By Dixie Bickel | Director/Co-Founder
Haiti does not have any long term state or private programs for children born with physical and mental disabilities. We have a few private programs for therapy both physcial and occupational but for orphanages or day programs who take in only disabled children and have an all inclusive program, there is none. Haiti desperately needs programs to help these children. Many times, the parents cannot care for them so they abandon them on the street or in a hospital. The parents sometimes search and search for help and cannot find any programs for their child. Many disabled children are put on the street by their parents to beg for money to live. If you look around Haiti today, you will see adults who are disabled, especially physically disabled, on the street corners downtown begging for money. GLA is trying to help prevent this by helping disabled children through care, thereapy, and services.
Baby D was born without arms. She was very sick when she first came to GLA. She was in an incubator and needed oxygen. She could not keep milk down and was having diarrhea and vomiting. But with intensive care she is much better now. She is growing and is more alert now that she is healthier. Her mother and father worked with the Haitian Social Services office to find somewhere to help Baby D. The social worker contacted many programs before she found GLA. Hopefully, as Baby D grows, we will be able to get help for her missing arms. Our goal is that she can return home with her parents and possibly have at least one prosthetic arm so that she can do normal things. Baby D still remains in the NICU and in an incubator but she no longer needs oxygen or IV therapy.
Baby B was born with Down's Syndrome. He was also very sick when he came to GLA and had to be fed through a feeding tube and needed oxygen. Today, Baby B is doing much better. He smiles and laughs. He is much stronger. He still takes a long time to feed. This is common among babies with Down's Syndrome but he is doing better.
GLA is here to help children who are premature, have disabilities, are malnourished, or are abandoned. Your donation helps us provide care for these children. You can help us make a difference in the lives of these children.
By Dani Nilsen | Head Nurse
By Gabby Hunsucker | Social Media Coordinator
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
