USC surgeon and Haiti native Henri Ford M.D. participates in surgery on a 12-year-old Haitian girl with a severe head injury aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) off the coast of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Aslo pictured are Cmdr. Jerry Berman (left), CNN medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Navy surgeon Lt. Cmdr. Kathryn Berndt.

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A team of trauma surgeons from the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center is reporting on its efforts to help victims injured during the earthquake in Haiti.

Updates from the team are being issued as time and communication availability allows.

Henri Ford, Keck School vice dean for medical education and chief of surgery at USC-affiliated Childrens Hospital Los Angeles performed surgery on critically injured children who have been airlifted to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson.

Ford, a Haiti native, reports:

I have been on board the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson since yesterday (Jan. 17). I med-evaced a six-year-old boy who had a pelvic fracture and a ruptured bladder after a brick wall fell on his lower abdomen. I escorted him to the ship by helicopter and performed a laparotomy (abdominal surgery).

While on the ship, the Chief Medical Officer asked me to stay to help with a young girl with penetrating head trauma. A roof collapsed on her and a piece of brick was embedded in her skull with extension to the brain. Last night, we removed most of the brick. However we had another piece that I could not easily reach without doing a partial craniectomy.

I closed and the ship's general surgeon called Sanjay Gupta who came out to the ship this morning and removed a piece of skull. After the operation, the helicopter took us back to the embassy. I'm about to rejoin my team after 24 hours on the Vinson.

Ramon Cestero, M.D., a Keck fellow and trauma surgeon at LAC+USC Medical Center, is working with the rest of the USC team in Port-au-Prince, where the Israeli Defense Force has set up a field hospital.

Cestero reports:

Currently working with Israelis at their field hospital in town since they needed help, outstanding facility,everyone being put to use. Amputations, debridements (removal of foreign matter from wounds) common. Occasional gunshot injuries as well. Will likely rejoin University of Miami team in 1-2 days at airport. Everyone doing well. No ability to recharge phone at moment so limiting phone use to conserve. Will update as able.

A team of 10 Keck School trauma specialists, including trauma and orthopedic surgeons, anesthetists, emergency medicine and intensive care unit specialists, nurses and physician assistants traveled from Los Angeles to Miami on Saturday, Jan. 16.

The next morning, the team flew from Fort Lauderdale to Port-au-Prince on a private jet provided in partnership with Project Medishare Haiti and the Miami Global Institute. Upon arrival in Port-au-Prince, they consulted with colleagues from the University of Miami who are currently staffing a field hospital within the United Nations compound at the Port-au-Prince airport.

The Keck School/Los Angeles County response team was organized by Demetrios Demetriades, M.D., director, Trauma and Surgical Critical Care for Keck, and Cestero.

Team members include:

Henri Ford, M.D. - Chief of Surgery, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and Vice Dean, Medical Education, Keck School Ramon Cestero, M.D. – Trauma and Surgical Critical Care/Team Leader
Howard Belzberg, M.D. - Critical Care
David Dromsky, M.D. - Orthopedic Surgery
Karen Embrey, C.R.N.A. - Anesthesiology
Kara Hammons, R.N. - Emergency Medicine
Mira Lenzini, P.A.-C. - Physician Assistant
Edward Newton, M.D. - Emergency Medicine
Andrew Tang, M.D. - Trauma and Surgical Critical Care
Claudel Thamas, R.N. - Surgical ICU