Dear Supporters
Thank you for your continued support with our Infant and Maternity Project in North Haiti. This project will enable us to establish a new era of safer childbirth in a region of over a million people.
Happy New Year
2010 was without doubt the hardest year Haiti Hospital Appeal has ever faced. The tragic events of the earthquake in the first weeks of last year shook the world, and for a few short months Haiti rested upon the hearts of many nations. Yet for HHA, we have been blessed with a support network of people who have remained broken for this nation beyond the initial trauma, and helped achieve some incredible things. For this commitment and support we are deeply grateful, and can’t possibly thank you enough for your love throughout the last 12 months, or put into words the difference you’ve made.
Maternity Program
In January 2011, we held a conference with the major parties involved in the maternity project and planned how the service will be introduced to achieve the quality and scope of the service. This includes planning for the construction of a second maternity ward, the training for midwives and doctors and the preparation of medical facilities required for the unit.
We have completed the construction of the pre and post natal wards and delivery rooms, a surgical department for C-sections and emergency surgical needs and a neo-natal unit. Clean, smooth and reliable electrical supply has arrived and been successfully installed. We can now provide constant electricity that is vital for maternity and neo-natal care. We have also installed the ultrasound machine and started providing ultra-sound screening for anti natal consultations. It was such a memorable moment when Dr Adlin, who HHA had been supporting in Paris for 6 months on an ultra sound course, switched on this new machine and declared ‘by next week we’ll be able to provide ultra sound.’
The next stage will be equipping these units with incubators, surgical equipment and a blood bank, as well as training the Hatian staff for the use of the equipment and new services we are providing.
Mobile Health Clinic
Reaching into the heart of the community will be a major priority for this project. We will provide support for community midwives, providing them with birth kits designed to reduce risk and save lives. Together with Konbit Sante we are also launching a mobile health clinic which will provide screening, inoculation services to the local communities. Unfortunately, the vehicle to provide the mobile clinic is still in the container port waiting custom clearance.
Paediatric Program
In partnership with our maternity program, we will be launching the Paediatric Program. This will include both on site support at our hospital through a fully equipped neo-natal and paediatric unit, as well as community based care within rural areas and some of the poorest slums across the North. The Program will be providing vaccination, monitoring child development, nutritional support, nourishment programs for malnourished children, health education for families, and an inpatient and outpatient service.
Thanks again for your contributions you have helped changed the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in Haiti.
The Haiti Hospital Appeal Team
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Dear Supporters
2010 was without doubt the hardest year Haiti Hospital Appeal has ever faced. The tragic events of the earthquake in the first weeks of last year shook the world, and for a few short months Haiti rested upon the hearts of many nations. Yet for HHA, we have been blessed with a support network of people who have remained broken for this nation beyond the initial trauma, and helped achieve some incredible things. For this commitment and support we are deeply grateful, and can’t possibly thank you enough for your love throughout the last 12 months, or put into words the difference you’ve made.
Thank you for your continued support on our Children's Home and Outreach Project in North Haiti. This project has enabled us to establish and develop two children's homes that provide vital support to children with physical and mental special needs. We provide a real family atmosphere where children are growing day by day. We are amazed at how much progress the children have made.
Many of you will remember the story of our finding her abandoned, severely malnourished and suffering from hydrocephalus at the end of 2009, which was mentioned in the previous project report. Supported through HHA and Cure International, Grace was provided with an urgent and lifesaving operation that has given her a new lease of life. Because of the impact of such dedicated and compassionate staff at Maison de Benediction, she is now unrecognisable from when she was first found. She is a regular attendee of Maison de Benediction, adopted within a wonderful foster family. Grace is just one example of the difference you have made in 2010. Despite many feeling that we would only be able to offer palliative care to this desperate girl, one year on she has been completely transformed thanks to your support.
In September 2010 we opened our first satellite centre, with 2 childcare staff and 1 cook, to bring day-care, support, education and information to a small rural community called La Victiore. It was chosen as it’s a community with a high number of disabled children, but no support or help for them. The centre has enabled us to support children who live too far away to come to our central Maison de Benediction. We have trained and mobilised church leaders and members to open a community outreach day project for disabled children.
So far the project has been really welcomed by the people and the assistance it provides is already making a big difference.
The majority of these children have spent their whole lives at home due to their lack of mobility. However with education and support, families are benefiting greatly from the project. The children play and learn basic skills, while the parents get an opportunity to cook, work and have a rest. Each child is provided with meals and some basic physiotherapy.
This photo is Elisha from La Victoire. She cannot sit so has spent her whole life lying on a bed. Her family loves her very much but had never had training or support on how to look after their daughter so her muscles have seized up and she cannot move, but now we are providing support for them now at the Petit Maison de Benediction.
We are really happy by the welcome the project has received from the local community, and finding more and more families coming forward to receive support and care. We heard the moving stories of families who explained how the opening of our new centre had unleashed new life for their families. This photo is Elisha from La Victoire, for instance, she cannot sit so has spent her whole life lying on a bed. Her family loves her very much but had never had training or support on how to look after their daughter so her muscles have seized up and she cannot move, but now we are providing support for them now at the Petit Maison de Benediction. Disabled children for the first time offered care outside of the house, and families given the respite a few days a week to grow. Hearing the stories for the first time was moving, challenging, but also deeply encouraging. This centre only costs about $5,000 US to run per year, yet the affect it’s having upon the whole community is priceless. Our hope is that in the coming years many more of these little centres will spring up.
Thanks again for your contributions you have helped changed the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in Haiti.
Carwyn Hill and The Haiti Hospital Appeal Team
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Hi everyone,
For those who have been following our work more regularly via our web-site you'll have noticed that it's been a busy few months. It would be impossible to share everything in one update now, so please do take a look at our site.
However, to give you a little glimpse into the highs and lows of recent months we wanted to share one particular blog with you by some of our team who have been on the ground in Haiti...
'When I first came to Haiti I was struck by the tragic injustice of seeing an 11 year old girl called Julia die simply because the doctors didn’t have the basic equipment to save her. It was an image I’ll never forget, and one that changed my life forever. Yet since living in Haiti, the tragic loss of seeing children die has become all too much a part of weekly existence. So much so that at times the tragic health care situation here becomes almost ‘normal.’
In the last few weeks my heart has been broken afresh by the reality of what it is we’re called together to do. One of our children at Maison de Benediction had a seizure last week and was subsequently referred to the Government Hospital. The next day I went to visit this little one with a few friends who were visiting. It was my first time in the pediatric ward for several months. In some ways I’d forgotten just how tragic this little ward is, but also just how inspiring.
I was greeted by Dr Toussaint who took me to see the little boy. We walked through the dimly lit ward, surrounded by old rusty cots holding the fragile bodies of a host of malnourished and poorly children. When we arrived besides the bed of our little child, I looked as I have done many times into the eyes of Dr Toussaint to ask his prognosis. He looked at me with the same frustration and familiarity as he has done many times before. ‘The prognosis is poor’ he said. ‘He needs a CT scan but we don’t have one in the North. He needs some equipment to clear his lungs but we don’t have one.’ It was a repeat of my first experience in Haiti. An inspiring and highly skilled doctor denied the right to save a child’s simply because of a lack of equipment. ‘We know what to do’ he continued ‘but we just don’t have anything.’ The next day we were informed that the little boy had sadly passed away. If I’m honest it came as no great surprise, but was never the less a harrowing and emotional reminder of why we’re here, and the battle for justice we face. Unjustly the battle for this little one had been lost on earth.
Yet, that same day we finally had three containers released from customs which was a great joy! Some had been stuck in customs for several months. All were packed full of aid from different NGO’s to support our earthquake relief effort. Yet there was one that delivered a particularly meaningful gift that day – 5 incubators and 2 baby bed warmers…pieces of equipment we’ve only dared to dream about. I’ve just started reading a book with the speeches of Martin Luther King, in which he says ‘Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love.’ Amidst the tragedy of seeing another child die that day, came an act of love from another NGO which sought to correct that injustice which revolts against so many children in Haiti. This was more than the delivery of some equipment. This was a delivery of hope, of justice, of progress, of a battle won.
The next day after hours of carefully getting these out of containers using an army of Haitian men, Dr Toussaint arrived on site. As we took him into the room where we are storing these incubators his face lit up like a child on Christmas day. I’ve never seen an adult smile with such joy, hope, happiness, and fulfillment. We all knew just what a difference these pieces of equipment would make and just how many lives they would save! It was this doctor’s dream to see children in Haiti given the support they deserve. After years of work, this was an epic step closer to that dream being fulfilled. A dream of equality, a dream of life and hope and justice. A dream of our little hospital in some small way correcting the darkness which has revolted against this poor nation for too many years. Another act of justice made possible by you, our supporters.
This day highlighted the battles won and the battles lost in our call to fight for equality and justice. It’s a battle worth fighting though, and one we hope you’ll join us on.'
If you'd like to respond to this blog in some way please take the time to make a donation to our project, share this entry with some friends or family, or visit our web-site: www.haitihospitalappeal.org
Thank you for your continued support of our work!
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