Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Feb 18, 2020; 11(2): 76-81
Published online Feb 18, 2020. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v11.i2.76
Orthopaedic care provided by the 14th combat support hospital in support of humanitarian and disaster relief after hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
Nathan Lanham, Kyle Bockelman, Fernando Lopez, Marc M Serra, Bradford Scanlan
Nathan Lanham, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Martin Army Community Hospital, Fort Benning, GA 31905, United States
Kyle Bockelman, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, TX 79920, United States
Fernando Lopez, Department of Anesthesiology Surgery, Martin Army Community Hospital Fort Benning, GA 31905, United States
Marc M Serra, Bradford Scanlan, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Womack Army Hospital, Fort Bragg, NC 28310, United States
Author contributions: Lanham N and Bockelman K provided much of the content and commentary in the manuscript; Lopez F, Serra MM and Scanlin B participated in the care of the patients in the manuscript as well as contributed specific commentary and content to include photos within the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflicts of interest, no funding has been obtained, paper has never been presented as a poster or at a conference, and all authors have seen the manuscript and approve it. The views expressed are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Army, United States Navy, United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the United States Government.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Kyle Bockelman, MD, Doctor, Orthopaedics, Orthopaedic Surgery Resident, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, 5005 N Piedras St, El Paso, TX 79920, United States. kyle.j.bockelman.mil@mail.mil
Received: March 28, 2019
Peer-review started: March 28, 2019
First decision: July 30, 2019
Revised: December 3, 2019
Accepted: December 5, 2019
Article in press: December 5, 2019
Published online: February 18, 2020
Processing time: 328 Days and 10.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Health care providers embarking on humanitarian and disaster relief efforts should consider the following factors: What specific diagnoses or injuries can your team safely manage considering the knowledge, technical ability, equipment, and facilitates your team possesses? What was the health of the patient population pre-disaster and their access to quality health care? What can be done to help mitigate language and cultural barriers which make effective communication with patients difficult? What local providers and resources can be engaged to ensure continued care for patients after relief efforts have concluded?