SUMMER 2011 SOLO TRAVELS
July/August 2011 ISSN-1059-6518 Volume 24 Number 4
Posts
ADVANCED WOUND MANAGEMENT
The fact is that soft tissue injuries, such as abrasions, lacerations, and puncture wounds are very common. We have all had these sorts of injuries at one time or another, and most of the time they are simply a nuisance, easily remedied with a little tender loving care, soap and water, and a Band-aid. But, it’s not always quite that easy. Even a simple wound, if not managed properly, can turn into a potentially life-threatening infection.
When working in disaster response, medical mission relief, wilderness medicine, or remote medicine, the skills of wound management are of critical importance. The wound may be a small abrasion on the knee that simply needs a good scrubbing to clean it out or a large, jagged laceration caused by the slip of a chainsaw, resulting in a deep gash, that is bleeding profusely, and full of bark, dirt, and oil. Regardless, any and all soft tissue injuries need proper attention to facilitate healing and, more importantly, to minimize the risk of a serious infection.
ISSN-1059-6518
Eyewitness Haiti
January/February 2010 ISBN-1059-6518 Volume 23 Number 1
Haiti
Port au-Prince, Haiti
Frank Hubbell D.O.
Travel Log: February 13-20, 2010
History:
On Tuesday January 12, 2010, at 4:53pm a 7.0 earthquake struck the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The epicenter was located in the town of Leogane, 16miles west of Port-au-Prince. The earthquake essentially leveled Port-au-Prince (PaP) and surrounding areas, killing at least 270,000 people, and leaving approximately 3 million survivors to live on the streets and try to eke out an existence amid the piles of debris. Three of us from Saco River Medical Group, representing several NGO’s, decided to go to PaP on a fact-finding mission and help in whatever way we could, which may mean providing assistance in non-medical areas. Our primary contact is a Haitian physician named Jude whose clinic has been destroyed. Saco Docs has strong ties with Jude, and we hope that the medical supplies and survival gear we are carrying will help Jude and his family get back on their feet. As these are journal entries, often written at the end of long, hard days, by the light of a head lamp, they may not be as grammatically correct as regular articles. Our trip is just one of thousands with similar stories.
Botfly
January/February 2010 ISBN-1059-6518 Volume 23 Number 1
Botfly:
Human Ectoparasites:
By Frank Hubbell, DO
Human ectoparasites are very common around the world and even here at home in the northern latitudes. These little pests are parasitic insects that live on the surface of or in our skin. They typically gain nourishment and cause irritation by either taking blood meals from us or by burrowing into our skin and taking up residence. They can be a vector for other diseases, but, it is their life-style habits that usually make them so bothersome. (Lee’s note: many of these articles make me very uncomfortable and really paranoid – they “make my skin crawl…”)
