Kaiser Permanente MD, Los Gatos resident, back from Philippine typhoon medical mission

Heart Transplant Director at KP Santa Clara did general medicine

                Dr. Dana Weisshaar was treating her patients at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara’s modern, well-equipped medical offices, perhaps less than 36 hours since she was treating her patients in a converted school-room in the typhoon-devastated city of Tacloban in the Philippines. The contrast in conditions between the two medical settings was not lost on her.

                “It’s a lot cooler here,” she said, recalling the stifling heat and humidity on Leyte in the Philippines.  The Los Gatos resident is Director of Kaiser Permanente’s Heart Transplantation Services at Santa Clara, but she did no transplant work in the Philippines.

                “It was general medicine every day,” said Dr. Weisshaar, who estimated treating 80-to-100 patients daily in the outpatient clinic. “We were seeing people with infected wounds, high blood pressure, and people with stomach problems, colds, coughs, and the whole range of basic medical care.”

                Many of Dr. Weisshaar’s patients were injured on broken glass and nails as they tried to recover their possessions and rebuild their damaged homes.

                Dr. Weisshaar was part of a team of Kaiser Permanente 13 doctors and nurses who volunteered for the Philippine medical mission, working with an American non-profit called Relief International. Relief International responds to international disasters.

                Their first week was spent at a badly-damaged hospital in Carigara, west of Tacloban. The emergency department roof was mostly gone and covered by a blue tarp, and one whole wall was blown away. “There was no electricity but I must say the light was pretty good during the daytime,” she laughed. But down the hall, she could see nurses working with flashlights as they cared for patients.

                With the typhoon crisis passed, the American, Chinese, Korean, Australian and Israeli medical teams that came to the Philippines were essentially giving local caregivers a break to start rebuilding their own homes and caring for their own families.

                “People were so gracious to us,” says Dr. Weisshaar. “They were so glad that we were there.”

                Dr. Weisshaar was also touched at how strong and resilient the Leyte residents seemed to be. Sometimes to extremes. She recalls one patient who’d broken his leg during the typhoon, but spent several weeks repairing his house before going to the hospital.

                “He’d been hobbling around in pain for two weeks with a fractured leg. We got him to the Australian-run clinic that specialized in orthopaedics. But many of my patients were like him,” she recalls.

                The Kaiser Permanente doctors and nurses expected to live in tents, but fortunately, they were able to pitch their tents in a house that survived the typhoon.  “Camping indoors helped our team bond; we had each other’s backs during the work day,” smiled Dr. Weisshaar.

                During the two weeks, she noted conditions were changing: debris was being cleared away, the stores were opening, children were playing, and her patients were now talking about to the emotional trauma of the typhoon. “’Heartache’ they would say, beginning to open up about not sleeping, not eating” said Dr. Weisshaar. Doctors were dealing with a whole new part of recovery.        

                “I never did anything like this before,” said Dr. Weisshaar, “And I’m glad I went.”