Five days after a group of doctors and medical professionals from the School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Hospital landed in Haiti to provide post-earthquake relief, the team has headed back to New Haven, according to an e-mail from Kimberly Davis, chief of the Section of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Surgical Emergencies at the School of Medicine.

From Davis’ e-mail:

Again we have heard from our team on the ground in Hinche Haiti. They are safe, healthy and tired. They report that need remains great, and that work continues well into the night, both on a wound management/surgical front and an educational front. Additionally, Dr. [Gregory] Larkin is working to cement long term relationships in Haiti, for future efforts, with an anticipated meeting with their Dean of the Medical School.

Our team is scheduled to depart from Haiti tomorrow, as another non-Yale team in conjunction with Partners in Health is scheduled to arrive. Our team plans to travel north to Cap Haitian, over challenging terrain, as the roads are in disarray, with an anticipated departure for Orlando FL around noon. We will arrange transportation from Orlando to Hartford, and AMR Ambulance has offered to bring them home.

Our team is tired, but proud of the excellent work that they have performed. We look forward to welcoming them safely home.

I will keep you apprised of any changes in the above arrangements as necessary. We have begun to identify the members of the next Yale team to Haiti, including trauma surgeons, emergency medicine physicians, anesthesiologists and internal medicine physicians, as well as nurses, as the need for nursing training and expertise is great. We remain unclear as to when the next team will deploy, but continue to work energetically to assemble the necessary expertise and supplies.

YALE DAILY NEWS