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Blackfoot doctors going to Haiti |
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Friday, 05 February 2010 |
By MELANIE MOORE
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BLACKFOOT — Two local doctors will be traveling to Haiti next week to help with the medical effort in the devastated country.
Taylor Johansen, a general surgeon, and Kirt McKinlay, a general practitioner, will be leaving with a group of 20 physicians from Idaho, Utah and Arizona. Both are doctors at the Blackfoot Medical Center.
Their group will also include two nurses from the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, a nurse from Mountain View Hospital in Idaho Falls and an orthopedic surgeon from Idaho Falls. They are going as volunteers with International Aid Serving Kids, a non-profit organization based in Orem, Utah, dedicated to poor children in Haiti and Dominican Republic.
“We’ll try to provide any type of relief we can,” Johansen said.
McKinlay, who is on another waiting list to go to Haiti, said he felt the need to help.
“I just felt I had to find a way to get there,” he said.
The group is planning to stay in a ward house of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Leogane, a small town outside the capital of Port-au-Prince where a number of survivors are currently living. Johansen will perform surgeries in a temporary tent hospital, and McKinlay plans to travel to smaller towns to treat those in need. They will be there 10 days.
“They don’t have enough doctors,” McKinlay said. “They don’t have anything.”
At this point, more than three weeks after the earthquake, they are expecting to treat a lot of chronic infections, malnutrition and dehydration. Many of their patients may need amputations.
“It’s such a big catastrophe,” McKinlay said. “I think the world will respond to this for years.”
Both are excited to go and to be able to make a difference.
“It’s the right time in my life to do this,” McKinlay said. “I will probably never forget this experience.”
The staff at the medical center has been instrumental in helping McKinlay and Johansen organize their efforts. They have held in-house fundraisers for the doctors, and their medical partners will be taking over their cases while they are away.
“Everyone’s chipping in and getting involved,” Johansen said. “Everyone seems very eager to help out.”
The doctors, along with the help of staff at the Blackfoot Medical Center, are soliciting donations of medical supplies and monetary donations. Monetary donations can be made at the Blackfoot Bank of Commerce to the Haiti Medical Relief Fund. Those with other donations can call 785-2600.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 February 2010 )
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