UNMC medical team going to Port-au-Prince, Haiti

By Katie Knapp Schubert

Omaha, NE – A team of 12 surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists from the UNMC system are going to Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

UNMC officials held a news conference Friday about the medical mission. The team includes two trauma surgeons and an orthopedic trauma surgeon. They'll be performing surgery and providing care at hospitals in Haiti's capital city for the next one to two weeks.

Dr. Ayman El-Mohandes, Dean of UNMC's College of Public Health, helped organize the mission to Haiti. He says the team is willing to take risks to help the people of Haiti following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Two members of the medical mission, Dr. Rubens Pamies and Dr. David Young, have family in Haiti.

Dr. El-Mohandes says UNMC wants to have a long-term presence in Haiti providing medical care.

Creighton University sent a third medical team to Haiti early Friday.