Soarway and Emergency Medicine/Critical Care
The Soarway Foundation has, as it’s primary mission disaster risk reduction and preparedness. Our Executive Director, Ambassador (ret.) Scott DeLisi began this work while serving as Ambassador to Nepal following President Obama’s injunction, after the disastrous Haiti earthquake in 2010, of “no more Haitis.”
The Ambassador learned, however, that risk reduction and preparedness had to be more than just focusing on building strong homes and safer schools. We needed to also address the post quake issues of medical care and support to those who were seriously injured recognizing that many of the 234,000 who died in Haiti died after, not during, the earthquake.
To do so the Soarway Foundation is working in partnership with Grande International Hospital in Kathmandu, with the Nepal Ambulance Service which is being supported with expertise from Stanford University Medical Center and a growing partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center which shares Soarway’s commitment to improving the health of the people of Nepal.
Pittsburgh Marathon 2017 — Running To Save Lives The Soarway Team running in the Marathon this year is running to support the multifaceted emergency medicine/critical care undertaking which will save lives in Nepal today and which will be vital in responding to the disasters of the future which, in one of the planets must seismically vulnerable country that is equally plagued with major floods and horrific forest fires — are inevitable.
The Nepal Ambulance Service. Like Soarway, Nepal Ambulance Service is a non-profit and it is the first and only fully professional pre-hospital emergency medicine provider in Nepal. Soarway will also be bringing two ambulances to Nepal later this year which will likely join the NAS fleet that is already being buttressed by the International Medical Corp (USA) partnership. NAS will be a critical component in a post disaster scenario but is equally valuable in providing life-saving interventions today. Soarway’s support will further expand the reach and the impact of NAS beyond the Kathmandu Valley by bringing service to Butwal — a city in south central Nepal. For the first time, through the Nepal Ambulance Service, an ambulance in Butwal will be more than a taxi with a siren. The NAS’ cadre off skilled emergency medical technicians will provide life-saving interventions. Capable of dealing with trauma, delivering a baby, using a defibrillator, and more, these technicians have been trained with the support of Stanford Emergency Medicine International.
Grande International Hospital. Equally important, there must be institutional care providers capable of dealing with trauma and emergency medicine needs. To this end, Soarway Foundation has identified as its primary partner Grande International Hospital in Kathmandu as our critical care center. Grande International Hospital’s anchor specialization is orthopedic care which, is a critical skill set in the post disaster environment but Grande wants to expand its emergency services to become the first true Comprehensive Trauma ICU in Nepal.
Grande International is a 200-bed, state of the art healthcare facility that has special features like a Wellness Center to help the community maintain healthy life styles reducing risk of preventible disease and illness. It has modern technology and a talent pool of qualified physicians and staff and may have the best overall healthcare offerings at present in Nepal. There are a total of 10 operating rooms consisting of modular structure and installed with Hepa filters and laminar flow along with facilities to broadcast live surgery throughout the world to share knowledge and making live surgical discussions possible. There are 50 Critical Care Units including ICU, HCU, CCU, PICU and NICU. The ICUs also have Hepa filters to keep infection rates low. With central monitoring for all rooms at the nursing station for more efficient care and temperature and humidity controller in each room allows for better patient care and comfoThe hospital is a 200-bed, state of the art healthcare facility offering a wide range of medical, surgical and diagnostic services. The hospital has special features like a Wellness Center to help our community stay healthy. With latest in technology and a talent pool of qualified physicians and staff, Grande International Hospital is a destination for the best healthcare services the country has to offer.
The hospital is equipped with state-of-the-art technology such as:
- 1.5 Tesla Digital Broadband Philips Ingenia MRI
- 160 Slice Toshiba Aquilion Prime CT Scan
- Philips FD 20 Cath-Lab
- 4D Echocardiography
- Bone Densitometer
- Digital Mammography
- Specialized CSSD
- Vitros 5600 integrated system for clinical diagnostics
- Cryostat
The main hospital building is 15 stories high with a separate lobby block and administrative block. This building is earthquake resistant up to 8 Richter scale and has survived major earthquake of 25 April, 2015, a major consideration for Soarway in identifying a partner.
Grande’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Pre-Hospital Care The Soarway Foundation also committed to working with Grande Hospital because it has an existing emergency medical capability on which we can build for the future. Grande has a 24/7 standby emergency medical team that is ready for rescue from any part of Nepal, which includes a trauma consultant and paramedics with all equipment. Air Ambulance services are available and a team of emergency physicians and paramedics fly to different cities and mountains to rescue patient ferrying them back to the helipad on the roof of Grande International Hospital.
The Soarway Foundation is working jointly with Grande International to strategize on how to best expand and broaden it’s capacity to save lives and to develop a world class critical care ICU, so urgently needed in Nepal, and to to build on our work with Grande International Hospital. Soarway is in the process of identifying where its resources might most effectively support this emergency medicine/critical care undertaking.
The work of preparedness is critical and this is a key component to what we are doing. With the support of partners like these we can have a real impact. But, as always, we cannot do this alone. We need your help. Without you nothing can happen. Together we can do anything. Join the team. You can make your tax deductible contribution here!
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