Hawaii medical team returns after 48-hour Samoa trip

After a whirlwind 48-hour mission to vaccinate thousands of Samoan residents against the deadly measles virus, many of the Hawaii volunteers were back to work Friday at hospitals and clinics throughout the state.

A team of 76 health care workers and support staff descended upon the distressed nation in an unprecedented campaign to ensure the population of nearly 200,000 was immunized from the highly contagious virus that has killed more than 60, mostly children, and infected more than 4,000.

“You have scores of people dying, and the society is paralyzed,” said Dr. Paulus Tsai, a Honolulu ear, nose and throat surgeon who scrambled to join the state’s emergency medical team that was assembled within 24 hours. “Basically life has come to a standstill for the island.”

>> Click here to see photos of Hawaii health care workers vaccinating residents in Samoa.

There were empty roads, shuttered storefronts and still neighborhoods as the independent nation of Samoa, roughly 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii, declared a state of emergency and complete shutdown of government and business operations while vaccination teams went door-to-door through dirt-road villages to find residents still susceptible to the disease.

Volunteers packed into vans and pickup trucks with containers full of syringes and medicines looking for red flags and pieces of cloth hanging on gates, poles and crosses in front yards, a sign that someone in the home was not vaccinated.

With little rest or time for eating, volunteers were able to immunize nearly 34,000 residents over two days.

“Our intent was to go there and really be able to help and make a difference. When we went out to give the vaccinations, families welcomed us into their homes and asked to take pictures with us,” said Amy Storbakken, a nurse at The Queen’s Medical Center who was back at work at about 7 a.m. Friday after getting home just hours earlier around midnight.

“Our ability to come together for that common cause was just amazing, and being put into this rich culture and the people that were very welcoming and so appreciative, it really was life-changing. It definitely brought fulfillment to the whole reason of why I became a registered nurse.”

Lt. Gov. Josh Green, a medical doctor, worked with government leaders in Samoa, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to coordinate the medical mission, which received more than 500 responses from groups and individuals ready to volunteer. It was an extraordinary effort to secure donations of medical supplies, air flights and fuel, as well as personnel from almost all health care providers across the state.

“I got back more than I could ever give,” Tsai said. “It’s very humbling. It gives you faith in humanity.”

Dale Glenn, a family physician at Straub Medical Center, said there was zero pushback from the Samoan residents he came across after the government mandated universal vaccinations for almost everyone between the ages of 6 months and 60 years, a reversal from public sentiment in recent years following the deaths of two babies from tainted vaccines.

“I was very impressed by the willpower and solidarity of the Samoan people and their willingness to sacrifice to address this disease,” he said. “They shut down their entire country. All government officials were here to help, and the families all put out the red flags and were ready and waiting for us when we came. It was like a no-holds-barred attack on the measles.”

Glenn, who has volunteered for other humanitarian missions, said this one was particularly impactful since the population now has lifetime immunity against the measles.

“Of all the efforts to save children around the world, immunization has the most dramatic impact. Everybody came together with their aloha to unite and support Samoa and attack this disease head-on in a way that will make a permanent difference in the lives of the people,” he said. “Many medical missions you go on, you wonder if they’re going to have a sustainable impact. This medical mission, we definitely had a significant impact that saved lives.”

What’s more, Tsai said, the effort brought hope to the battered nation.

“Even as impactful as providing the manpower … is the outreach to Samoa and Polynesia to let them know that there’s people that care about them,” he said. “You look at some of the kids that came out, they’re in their dusty, old, battered T-shirts and bare feet in the jungle. I think they realized we’re trying to bring something good.

“I hope the younger generation will realize health care can also touch other people’s lives and can be a way for them to make things better for their society. It’s protecting their future generations.”