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Sixty-nine doctors, nurses, optometrists and other health-care workers, who had traveled to Ica, Peru, as volunteers for Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® screenings, part of a larger Special Olympics event that was to take place there, became an ad hoc medical team, as a 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck the region on Wednesday (15 August). Ica was at its epicenter, and with hundreds dead and thousands injured, the Special Olympics health-care volunteers quickly assimilated into the rescue effort. The health-care professionals arrived at the local hospital approximately 20 minutes after the earthquake struck, and have been working nonstop since about 3 a.m. local time.
The volunteer doctors, along with lay volunteers from the Lions Clubs who were there to help support the Special Olympics Opening Eyes vision screening, are delivering critical services, according to the Special Olympics Clinical Director for Medfest, who is operating out of the hospital in the city of 650,000.
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Dr. Gonzalo Larrabure, a pediatric surgeon from Lima, Peru, is a Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Regional Coordinator who headed a delegation of 69 health-care professionals who were scheduled to offer free health screenings to Special Olympics athletes in the city of Ica, which was at the epicenter of a massive earthquake that struck Peru on Wednesday, 15 August. The Special Olympics volunteers joined the rescue effort, helping the thousands of injured people in the city. The photo aabove was taken at a 2003 Healthy Athletes train-the-trainer event in Lima, Peru. |
These medical professionals were brought to Ica by Healthy Athletes Regional Coordinator Gonzalo Larrabure, a pediatric surgeon from Lima, to implement the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes program for 500 athletes who were to compete in a two-day local competition on Thursday and Friday.
Dr. Larrabure was in Lima when the earthquake struck. Despite the devastation there and worries about family members in the hardest-hit city of Ica, he responded quickly by distributing clean water and medicines throughout Lima. Recently, Dr. Larrabure received word that a family member living in Ica was killed in the earthquake and left for Ica with other family members.
However, due to damage caused to roads and bridges by the tremblor, Dr. Larrabure was unable to reach Ica. He received word that the nearby city of Guadeloupe, which also sustained heavy damage, was in desparate need of medical asistance, so he attempted to go there to help.
Carmen Rosa Lopez, Director of Organizational Development for Special Olympics Latin America, whose office is in Lima, reported today that there were some damages to offices and homes, but only one injury to Special Olympics staff there. One member of the staff was in Ica at the time of the earthquake, and suffered a broken leg. Lopez added, "We had a very bad moment as the earthquake was very strong and long, and we are still frightened as we have more than 300 aftershocks since the earthquake, so last night was very long for us too."
Special Olympics Peru, founded in 1983, now has more than 21,000 athletes training and competing year-round across the country. The Program offers 10 official sports, including aquatics (swimming), athletics, basketball, bocce, floor hockey, football (soccer), gymnastics, handball, power lifting and volleyball. |
