Thursday, April 30, 2015

Cash and In-kind donations for relief work in Nepal

Several organizations are involved in helping earth quake survivors in Nepal. Financial donations seem to the be most flexible and quick. But if you can only provide in-kind help, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) can accept these donations. Email logik@un.org for more information. Here's some information from UN OCHA.

Other organizations involved in relief work in Nepal that are accepting donations include the following, listed in alphabetical order. Many of them accept online donations.

AmeriCares
America Nepal Medical Foundation
Direct Relief
Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres
International Medical Corps
Nepal Red Cross Society


Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Prevention and treatment of acute kidney failure due to crush injury after natural disasters - a field guide

After head injuries and bleeding, the medical staff need to watch for and prevent hyperkalemia (causes arrhytmias), myoglobinuria and myoglobinemia (cause acute renal failure), hyperphospatemia, hypocalcemia, acidosis and later on, onset of compartment syndrome in victims of crush injuries whose muscles were crushed or compressed by rubble. These can begin to set in soon after extrication of the victim from rubble when circulation is restored, and the intracellular potassium and myoglobin from crushed tissue enter the circulation.

Follow the field guide produced by the International Society of Nephrology Renal Disaster Relief Task Force, published in the journal Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation(2012). Screenshots of relevant flowcharts embedded as images for quick reading. The information here is reproduced with kind permission from the International Society of Nephrology.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Nepal Hospitals Status and Requests Spreadsheet (updated)

The spreadsheet below has the current status of hospitals (beds, capabilities available), and the list of medications, supplies and medical professional volunteers that they need. It is regularly updated.

Hospitals in Nepal are in immediate need of medical supplies. Anything that can be used for pre-op, operating room and post-op care will be helpful - e.g bandages, dynamic compression plates, intra-medullary nails for femur/tibia, antibiotics, disposable drapes/clothes, IV fluids, fluid warmers, infusion pumps, colloids/crystalloids/blood products, suture materials, pulse oximeters (portable).

Please see spreadsheet at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19vRPssqYvf1w1llJnSL5q6Ezs0BeVNBNzK8OEJd8kPY/edit#gid=373902897 for the exact list of supplies that are needed.

The list is maintained by http://americanepalmedicalfoundation.com/

We will post requests for help for Nepal earthquake relief efforts on this blog. Follow us on twitter at @Relief4Nepal. Please stay tuned.