Haitian-Born St. Joseph Anesthesiologist Goes with Surgical Team to Haiti to Provide Care and Bring Donations

Accompanied by two St. Joseph OR staff

(Towson, MD) Dr. Jean Max Hogarth, an anesthesiologist with St. Joseph Medical Center who was born in Haiti, and two St. Joseph operating rooms technicians, Tony Chotikul, orthopaedic assistant, and Cheryl Clayborne, surgical technician, are leaving today for Haiti to provide surgical care to victims of the disastrous earthquake. They are bringing many medical supplies with them, donated by St. Joseph Medical Center, staff, vendors and other organizations. Hundreds of pounds of supplies are going on the plane with them, as well as being shipped out periodically over the next few weeks.

The team will spend a week in Haiti and are part of a larger eight-person team including an orthopaedic surgeon, organized by Dr. Hogarth along with Partners in Health and with support from the Paul Chester Children’s Hope Foundation (www.pcchf.org). 

“We are attempting to bring our operating room to Haiti so we can perform the surgeries necessary there,” says Dr. Hogarth who anticipates that the team will be involved in performing many amputations due to infections that have set into fractures and crush injuries following a week or more without sufficient medical attention.

Once Dr. Hogarth returns, he and his colleagues in his anesthesia group, which practices at St. Joseph Medical Center, will take turns rotating to Haiti to continue providing medical care to earthquake victims.

Dr. Hogarth, who immigrated to the U.S. at age one with his parents, has many relatives in Haiti, who have fortunately survived the earthquake, although they have lost their businesses in the destruction. He says, “If I would not go back to Haiti when I know that I could be of service there, I would not be able to live with myself.”