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Health & Fitness

Kaiser Permanente ramps up medical mission to Philippines

Los Gatos, Central Valley docs leave SFO, South SF Nurse on team

                The time was right for Dr. Dana Weisshaar, Heart Transplant Services Director at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara. She was facing two weeks of vacation with no plans, and an urge to “give something back.”  That something will be two weeks caring for the injured in the devastation of the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan.

                “Obviously, I won’t be doing any heart transplant work there,” said Dr. Weisshaar, standing among duffels of medical supplies at San Francisco International Airport, “but I’m a skilled physician who’ll likely be sewing up wounds, treating people who’ve been without their medicines for many days, and practicing internal medicine.”

                Dr. Weisshaar of Los Gatos was one of two Kaiser Permanente physicians who left SFO for the Philippines Sunday November 24th. They were joined by a Kaiser Permanente Emergency Department nurse from the South San Francisco Hospital. They are carrying more than a hundred pounds of medical supplies and will be stationed in either Tacloban, which was ground zero for the monstrous typhoon, or at a hospital in nearby Carigara, Leyte about 35 miles west.

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                “We’ll be working closely with Relief International,” said Dr. William (Bill) King of Kaiser Permanente Manteca, who was wearing a dark-blue Relief International t-shirt. “It’s an American non-profit that responds to international crises, for immediate and long-term help. I volunteered for Relief International when they set up medical centers in Haiti after the terrible earthquake in 2010.”

                While Dr. King is a veteran of Kaiser Permanente’s medical missions responding to national and international disasters, this is Dr. Weisshaar’s first mission. And it is also the first for Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco nurse Sarah Galve.

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                “I was born in the United States but I have family in the Philippines,” said Galve. “Some relatives are still missing after the storm. I want to make this trip to help.”

                Dr. Weisshaar also has a personal connection to the Philippines. Her husband was born there, but he will be staying in Los Gatos and caring for their two young children.

                In the coming weeks, more Kaiser Permanente physicians and nurses will be traveling to the Philippines to provide care for the estimated 12,000 people injured in the storm.

                To donate to Relief International: www.ri.org



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