[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 3257-3258] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]HONORING THE MEDICAL TEAM ORGANIZED BY DR. JESSE BUTLER ______ HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY of illinois in the house of representatives Thursday, March 11, 2010 Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to recognize a medical team from my district that recently traveled to the Dominican Republic to provide life-saving spinal surgery to victims of the Haiti earthquake. In the immediate aftermath of January's devastating earthquake, Dr. Jesse Butler, an orthopedic spinal surgeon from Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, found a way to contribute his unique skills. In just a few short days, Dr. Butler was able to organize a medical team, collect medical equipment worth millions of dollars, and travel to the Dominican Republic. Members of the team included anesthesiologist Dr. Howard Konowitz, from Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park; scrub nurse Teresa Dudic, from Gottlieb; registered nurse Maria Korbel, from the Illinois Bone & Joint Institute in Morton Grove; nurse Aimee Duque-Randolph; and physician's assistant Alicia Granger-Carlson. Dr. Butler's team operated on 11 patients, ages 14 to 35, at Dario Contreras Hospital in Santo Domingo, where many earthquake victims were treated. Conditions were far from ideal: patients waited in crowded hallways, and surgeries were performed in rooms as hot as 85 degrees. Victims withstood the pain of their injuries without the aid of morphine. Upon their return, members of the team recalled the fear and desperation of those they treated, but also the Haitians' will to live and persevere. And though they could only meet a fraction of Haiti's enormous medical needs, they said they hope that their work will inspire others to similarly volunteer their time and talents. I would like to submit for my colleagues' interest the following article from the February 10th edition of the Chicago Tribune about the team's trip. Life-Saving Trip for Earthquake Victims `Life-Changing' for Surgical Team--Spinal Surgery Unit Inspired by Resolve of Haitians (By Courtney Flynn) When orthopedic spine surgeon Dr. Jesse Butler saw images of the lives shattered by the Haiti earthquake, he knew he had to help the only way he knew how: by fixing broken backs. [[Page 3258]] Within 48 hours of the Jan. 12 quake, the physician from Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge organized a spinal surgery team, called in favors to collect millions of dollars of medical equipment and boarded a plane to the Dominican Republic. ``Instead of going the traditional route through a relief agency, we thought it would be more successful if we took charge of the logistics ourselves,'' Butler said. ``We put together a team that could pretty much handle anything thrown at them.'' In one week, the team operated on 11 patients, from 14 to 35, including a 25-year-old pregnant woman whose injuries had left her a quadriplegic. Nine of the patients were Haitian earthquake victims; two were injured in a motorcycle crash. Despite the severity of the patients' injuries and the tragedy they'd been through, members of the surgical team said they were struck by the Haitians' resolve to live and wait for help. ``When you looked into their eyes, you saw a terror and fear that just burns into your soul,'' said Dr. Howard Konowitz, an anesthesiologist from Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park who was on the trip. ``There was no morphine . . . but no one was moaning, no one was screaming.'' The team performed its work at Dario Contreras Hospital, a public hospital in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo where many Haitians have sought medical attention since the earthquake. Team members chose the hospital consulting with the Ministry of Health on where their skills would be of most help. The team worked in grueling conditions, operating in rooms where the heat reached 85 degrees. Some patients waited in crowded hallways, others on thin mattresses atop rusted metal frames. ``We were working long hours. The rooms were so hot, people were dehydrated,'' said Teresa Dudic, a bilingual scrub nurse from Gottlieb. ``And the patients, you could see the desperation in their eyes, they were scared.'' Konowitz described the trip as ``life-changing.'' ``All the other catastrophes that I can remember in my lifetime, there was nothing medically like this that I can remember,'' he said. ``It's haunting what we saw.'' And although it was gratifying to provide what help they could, team members recognized it was a tiny fraction of the need. ``We may have fixed their spine during the week, but we only got to 11 (people),'' Butler said. ``There were another 20 we couldn't take care of.'' And the people they did treat need long-term care. Maria Korbel, another member of the team who's bilingual and a registered nurse at the Illinois Bone & Joint Institute in Morton Grove, said she hopes their work will inspire others. ``If we were able to start a chain reaction, I think that would be fabulous,'' Korbel said. ``I hope we started something good, something positive, something that will keep going.'' Physician's assistant Alicia Granger-Carlson and nurse Aimee Duque-Randolph also were members of the team. ____________________