Provide Rehabilitative Care in northern Haiti

Hello STAND Family!

I hope this email finds you are well and relaxed after a rather toasty and wet summer!

As I am sure you have all heard, the situation in Haiti is getting worse and not better. People who are able to leave the country are leaving and those who have to stay have limited food, clean water and basic life necessities. Gangs have created a reign of terror in which people are afraid to leave their homes in fear of being killed or kidnapped. Although Port de Paix remains relatively safe,  the effects of the gang controlled areas are clear. One of the biggest problems is that people with money have left the country . This includes many of the medical professionals who ensure that hospitals and clinics are up and running. This means that there are very few clinics and hospitals open. Those that are open are not open consistently and there is a HUGE risk  in traveling to these clinics, especially in gang controlled areas.  

Thankfully, due to all your contributions, our clinic is still open daily. Not only is the clinic open, but we are continuing with the home visits, nutrition programs and family training programs. Our adult therapy clinic continues to work with adults with all kinds of aches and pains, strokes, and wounds. They also continue to educate the community about diabetes and blood pressure management. Our new PT Junior is up and running and is already seeing his own caseload under the guidance of Sainfolia and Nancy.

Our pediatric clinic continues to see patients in their new location. They have found some local community members who have been helping to build wheelchairs and custom equipment to allow the children to attend school and access their environment at home.  We also recently ( finally!) received baby formula and so have been able to provide several families with formula to help feed their babies.

Home visits have increased during this uncertain time as many families are afraid to travel long distances to seek treatment. Home visits address several issues including, creating care plans for children with disabilities, education about nutrition as well as post funeral visits to ensure that families have what they need after a child passes.

Although our clinics are still going strong, we are also feeling the effects of the economy. The cost of electricity is exorbitant. Because of this, we are no longer able to use the treadmill and bike that we purchased last year. We are looking into buying a solar panel to provide electricity for the clinic so we can continue to use these vital pieces of equipment. We need your help to do this!

Thank you for helping us keep out clinic up and running!