Provide Rehabilitative Care in northern Haiti

Happy Spring!

We hope this newsletter finds you happy, healthy and thawed out from a rather chilly winter! While we have all been hunkering down dealing with some crazy weather, our Haitian friends and colleagues have hit the ground running to try and keep our clinic open. Haiti continues to experience violence, economic instability, and food insecurity. Most schools have shut down due to gang violence and very few hospitals remain open. Those that are open, often times have to close due to staffing and supply chain problems due to both COVID and violence. Despite this, the STAND clinic remains open. The STAND clinic is currently the only clinic in the Port de Paix area that is consistently open and serving the public. That being said, there is a HUGE need for our services. Our clinics are running at full steam treating patients with all kinds of diagnoses from strokes and broken bones to malnutrition and sickle cell anemia. Our clinicians are hard at work educating the public about COVID safety, blood pressure we well as skin care and hygiene.

Our pediatric clinic has really been working hard as the economic crisis and violence is hitting the children the hardest. Autumn is back in Haiti and helping to improve community access to the pediatric program. Our pediatric clinic is now averaging about 30 visits per day in addition to about 10 homecare visits per day. Each month the pediatric clinic has about 40 new patients that often times need the full gamut of treatments including vitamins, adaptive equipment and medical care. 

Our pediatric team is also working overtime to help critically ill children receive the care they need. They often times coordinate with Haiti Air Ambulance and hospitals in other parts of Haiti to ensure the children receive appropriate care. Ciara is one of those children. She started coming to the clubfoot clinic and was found to be malnourished and extremely ill. The pediatric crew worked tirelessly to get her flown to Port au Prince to get the care she needed. After three months she is now healthy and back in Port de Paix receiving the care she needs for her club feet.

Our clinicians could not do what they do without your support. They have the knowledge and the passion, but that does not mean anything without a clinic to practice in! Your continued support is key to maintain the health of the Port de Paix community!

We hope this update finds you happy and healthy during this holiday season! A lot has happened in the past few months both here in the states and in Haiti. Haiti continues to struggle with social, political and economic turmoil. Since the assassination of the president, the capital has been taken over by gangs, making it nearly impossible for goods to travel throughout the country. Because of this, infrastructure throughout the country is blocked, creating food and fuel shortages in more remote areas such as Port-de-Paix, where the STAND clinic is located. Most private hospitals and clinics have closed at this due to safety concerns and supply shortages, creating an even greater need for health care. On top of these difficulties, the southern part of Haiti sustained a 7.2 magnitude earthquake a few months ago, causing structural devastation and loss of life in an already traumatized country.

              Despite all this, the STAND clinic has remained open and continues to provide care to the community of Port-de-Paix. Following the recent earthquake, a good portion of STAND’s staff volunteered their time to travel south and help out after the hurricane. They brought many of the therapy and wound care supplies from the STAND clinic, as well as further medical and hygiene items in order to provide relief to those who were affected. In addition to providing therapeutic aide, they taught both clinicians and patients about hygiene, wound care, blood pressure management, and diabetes while there.

              After 10 days of volunteering their efforts in the south, Nicholson, Marthe and the rehab aides are now all safely back at the STAND clinic. Nicholson (Adult PT) is working hard to educate the community about COVID and blood pressure and diabetes management while he helps his patients get stronger, reduce their pain and improve their function. He has been treating many patients post stroke and is working on ideas for a group class. Marthe (Pediatric OT) is busy working with kids in the pediatric clinic to find and fit appropriate equipment, improve their mobility and teach families how to care for the kids. Our nurses are also very busy with the vitamin program, home visits and figuring out safe ways to get kids to the hospital if needed.

              Currently the STAND clinic is still running strong, but we need your help! We have not been able to send a volunteer group in 2 years due to COVID and the political environment in Haiti. Considering the current lack of government and gang situation, it is unlikely we will be able to send a volunteer group soon. These trips were our main source of revenue and without them we need YOUR help with fundraising. Our goal is to fundraise $50,000 this year to cover rent, supplies and staff salaries. Can you help us maintain our current level of service to this community? Your contributions have helped keep the STAND clinic active these past two years. Because we are one of the only clinics currently open in the northwest region of Haiti, it is more important than ever that we keep our doors open and continue to provide rehab services to the people of Port-de-Paix.

Cheers to a better 2022!