Large Team of Kaiser MD's and RN's bringing aid to Philippine Typhoon victims

KP Redwood City Surgeon, KP Santa Clara ED Nurse on Dec 1 Flight

                More than a dozen Kaiser Permanente caregivers left San Francisco International Airport Sunday night, to bring much-needed medical aid to victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Among the travelers is Dr. Carol Tabak, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Kaiser Permanente’s Redwood City Hospital, and Kathleen Bonifas, RN, an Emergency Department nurse at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara.

                All of the Kaiser Permanente caregivers will be volunteering at medical sites set up through Relief International, an American non-profit that responds to disasters world-wide.

                “As a physician, I want to give back to my community,” said Dr. Tabak, waiting to get her ticket for the Philippine Airlines jet that will take her and the others to Manila. “In this case, the community is the world and doctors want to respond to help when there is need.”

                Dr. Tabak said she is not sure what she will be doing at the Kaiser Permanente medical sites but having seen the videos on TV and the pictures in the newspapers, she expects she will have plenty of medical work to do.

                Kaiser Permanente is staffing medical sites in Tacloban, a capital city devastated by the typhoon’s direct hit, and in Carigara, further east, where KP has staffed a hospital and medical office.

                “This is the soonest I’ve ever responded to a disaster” said Kathleen Bonifas, an emergency department nurse at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, also lined up for her plane ticket. “I’ve been to Haiti twice in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, but it was a year later.”

                Still, Bonifas, two other Santa Clara ED nurses and a physician, found that conditions were difficult and caring for the injured was challenging.

                “Medical equipment and supplies we take for granted here in the US are still missing or absent in Haiti,” reported Bonifas after her last trip to Haiti. She’ll likely experience the same in the typhoon-crushed     Philippines.

                Already “on the ground” in the Philippines are six Kaiser Permanente physicians, including Dr. Nina Chicharoen and Dr. Dana Weisshaar of KP Santa Clara and seven nurses. Pictures coming back from the team show physicians working with flashlights. But typhoon victims are receiving care.

                Nine team members left Sunday night:

·         Patty Parker, nurse, KP Sacramento: ED, Haiti volunteer

·         Dr. Lee Villanueva, KP Richmond: got her MD degree in Philippines

·         Ly Ho, KP Manteca, ED nurse KP Manteca: worked Gulf Coast post-Katrina

·         Lida De LaRosario, nurse KP Fresno: community med volunteer

·         Dr. Brita Zaia, KP San Francisco: Emergency Dept. physician

·         Dr. Josh Weil, KP Santa Rosa: Emergency MD, Haiti quake veteran

·         Dr. Pratima Gupta, KP Oakland: ObGyn, global health.

·         Dr. Deb Cohen, KP Santa Clara, retired; global med volunteer