Twin Cities physician in Haiti: Many are only now getting their first treatment, and need is growing for after care

[MINNPOST, February 02, 2010] Every morning a flatbed named despair drives out of the Heartline Ministries compound and into the slums of Port-au-Prince, looking for the injured in need of help. When the truck returns several hours later and slides through the steel rollaway gates that guard the compound, a small medical staff goes to work.

Since last Thursday, some of the injured are being treated by my colleague, Dr. Peter Melchert, an internist and pediatrician working at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. What Melchert and others are primarily treating is the crush wound, the hallmark injury from what Haitians now refer to simply as "Tuesday."