Hope for Haiti Excels at Unite For Sight’s Global Health and Innovation Conference
Jennifer Lang, Program Manager April 27, 2012
On April 21, 2012, Hope for Haiti was honored to share our Pilot School-based Public Health Program to attendees of Unite for Sight’s Global Health and Innovation Conference. Based at Yale University, this year’s Conference focused on making a sustainable difference in the fight against poverty worldwide by extending public health education and interventions.
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| Community Health Worker administering Vitamin A to students under 5 |
Hope for Haiti Community Health Workers |
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Hope for Haiti Evaluates Students’ Public Health Knowledge in Rural Communities
Jessica Jean-Francois, Program Manager, April 21, 2012
The Hope for Haiti Public Health program is successfully training community health workers and educating students in public health and preventative care. This month we had the opportunity to assess some of the 2,400 students that benefit from the program on their knowledge of the several themes taught by the community health workers in their schools. The results were astonishing and the process was very beneficial. Most of the schools that participate in the program are in extremely rural parts of southern Haiti. Since many of the schools only reach up to the 4th grade, we developed an exam to test the 4th grade at every school and compared their scores. At each school, the student with the highest grade received a gift from Hope for Haiti during our bi-annual site visits. From the exam, we were able to learn more about the success of the program in the communities. We identified the themes that the students understood the best and which ones they wanted to learn more about. We received strong feedback about what is going well and developed ideas for improvements.
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| Mirlande and Loudena with their exams |
Ricardo listens closely during a public health lesson |
Ricardo receives a celebratory pen from Hope for Haiti for his success on the exam |
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Partnership Responds to Dental Needs at Missionaries of Charity
Program Manager, Jennifer Lang, March 20, 2012
(We are not allowed to display photos of the
Missionaries of Charity.)
While unloading boxes of medications, clothing, and school supplies at the Missionaries of Charity (MC), Sisters Mary Philone and Guadeloupe pulled me aside. Long familiar with Hope for Haiti’s Infirmary Saint Etienne, the Sisters asked, “How busy is your dentist right now?”
Low-cost dental care in the Southern city of Les Cayes and its surrounding rural community was unheard of before Hope for Haiti opened its Dental Clinic in 2008. For 15 goud—or about 27 cents US, patients can see Dr. Esperance Dupervil, who specializes in preventative education on dental hygiene. Despite seeing an average of 10 patients per day, extractions remain the central fixture of the second-generation dentist. The Infirmary is regularly forced to turn patients away because the demand for healthcare so exceeds our limited resources.
Still, when the Sisters asked about the availability of dental care for their population, we had to help. Hope for Haiti’s partnership with the Missionaries of Charity includes provision of medications and supplies received as in-kind donations in our Naples office, financial support for overall operations, and inclusion of referred patients in our specialized emergency care network. The Missionaries of Charity Les Cayes facility features both in-patient and out-patient medical care, food distribution, and a malnutrition recuperation center. Moreover, it hosts an orphanage facility equipped for children with handicaps – a rarity in Haiti.
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National Carnival Celebrated in Les Cayes
It is an understatement to say that Kanaval in Les Cayes was a memorable experience. As members of Hope for Haiti’s full-time International Management Staff, we have spent nine months thus far in Haiti. Working together, we have experienced many of Haiti’s challenges first-hand—including limited access to healthcare, the spread of cholera and the difficulty of emergency response, and the impacts of poverty and malnutrition on education.
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| Dancers adorned in costume dance through the streets. | Dancers representing Comme Il Faut the Haitian cigarette company dance through the streets during the parade. | Float passes by in Les Cayes representing the Governmental Ministries. |
Still, much of our tenure has been spent hiking through lush forests, talking and laughing with program partners and community leaders, and walking pristine beaches. We eat Haitian food, speak Haitian Creole, and consider our office and team a new home and family. After the December announcement by President Michel Martelly that the national Carnival festivities would move to Les Cayes for February 2012, many were skeptical. We chose to stay and experience the event that so many around us recalled with such pride.
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A Little Girl’s Steps
Jennifer Lang, Program Manager, January 19, 2012
Operations Officer Stanley Liste joined the Hope for Haiti team in January 2008. A crucial part of Hope for Haiti’s Emergency Response team following the devastating earthquake in January 2010, Stanley has participated in many difficult medical cases. It is rare in Haiti – where so many lack access to healthcare, to hear success stories. It is even more rare to see a successful patient grow over several years.
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| Kidney Clerger, Feb 2009 |
Almost three-years later, Stanley was able to visit with the family and see Kidney’s progress first-hand. Today, Kidney can run and play—and even stand on one foot! As Stanley approached the house—half-built with cement and a palm tree roof, he saw Kidney running through the yard with three of her girl friends. Stanley knows Kidney’s mother, Sandra, from the marketplace where she works, and he greeted his other acquaintances from construction and family ties throughout the neighborhood.
As Hope for Haiti’s current Healthcare Program Manager, I have relied on Stanley as a liaison in numerous difficult cases. Still, my tenure here stretches only since June 2011, and I do not remember the struggles of Kidney’s handicap or her laughter after her first steps. When I talked to Stanley about what makes Kidney’s case stand out, he highlighted many factors. “Successful surgeries in Haiti require a lot of variables to come together. You need to find the right hospital, the right doctor. You need money. The medications you need have to be found in country or shipped in.”
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Hope for Haiti Tackles Water-Borne Diseases through its Clean Water Program
Jessica Jean-Francois, Program Manager, January 16, 2012
This past Thursday, Hope for Haiti and the Clean Water program’s technician, Harry Victor, were in Baradères for a routine maintenance and site visit. The Little Sisters of St. Therese Clinic in Baradères were chosen in October of 2007 as the perfect place to house one of Hope for Haiti’s 12 UV Water Purification systems. With most systems located near clinics, orphanages and schools, the system at the clinic in Baradères serves the infirmary, many church organizations and the community. Due to the large demand from the community and a rise in water-borne diseases in the general population, Hope for Haiti installed a second water purification system in the Baradères Town Center in 2009.
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| Hope for Haiti Program Manager, Jessica Jean-Francois with Water Technician, Harry Victor and Caretaker of the clinic water system in Baraderes, Roland Jean. | Hope for Haiti Water Technician, Harry Victor, speaks to Caretaker, Roland Jean, about cleaning the water system and its cistern. | System Caretaker, Laurie Monteville, holds the clean water test with Hope for Haiti Program Manager, Jessica Jean-Francois. |
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Hope for Haiti’s Public Health Program completes its final Module
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| Lormil Frantz, a community health worker from Grenodière, distributes Albendazole to the students at the primary school |
Thirteen months later, Hope for Haiti has completed its own public health manual and trained 24 community health workers on topics ranging from hygiene and nutrition to prevention of malaria, typhoid and tuberculosis. We have implemented and managed first aid kits in the 12 public health schools and have distributed over 200,000 multivitamins, vitamin A, and Albendazole to their students. These vitamins and medications promote good nutrition and battle intestinal worms. Through the public health pilot program, both the young and the old receive training on how to keep themselves safe from illnesses and diseases and how to live healthier lives.
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Vitamin Angels’ Visit to Haiti Highlights the Importance of Nutrition
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| Vitamin Angels founder Howard Schiffer shares a moment with Sister Denise, Director of Baraderes Nutrition Clinic | Vitamin Angels team member Paul with a malnourished child at Timoun Kontan Nutrition Clinic |
This past week, Hope for Haiti was fortunate enough to receive a visit from one of our major in-kind donor organizations - Vitamin Angels. By providing Children's Multivitamins, Prenatal Vitamins, and Vitamin A, Vitamin Angels products are a major component of Hope for Haiti’s Nutrition Program.
The team's trip began with a visit to Hope for Haiti's Infirmary Saint Etienne in Les Cayes, which serves the poorest of the poor who often travel miles by foot to see a doctor. At the Infirmary, Healthcare Director Dr. Steeve Victor oversees the distribution of Vitamin Angels products. "We distribute about 3 boxes of Vitamin Angels pre-natal vitamins to pregnant or lactating women per week - that's about 6,000 vitamins!"
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Providing relief to mountain villages: Hope for Haiti conducts joint Education and Public Health site visit to Cornette Primary School
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| Hope for Haiti staff make the long trek back down the mountain |
In Haiti there are hundreds of small villages tucked away in the mountains, far removed from the hustle and bustle of city life. Because the small paths that lead to the villages are exceptionally rocky and steep, many of the villages are only accessible by foot or on the back of a donkey or mule. Hope for Haiti actively partners with schools in these ultra-rural communities, to ensure that the needs of Haiti’s rural poor are addressed.
On Thursday, October 27th Hope for Haiti staff conducted a joint Education and Public Health site visit to the mountain village of Cornette. After completing the extremely challenging 1.5 hour hike in the mountains around Saint Louis du Sud, Hope for Haiti staff distributed Vitamin A, Albendazole and Multivitamins to the children at Cornette Primary School, while educating the school’s 43 students on the importance of personal hygiene.
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Hope for Haiti’s Emergency Response to Flooding Saves Lives
It was 8pm when Father Max, Hope for Haiti’s long-term partner and regional education contact, called. “Torbeck is flooding,” he said. “Please help. The water has started coming into the neighborhood’s houses.”
The next morning, before the rain had even stopped, Hope for Haiti staff responded to the emergency with 80 Survival Buckets for the community. The buckets were designed following the 2008 deadly hurricane season and can help keep a family of five alive for one week.
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| View from car window on way to respond | Flooding outside the Hope for Haiti office in Les Cayes |
Flooded roadway on the way to Torbeck |
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