A seven-person team of Stanford Hospital & Clinics physicians and nurses left Friday, January 15 for Haiti, where tens of thousands have died and many more injured in the 7.0 earthquake that devastated the country last week. Among them is Los Altos resident Dr. Paul Auerbach, former chief of the Division of Emergency Medicine and father of senior Danny Auerbach.
According to Sherry Auerbach, Paul Auerbach’s wife, prior to leaving for Haiti Paul Auerbach had already volunteered in Guatemala and helped build medical systems in Nepal and India.
“This is just another emergency mission where he can use his skills,” Sherry Auerbach said.
Paul Auerbach was already heading to Miami for a medical meeting and when on Wednesday, January 13, he was asked to join a team heading to Haiti.
“There was no hesitation, and he was the guy to go,” Sherry Auerbach said.
He and the rest of his team departed for Haiti on the morning of Friday, January 15 to aid with relief efforts and provide assistance to earthquake survivors.
The Stanford Hospital contingent is the largest team from a single source to work with the IMC in Haiti. All the Stanford team’s physicians are emergency medicine specialists.
Global humanitarian nonprofit International Medical Corp. (IMC) had initiated the request for the medical aid. IMC currently has 4 doctors in Haiti and 13 on the way.
In preparation for the trip, Stanford Hospital donated $18,000 in medical equipment and supplies, including basics like antibiotics, splints, thermometers, tongue depressors, scalpels, sutures, swabs, medication to treat pain and asthma, and more. The team is transporting the equipment and supplies along with their own food and water.
The team is working two locations. During the day, they are stationed at the general hospital near the Presidential Palace. At night, they work at a makeshift clinic at the Villa Creole, a hotel in the hills above Port-au-Prince. There, Paul Auerbach and his peers arrange care for dozens of injured earthquake victims.
“[Paul Auerbach] is just a really giving person,” Sherry Auerbach said. “He really is someone who has always wanted to help out his community and his world; he’s very humanitarian.”
