National Nurses United

NewsBriefs_Mar RAD's changes Korea back 4/2/10 6:11 PM Page 9 Haiti Volunteer Ready to Go Again A which to see some spectacular sunsets, Forsberg recalls, and to see her first sea snake, an experience she could have done without. But the patients and her co-workers were what Forsberg remembers the most. "We would get done with our shift," she says, "go catch up on some sleep or do laundry, then head back down to the wards to see how our patients were. We were there for them and even for the length of a shift it was hard to leave them." They blanketed the Haitians frequently as the ship was air conditioned—"it even was a little cold for me"—and for people used to living in 106-degree heat, the change was dramatic. Much of Forsberg's work was in caring for people who had had external stabilizers applied to broken limbs during the first wave of patients and were now coming back for internal stabilization work. While she was there she saw multiple tibiafibula fractures, head wounds, amputations, pressure ulcers and debridements. One of the worst things for Forsberg was watching patients be discharged from the USNS Comfort knowing they had no home to return to and few to no possessions. She made numerous friends among her NNU teammates and enjoyed harassing her fellow Michigan medical personnel from the University of Michigan's Wolverine Team 1. Forsberg can't say enough about the MARCH 2010 W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G shley forsberg, rn, a medical/surgical nurse from Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan, is brimming with emotion from her relief work in Haiti on the Navy ship USNS Comfort. She tells of bonds made with patients and new teammates. "And it truly was a team," she says. "One thing you learn on the ship is that everything you do makes a difference to your teammates. How much water you use during your shower. How much water you drink. How noisy you are in your quarters when people working other shifts are trying to sleep." For Forsberg, who spent a week and a half aboard the Comfort as a volunteer with National Nurses United's Registered Nurse Response Network, shipboard life was full of amazing experiences. "We had drills to go through—fire drills, abandon-ship drills and then falling out for muster to make sure everyone was on the ship. Every morning reveille would sound at 6:00 a.m. whether you worked the night shift or not! There was always sound—machinery humming, water running, PA announcements." The fantail of the USNS Comfort became a place to reach home for Navy personnel and civilians alike, as it was the only place where spotty cell phone reception could be had. It was also the perfect location from Navy personnel who worked as corpsmen, surgeons, nurses, and in other positions. "It was always amazing to me to see some burly corpsmen tenderly holding a small Haitian child." Some of the corpsmen were young men and she commented on how much trauma and death they'd seen already as crew members of the USNS Comfort. Forsberg is grateful to Sparrow Hospital, the Michigan Nurses Association, and NNU for their support in sending her to Haiti. "I would never have had this incredible experience without their help," she says. "The new friendships I've made and the healthcare I was able to provide will live with me forever." Still, Forsberg worries about the patients she left behind. The island is on the verge of monsoon season and with that comes the very real possibility of malaria and dengue. Already, typhoid and shigellosis are on the rise in the tent camps. Sanitation is a huge issue in Haiti—only 19 percent of Haitians had access to any form of sanitation even before the earthquake. Forsberg saw incredible scenes of squalor on her way to and from the airport and the harbor. She has grave fears about the new amputees and the infections and lack of medical care they may face in the coming weeks. "We have to realize that just because the media has moved on and the emergency patients are taken care of doesn't mean we're finished in Haiti," she says. "The people there are facing a public health crisis that we can't even imagine here in the United States. And yet Haitians are immigrating to America. All nurses must be aware that diseases that we don't think about, like tuberculosis, are still very prominent in some third-world countries. They are destroying these people and they are a danger to the entire world if we don't act to bring public health to the affected countries." Would she go again? "In a heartbeat," says Forsberg. "I'm on the list and I'm hoping I get called again. It's not an experience for everyone but for me, it was life changing. I'm grateful to everyone that helped me to go to Haiti and I'm ready to go wherever I'm needed." —Ann Kettering Sincox N AT I O N A L N U R S E 9

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