the street. The wounds smelled. The dressings were stale. The flies that swarmed the sidewalk did not make the situation any better. We fanned away the mosquitoes. Some medical personnel looked overwhelmed and confused. The rest of us were fired up to work. We darted through the flies and mosquitoes, removed old and stale dressings, cleaned the wounds, then applied new dressings. We gave antibiotics and pain medications. We then inserted IVs and gave IV fluids. By the end of the day, one of our nurses had dizzy spells and was fainting. I expressed our team?s mission during an interview with the ?First Lady of Haiti.? (Written by Jennifer Townsend, RN, CCRN, BSN, JD, Owner of Health Management Ventures, www.healthmanagementventures.com.

The next morning, before leaving on our bus back to the hospital, a group of nurses, doctors, and paramedics rushed down the narrow dusty non-asphalted street to attend to a young man who had wounds with sutures that was bleeding and needed immediate attention. The young man who had previously been in the hospital after being traumatized by the earthquake, did not follow-up at a hospital or clinic because he had no way of getting there. He had no transportation, he said. After caring for the young man, we all got on the bus and again headed to the hospital. We were so determined to cure the injured. We fell into a work routine. Towards the end of that day, another nurse had began to faint. She had now converted from a nurse to a patient. She was given three bags of IV fluids. During a thirty-minutes face-face interview with the Mayor of Port Au Prince - Haiti, Mayor Jason Jean-Yves, I expressed my concern about silent healthcare issues that had evolved from the after-effect of the earthquake. (Written by Jennifer Townsend, RN, CCRN, BSN, JD, Owner of Health Management Ventures, www.healthmanagementventures.com.

Our mission was to save as many lives, and prevent fatalities from wound infections. Towards the end of our trip, we felt that we had accomplished that mission. The lives that we touched were precious. We wish that we had the opportunity to do more. So, we would like to encourage our American and International healthcare colleagues to do more - volunteer in Haiti and touch a life. (This story was written by Jennifer Townsend, RN, CCRN, BSN, JD, Owner of Health Management Ventures, www.healthmanagementventures.com.

About Us: Health Management Ventures provides healthcare administrative management, consulting, marketing, medical record reviews, and facility site audits - for doctors' offices, clinics, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, assisted living facilities, home health agencies, adult care centers, health plans, hospitals, government agencies, and private companies.

A Note From the Owner:

As a graduate of Florida International University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, and a graduate of University of Miami School of law with a Juris Doctor degree, I am committed to excellence in servicing the healthcare industry and success in the transformation of the healthcare system. I have a cumulative 25 years of healthcare experience, serving the community and servicing individuals ranging from the newborn to the elderly. I have over 20 years of nursing experience in the acute clinical settings, ranging from medical/surgical/telemetry specialization to intensive care units. In these roles, I sharpened my competency in forming accurate diagnoses, writing appropriate care plans, and interpreting diagnostic test results. I have over 4 years of experience in my current role as adjunct faculty at a college, as well as experience as a medical/legal research and writing faculty at a university. In these roles, I was able to share my expertise with individuals who needed to learn how to quickly summarize and analyze medical records, as well as, helping them to enhance their leadership skills. My experience also includes executive management in the clinical healthcare setting. In this role, I have been responsible for the extensive review of medical records, routine audit of the physical plant, and coordination of staff efforts, in a way to ensure compliance with State and Federal Regulations. As a past executive case manager, I demonstrated the ability to minimize Medicare LOS and drastically cut hospital costs, leading to recognition of my success. Through my risk management experience, I minimized corporate liabilities and accomplished significant goals through the Agency for Health Care Administration. In my past role as a law clerk and legal nurse consultant at a healthcare law firm, I was instrumental in the success of settling medical malpractice cases.

I am graded 100% satisfaction on my current medical record reviews and audits of healthcare facilities, including health clinics and physicians' offices. Working in this capacity, empowers me with the knowledge necessary to 'set-up and manage' the medical office or healthcare facility in preparing to pass any governmental inspection. With my success, knowledge, and training from both a nursing and legal standpoint, along with my extensive varied healthcare experience, I am competent in the mastery of both medical record reviews and facility site audits, as well as management and consulting.

Health Management Ventures works with a group of healthcare professionals who are experts in the following areas: healthcare consulting, legal nurse consulting, medical records review, facility site review, utilization review, case management, staffing, and marketing of healthcare services.

We are available for contract, virtual consult, phone consult, or teleconference.

Contact Info: Jennifer Townsend, RN, BSN, JD
www.healthmanagementventures.com
office@healthmanagementventures.com

Additional:

Company: Health Management Ventures

Country: United States

Contact: Jennifer Townsend

Website: www.healthmanagementventures.com

Bus E-Mail: office@healthmanagementventures.com

Phone: 561-948-4177