Fitzgibbon Sends Aide to Brunswick

June 05, 2019

     In support of the flooding relief efforts in Brunswick, Mo., Fitzgibbon Hospital has donated supplies from Grand River Medical Clinic for use in a makeshift medical relief center operated by Brunswick native Trent Link, FNP-BC. Link is working with city officials in a local church to provide hydration and other medical care to volunteers who may become dehydrated or injured during their work. Link is a nurse practitioner in the Emergency Department at Fitzgibbon Hospital and lives in the Brunswick community.

     “Trent is a Nurse Practitioner in our Emergency Department who lives in Brunswick and he was unable to get here to the hospital.  He thought it would be a good thing to go ahead and open up a clinic near the location where volunteers are working and as part of that, needed supplies,” said Tom Jones, Chief Information Officer for Fitzgibbon Hospital.  “Dr. Haug and I met and as an ER doctor, he knew just what supplies were needed.  Dr. Haug called our Materials Department to begin gathering the needed supplies for this humanitarian effort.”

     To prepare for a breach in the Grand River levee, volunteers have worked for days alongside the National Guard to fill and place sandbags. These individuals have logged hundreds of volunteer hours for Brunswick. Important access to immediate medical care will allow them to work safely. Because roads to the south of Brunswick are impassable due to floodwaters, Fitzgibbon Hospital Chief Information Officer Tom Jones flew supplies in his own private plane from the Marshall Municipal Airport and into North Central Missouri Regional Airport in Brookfield for distribution to the south in Brunswick. He was accompanied by Rudy Reyes, Maintenance Manager for Fitzgibbon Hospital. Supplies included sutures, gloves, bandages, 2 IV start bags with 15 kits each, a cooler full of Tetanus vaccines, paramedic kit, laceration kits, intubation bag and even an OB birthing kit.

     “We had to fly these supplies into the Brunswick area because bringing a trailer to the community is just not possible because of the road closures,” said Jones.  “On Friday morning, we received a call that there were more tetanus vaccines that were needed for the volunteers so we worked with the state and local resources to acquire these vaccines for a second trip,” said Jones.

     The Grand River Medical Clinic, a rural health clinic operated by Fitzgibbon Hospital, is also providing supplies to support the effort.  People often think of the day-to-day operations of hospitals as they care for patients, but it is in times of deep need following a disaster where the contribution of your local hospital can really make a difference in a relief effort.