Center for Public Health Preparedness Public Health Disaster Assessment and Response Team

On January 19, one week following the disastrous earthquake that struck the Republic of Haiti, Loma Linda University School of Public Health Center for Public Health Preparedness (LLU CPHP)deployed a Public Health Disaster Assessment and Response Team (PHDART) to Haiti. Our primary purpose was to carry out a rapid public health assessment in support of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) ata large spontaneously forming internally displaced person (IDP) camp on the campus of the Universite Adventiste d'Haiti, as well as to offer public health support for the Hopital Adventiste d'Haiti.

The five person PHDART was organized by Jesse Bliss, Director of the Office of Public Health Practice. Alina Dorian, PhD, a seasoned disaster assessment and response professional and colleague from the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters assisted with pre-deployment team preparation and training.

The team was comprised of the following members:

Jesse Bliss, MPH, PHD ARTLeader; planning and logistics, core public health response
Walleska Bliss, MPH, PHDART Assessment, maternal and child health, behavioral health,
Andrea Champlin, MPH, PHDART Assessment, health education, interpreter
Ryan Sinclair, PhD, PHDART Water specialist, data analysis
Tiery Osias, DDS, MPH, PHDART Environmental health specialist, Haiti culture and linguistics.

Following are a few photos from our initial assessment trip.