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GLOBAL HEALTH MINISTRY, PART OF CATHOLIC HEALTH EAST, SENDS MEDICAL TEAM TO HAITI

From left: Lisa Medvetz, M.D., Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital; Col. Paulette Schank, C.R.N.A., St. Mary Medical Center; Mary Gorman, M.D., Mercy Medical Center; and Steven Lowe, M.D., St. Mary Medical Center.

Newtown Square, Pa., Monday, January 25, 2010 – Global Health Ministry, a supportive health corporation of Catholic Health East, sent a team of health care professionals to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to provide medical assistance and supplies to the victims of the recent earthquake.

The team, which includes: Lisa Medvetz, M.D., a general surgeon from Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, Darby, Pa.; Steven Lowe, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon, and Col. Paulette Schank, C.R.N.A., a nurse anesthetist, both from St. Mary Medical Center, Langhorne, Pa.; and Mary Gorman, M.D., from Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Md., left from the Northeast Philadelphia Airport on Thursday, January 21. They first flew into Miami, where they then boarded another flight to Haiti, arriving Friday morning.

The volunteers are providing surgical care at Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) clinics in Haiti. Angel Flights provided the no-cost flight from Philadelphia to Miami. The flight from Miami to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was made possible by a private donor.

Global Health Ministry (GHM) is an independent 501(c)3 organization sponsored by Hope Ministries and serves as a supportive health corporation of Catholic Health East. Since 1989, Global Health Ministry has sent teams of health care professionals to Latin America and the Caribbean to help people with little or no access to professional health care. GHM programs help transform selected, under-privileged communities into healthier, more self-sufficient places to live by collaborating with local and international organizations.

Catholic Health East (CHE) is a multi-institutional Catholic health system, which is co-sponsored by nine religious congregations, and Hope Ministries, a Public Juridic Person within Catholic Health East. The System’s health ministries are located in 11 eastern states from Maine to Florida and includes: 34 acute care hospitals (including Mercy Hospital in Portland, Maine), four long-term acute care hospitals, 25 freestanding and hospital-based long-term care facilities, 14 assisted-living facilities, four continuing care retirement communities, eight behavioral health and rehabilitation facilities, 32 home health/hospice agencies, and numerous ambulatory and community-based health agencies. Catholic Health East facilities employ more than 54,000 full-time employees.