Direct Relief partners reported this morning that they are seeing increasing numbers of patients from the quake-affected areas of Port-au-Prince are seeking care at their facilities outside the damage zone.

With medical facilities in Port-au-Prince overwhelmed or destroyed, patients are migrating out to neighboring areas to seek care. Aid deploying tomorrow will help replenish their stocks so they can continue to care for the injured. Direct Relief also is expanding its support to partner sites across Haiti that are seeing increased patient loads due to the lack of available facilities in the capital.

Justinian University Hospital (JUH) in Cap-Haitien, on Haiti’s north coast, reported today that they expected to receive trauma cases airlifted from Port-au-Prince by MINUSTAH  helicopter. JUH is the second-largest hospital in Haiti and is one of the three partner facilities in Haiti that receives Direct Relief’s pre-positioned emergency modules as well as ongoing support.

Direct Relief also has provided funding for a supply-chain manager at UHJ, who delivered the report earlier today and outlined the specific additional needs brought on by the emergency.

Partners in Health (PIH) shared that people are traveling hours on their own to seek care and have headed to Cange, where PIH operates Zanmi Lasante Sociomedical Complex, a 104-bed full-service hospital. The facility has two operating rooms, adult and pediatric inpatient wards, a laboratory, a pharmaceutical warehouse, a blood bank, and radiographic services.

St. Damien Children’s Hospital reported that it has sustained only minor structural damage. The facility is near the airport in Port-au-Prince. The emergency medical aid shipment departing tomorrow is destined for St. Damien, with additional plans being developed for follow-up deliveries to other partners.