Charlotte Anesthesiologists Rest Assured volunteers @ Remote Area Medicine "RAM" in western Virginia

Aug. 11, 2010 - PRLog -- "I was recently touched by stories from Haiti after the devastating earthquake: real stories of patients with crush injuries and compound fractures who needed life saving amputations in the face of developing gangrene. There were local surgeons prepared to help - but no anesthetics or anesthesiologists. Many amputations were done without anesthesia!


Rest Assured Anesthesiology started as a truly mobile service. I would take my equipment to whichever office needed my services. In the four years since, our surgical clients all have their own well equipped operating rooms, but our roots remain: we still have the mobile equipment,  and we still have the unique skill set to provide a state-of-the-art anesthetic in an isolated environment. It bothered me tremendously when I had the resources and training to respond to the needs in Haiti, but I lacked the logistics and personal connections.


RAM (Remote Area Medicine) was a great opportunity to not only help an underserved community here in the US, but also get some first hand experience providing anesthesia in a rural and rustic environment. In was hot, tiring, and exhilarating! Thanks to the excellent leadership in the organization, and literally hundreds of volunteers, RAM took care of over 2000 patients in the first day alone! And for the first time, they were able to offer IV sedation services, particularly for the oral surgeons. The patients who were otherwise too anxious to have their dental procedure were extremely appreciative. The surgeons applauded this new level of service, and the administrators started their cogs churning ... "how can we put this mobile anesthesia service to good use?"


Maybe Rest Assured is uniquely situated to be part of a First Response Team in the wake of a domestic or international disaster? Certainly RAM was a rewarding and learning experience; I hope the first of many humanitarian missions that will balance the blessings we've enjoyed in our local practice.


I also want to give a nod to my daughter, Chelsea, who encouraged me to participate, and demonstrated the pure instinct to get involved and help to the best of our abilities - a reminder of the essence of why we all entered the field of medicine. Thank you Chelsea."


For more information about RAM, visit http://ramusa.org


Jonathan McMullen MD

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