California Nurses Prepare for Mission to Haiti

"I have to go...I have to help these people"

By Gil Cunha

| Thursday, Jan 14, 2010 | Updated 5:08 PM PDT

Haiti's Misfortune Offers Quake Lessons for Southland

As the images of devastation of desperation come out of Haiti, the California Nurses Association is wasting no time organizing for a Saturday morning launch of nurses to Haiti.

“I have to go. I have to help these people because that’s what nurses are for,” said Debbie Cuaresma, a nurse volunteer.

A first wave of 40 nurses will fly out this weekend, and they will arrive in Haiti to a scene unimaginable destruction.

“What we’re seeing is people who have broken bones, severed limbs, fractured skulls, open wounds, dehydration because there’s no running water,” said Jill Furillo of the California Nurses Association.

Furillo adds that hospital employers have been very generous in allowing nurses to take time off and also contributing equipment and supplies.

National Nurses United (NNU) announced it will is setting up a command center in Miami to prepare the first team for deployment.

NNU, the nation’s largest union and professional organization of RNs, said it is in contact with the U.S. Defense Department, the Obama administration and others to get teams of nurses on the ground as quickly as possible in the disaster zone where they can provide the desperately needed care for Haiti.

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