The USC, Los Angeles County Medical Team prepares to leave for Haiti. Team members include: (from left to right) Claudel Thamas, R.N.; Ramon Cestero, M.D.; Kara Hammons, R.N.; Howard Belzberg, M.D.; Andrew Tang, M.D.; Mira Lenzini, PA-C; Karen Embrey, C.R.N.A.; David Dromsky, M.D.; and Edward Newton, M.D. (not pictured).

Follow team efforts on the BLOG

By Leslie Ridgeway

Responding to the devastation in earthquake-wracked Haiti, physicians from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) and nurses from the County of Los Angeles Health Services traveled Saturday, Jan. 16 to assist with medical relief efforts in the Haitian capital city of Port-au-Prince.

The Keck School/Los Angeles County response team was organized by Demetrios Demetriades, M.D., director, Trauma and Surgical Critical Care for Keck, and Ramon Cestero, M.D., a Keck School fellow in Trauma and Surgical Critical Care. Cestero is part of the team.

After organizing and packing supplies at LAC+USC Medical Center, the team flew to Miami, Fla. Jan. 16 en route to Port-au-Prince on Jan. 17. Henri Ford, M.D., vice dean for medical education for the Keck School and a native of Haiti, also traveled to Port-au-Prince to offer assistance.

"As part of a response team from the University of Miami during Hurricane Katrina, I learned that aid must arrive quickly to do any good," said Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., of the Keck School. "Thousands of people are suffering from broken bones, internal injuries and other trauma. The trauma team from LAC+USC Medical Center is one of the most experienced in the United States. We will do whatever we can, right now, to help the victims survive and recover."

The Keck/County team is expected to stay in Port-au-Prince for a week, working with a team from the University of Miami and other nongovernmental agencies at the scene.

Team members include:

Ramon Cestero, M.D. - Trauma and Surgical Critical Care/Team Leader
Howard Belzberg, M.D. - Critical Care
David Dromsky, M.D. - Orthopedic Surgery
Karen Embrey, C.R.N.A. - Anesthesiology
Kara Hammons, R.N. - Emergency Medicine
Mira Lenzini, PA-C - Physician Assistant
Edward Newton, M.D. - Emergency Medicine
Andrew Tang, M.D. - Trauma and Surgical Critical Care
Claudel Thamas, R.N. - Surgical ICU