For more than a decade Heart to Heart International (HHI) has facilitated emergency medical training for doctors and nurses who are first responders in the city of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, in western China.
This city and region were devastated by the Great Sichuan Earthquake, a massive 8.0 temblor that struck May 12th, 2008, killing 69,195 people, with 18,392 missing. Heart to Heart responded then with relief supplies and medical aid, and the training we’d provided played a role in saving lives in the aftermath of the quake. That role is commemorated by this rock at a monument to those who helped, which bears an inscription of Chinese characters that read “Heart to Heart”.
Our annual training seminars continued in the summer of 2013 in partnership with the Chengdu 120 Center, that region’s emergency response system (just like dialing 911 in the US).
Four volunteers traveled to Chengdu on behalf of HHI to teach more on the subjects of trauma and disaster. They are Dr. Mohammed Amjid from Manchester, England; Dr Veronica Pei from the Maryland Trauma Institute; Diana Clapp, RN, Maryland Trauma Institute; and Dr. Anthony Roberts, trauma surgeon from the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.
Click on any of the photos from the conference to enter a slideshow and see this year’s hands-on training provided by Heart to Heart International.
###