Rene
Steinhauer, RN, EMT-P, is an accomplished nurse with skilled disaster training
experience. He has practiced medicine on all seven continents including
working as a flight nurse in Antarctica, a combat medic in Iraq and a disaster
manager in Hurricane Katrina, the Asian Tsunami, the Haiti Earthquake, and
Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines.
Most recently he worked as the Chief Nurse in an Ebola Treatment Center in
Liberia.
Rene Steinhauer
recently published Saving Jimani: Life and Death in the
Haiti Earthquake, a book
about his experiences working as a nurse and disaster manager to help
survivors of the Haiti Earthquake. It is available for sale on Amazon in
eBook
and paperback.
Synopsis:
The earth shakes, buildings fall, hundreds of thousands of people die in minutes. Others lie broken and infected in the streets of Haiti begging, and waiting for help. An empty orphanage is the battleground for life and death in the Haiti Earthquake. Two hours from civilization, a small team of doctors, nurses and paramedics frantically struggle to save two thousand patients as the hope of survival dwindles minute by minute. The battle has just begun. And the medical team asks, “Can we save any of these people?”
Managing the twelve-person team, Rene Steinhauer, a weary combat medic, stands witness to human suffering greater than he ever encountered in Iraq. Rene partners with Danya Swanson, a “daddy’s girl” with a nursing degree who thinks she has what it takes to save the day and suddenly finds herself as the disaster manager for Jimani. Rene dries his tears and gets up to fight in a brutal battle where amputated arms and legs are piled up until somebody, anybody, has time to drag them to the fire pit. The battle rages, hopes are raised and dashed and thousands of lives hang by a thread. Can an inexperienced nurse, with no disaster experience, really save Jimani?
“Saving Jimani is so much more than the reporting of life and death in the Haiti earthquake. It is a story of raw human emotion, grappling with the reality of hundreds if not thousands of people with broken bodies and spirits seeking medical help in an area where there was none. It is the story of heart break, faith, failure and triumph.”
Reviews
“This is an insider perspective from someone who did not need to be there but chose, in his role as a volunteer disaster medic, to take part in the mission to save lives.”Managing the twelve-person team, Rene Steinhauer, a weary combat medic, stands witness to human suffering greater than he ever encountered in Iraq. Rene partners with Danya Swanson, a “daddy’s girl” with a nursing degree who thinks she has what it takes to save the day and suddenly finds herself as the disaster manager for Jimani. Rene dries his tears and gets up to fight in a brutal battle where amputated arms and legs are piled up until somebody, anybody, has time to drag them to the fire pit. The battle rages, hopes are raised and dashed and thousands of lives hang by a thread. Can an inexperienced nurse, with no disaster experience, really save Jimani?
“Saving Jimani is so much more than the reporting of life and death in the Haiti earthquake. It is a story of raw human emotion, grappling with the reality of hundreds if not thousands of people with broken bodies and spirits seeking medical help in an area where there was none. It is the story of heart break, faith, failure and triumph.”
Reviews
“This book provides a glimpse into what is experienced and felt emotionally by disaster volunteers who willingly go to places in the world where everyone else is trying to flee.”
“Rarely does a book capture the true inside story of a mega disaster and the advance medical team sent to "hold the fort" until other rescue teams and supplies are mobilized. Utilizing his past military skills and disaster experience, Rene takes charge and quickly organizes a cohesive team in the midst of chaos. With everyone working twenty hour shifts, chaos is quickly transformed into a smooth operation and countless lives are saved.”
Excerpt
The number of injured continued to outpace the number of
volunteers or supplies. While
amputations were becoming less frequent, they were still common, as was the
crying and the long walk to the burn pile with another limb. As Danya tried to take a quick break, another
patient was brought into the OR. The
woman was in her forties. Her right foot had been crushed during the
quake. The foot
was still caked with black blood that had dried days earlier. Toes were pointing in different
directions. She had witnessed the
horrors of the day and waited patiently for her turn. She had seen the arms and legs removed and
heard the screams in the hallway. Her
face was panicked. As she was moved on
top of the table, she sat upright and started to scoot off the table shaking
her head. The doctors tried to move her
back without success.
Danya came to the woman’s side and gave her a hug. The woman cried as Danya held her. Danya looked into her eyes and nodded her
head to suggest the woman accept the surgery.
The woman nodded and Danya laid the woman’s head back on the bed as she
cried.
As the doctors prepared her for the surgery and gave her a
local anesthetic, the woman cried even louder.
Danya stroked her hair and looked into her eyes again and showed the woman
that she cared. Danya wanted her to know
that with every bit of flesh that we remove, we take a part of our own
heart. “It hurts us too,” she thought
and tried to convey her feelings with nothing more than a look and a touch.
As the scalpel started to cut the flesh and the giggly saw
started to cut the bone, Danya pulled the woman’s head to her chest and started
singing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound …”
For a moment all of the staff stopped working. They were mesmerized by the beautiful voice
that had suddenly replaced the cries of terror.
The work continued and as the foot began to shake under the force of the
saw, Danya sang louder into the ears of the woman. Others in the OR also sang lightly under
their breath as they cut, and sewed, and cried.
About the
Author:
Before authoring books and magazines, Rene Steinhauer started a career
in medicine as a photographer with the American Red Cross. As he responded to disasters he felt more
inclined to assist in the disaster than to take photographs of it. During one disaster exercise he encountered a
beautiful flight nurse from the University of California at Davis Medical
Center. He wanted to meet this woman and
a friend suggested he volunteer in the emergency room where the helicopter crew
was based. He did it.
At a young age, he never had the courage to speak with the flight
nurse, but his career was initiated. He
became an emergency medical technician (EMT) in 1991 and then went on to become
a paramedic in 1992. By 1995, he was
already working in international medicine with adventures in Saudi Arabia and a
brief experience in war torn Sarajevo.
After working in a refugee camp in Rwanda, he decided that he needed to
obtain his nursing degree. In 1999, he
completed his degree and continued on his quest to save lives, volunteer
overseas and travel with medicine. Since
then, he has practiced medicine on all seven continents including working as a
flight nurse in Antarctica, a combat medic in Iraq and a disaster manager in
Hurricane Katrina, the Asian Tsunami, the Haiti Earthquake, and Typhoon Yolanda
in the Philippines. Most
recently he worked as the Chief Nurse in an Ebola Treatment Center in
Liberia.
In addition to writing Saving
Jimani: Life and Death in the Haiti Earthquake, Rene Steinhauer has written
for numerous medical journals and magazines including: The Journal of Emergency
Medical Services, the American Journal of Nursing, Parachutist Magazine and
Soldier of Fortune Magazine. To learn more, go to www.renesteinhauer.com
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