Miami med student’s plan for Haiti put into practice
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (MCT) — Seven months ago, University of Miami medical student Elizabeth Greig helped create a plan to get doctors to Haiti in the event of a natural disaster.
She never imagined it being put to use so quickly.
Greig, 31, a fourth-year medical student, is now the site director at the busy UM field hospital in Port-au-Prince. She coordinates efforts to transfer critical patients out of the country and works with nonprofit agencies to bring supplies in.
She is the only medical student working there.
“It’s intense,” she said. “I start my day at 6 a.m. and don’t get back until 10 p.m. I set my alarm for 1 a.m., 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. to check my e-mail. But it’s been an incredible experience.”
Greig developed an interest in Haiti long before the Jan. 12 earthquake.
As a student, she studied the programs for medical residents in Haitian hospitals. She also researched why Haitian doctors leave the country after medical school and wrote about the long-term consequences of their flight.
Last fall, Greig joined a team of UM doctors to develop the emergency medical response plan for Haiti. “Basically, we looked at scaling up surgical services and developing critical care facilities in Port-au-Prince,” she said.
Nobody expected the earthquake.
“When I saw the news, it was a little blurb on my phone,” she said. “We had literally just written a 70-page document on all the things that could possibly go wrong in Haiti. Not one of the experts had mentioned the possibility of an earthquake.”
Within days, the University of Miami set up a field hospital to treat the wounded in Port-au-Prince. They relied heavily on the plan. Greig was tapped to help in Haiti _ even if it meant missing a few classes.
She arrived five days after the quake.
Greig was part of a team that fought to get a 6-year-old girl flown to the USNS Comfort for emergency care. The girl died the following day. Greig escorted the parents to the hospital ship to identify the girl’s remains.
“The bulk of my memories will be good ones,” she said. “We’ve done some amazing work here.”
Dr. Michael Kolber, the chief medical officer at the field hospital, praised Greig’s work ethic.
“She is uncommonly adept at doing what she does,” he said. “She multitasks incredibly well and is calm under pressure.”
Upon her return to Miami, Greig will have quite a few classes to make up.
“I have to do a geriatrics rotation, too,” she said. “That will probably be far less exciting than what I’ve done here.”
There’s another reason for Greig to return to Miami — she’s getting married in two weeks.
The bride-to-be said she has left the last-minute details of the 150-person wedding in the hands of her mother, fiance and wedding planner.
Groom Jason Extein hails from Boca Raton, Fla.
“This is just Liz being Liz,” he said, when reached by telephone. “I’m proud of her.”
