Kids Raising Money for Haiti Relief Efforts

As Project HOPE volunteers continue to work with those needing care in Haiti, Project HOPE has some inspiring young donors to thank. Check out this story about 9-year-old Casey Wisel, who following in his brother's example, raised nearly $1000 for HOPE's relief efforts in Haiti.

Here, Casey presents Dr. Howe, Project HOPE President and CEO with a cigar box containing his donation. Dr. Howe is sporting one of Casey's bracelets on his wrist. Casey's mom is smiling in the background.

Read more about the Wisel brothers and why they choose to help!

Donations Meeting More than Immediate Needs in Haiti

As Project HOPE volunteers continue to work with amputees at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer and other facilities in Haiti, HOPE also continues to send vital medicines and medical supplies into the country. In addition to the $35 million of critically needed medical donations already delivered to Haiti, Colin Credle, HOPE’s Regional Humanitarian Assistance GIK Manager, recently reported on a donation that is doing even more than protecting families from common disease.
Last month Vestergaard-Frandsen gave HOPE a supply of LifeStraw®, which can purify up to 700 liters of water, and ZeroFly®, chemically treated mosquito tarps, to distribute in Haiti.

Working with another NGO, GrassRoots United, HOPE distributed the LifeStraw and ZeroFly tarps through organized Tent City committees. These Tent City committees are comprised of groups of people, who actually live in the camps, who are elected to present their needs to NGOs and distribute supplies to their fellow residents.

“The LifeStraw water purifier and ZeroFly tarps have not only help protect families against common water-borne disease and mosquitoes, they are helping to build healthier, better organized communities,” Colin said. “By providing these newly elected committees with the LifeStraw and ZeroFly tarps, we found that these committees were able to gain more authority in their communities and therefore they were better able to distribute the resources and train their fellow residents on how to use them properly,” Colin said.

As a follow-up to the donation, Colin and a representative from Vestergaard visited some of the Tent Cities.

“We spoke with Tent City residents who were very happy with their Lifestraws and we also saw the bright green and white ZeroFly tarps in proper use,” Colin added. “The donation itself was important to the health of those in the tent communities, but being able to leverage the donation to provide more stability in the communities and insure proper use of the donation through the newly elected Tent City committee members is very exciting,” Colin added.

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Volunteer Offers Thanks for Opportunity to Help

I am still amazed that my time here, has quickly come to an end and I will be home with my own family before long. How thankful I am, of having had such an amazingly wonderful opportunity. To help improve the lives of the hundreds of Haitians that became amputees due to the fatal earthquake that took place on January 12, 2010. This was a very fulfilling, rewarding, and most comforting, experience. I am so thankful for having had such a rare and treasured opportunity.

THANKS TO ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

Thanks for reading-Project HOPE volunteer Joy Williams

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Beyond Hôpital Albert Schweitzer

At 0600 I headed to the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer /Hanger clinic to meet up with the team heading out to the orphanage located in Port au Prince. As we packed all the supplies needed for the day on the van, I started to realize how very beautiful the morning was, as the temperature had not yet reach its usual scorching degrees. We then drove to L'Escale to gather the three candidates who were traveling to Port-au-Prince with us.

We drove along in silence and as the van sped along I began to notice the very serene, peaceful, scenic captivatingly beautiful countryside that was so green and lush. From the distance I could barely recognize all the different kinds of vegetation that grew affront the mountains and fell as a beautiful backdrop. How easy it is to differentiate the countryside that is fortunate enough to have ample supply of water flowing through it, from that of Deschapelles that always appears dry, barren and uninviting.

For the next two hours I continued to be captivated by the mesmerizingly beautiful landscape that seemed to call out to us as we drove by. As we approached Port-au-Prince however, everything changed from serene beautiful, green, picturesque landscape to congested, loud traffic and broken damaged buildings that seemed to have crumbled down as layered pancakes. Crowds of people were everywhere, busying themselves about. School children were dressed in their beautifully colored uniforms and women carried a days worth of merchandise to sell on their heads. The cars, van, trucks, motorcycles and bicycles all competed to be first in getting through the traffic. As we continued to drive we saw many areas where tents have been set up and have become homes for those displaced by the earthquake. The name that is now given to these areas is TENT CITY. There were rows and rows of blue top tents lining any and every vacant lot that was available in Port-au-Prince. What will ever become of the capital of Haiti?

We arrived at the orphanage just about 0930. The van pulled up to a very large iron gate. When opened, we drove into an area that had beautiful buildings and gardens and also a number of tents that lined the court yard. Not here too.

I soon realized that the tents were where the volunteers for the orphanage were residing. This particular orphanage was the home for mentally challenged and HIV positive children. Very few candidates with earthquake related injuries were living here. Nonetheless, this was a convenient site used to accommodate amputated candidates who needed to be measured and fitted for prosthesis. Today we will care for the 10 candidates that were previously scheduled.

After the completion of measuring and casting of the 10 candidates we headed to the Port-au-Prince airport to welcome another volunteer and pick up some much needed supplies. The supplies were desperately needed to continue the manufacturing of the prosthesis back at the HAS/Hanger clinic.

Our journey back to Deschapelles started at 1630, as we drove along I monitored the beautifully changing views of the sunset over the mountains, how peaceful and relaxing. It will be a very long ride home, but it certainly will be breathtaking, and soothing to the eyes. This is certainly a wonderful and beautiful memory, to have of the countryside of Haiti as I will be completing my mission and heading home in less than 36 hours.

Thanks for reading-Project HOPE volunteer Joy Williams

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Little Time for Rest

It was the usual wake-up call this a.m., with the roosters encouraging not only the morning along but also me. First I checked my e-mail to see if there were any messages I need to respond to immediately. After completing, this very simple task I headed to the clinic, where a few candidates were already waiting for evaluation and physical therapy. Already the prosthetists were busy as little elves in the lab making prosthesis.

Today's clinic hours were expected to be quiet, as this was not our usual intake day. Thankfully for this, as I have been feeling very drained and exhausted recently and could easily welcome a late morning sleep in and or an afternoon nap. Maybe a late morning sleep is out of the question but I certainly took advantage of an afternoon power nap. This felt so good, but it only had me craving for more. No time to waste, I got up and went back to the clinic, where the physical therapist were already busy seeing the patients that were scheduled for the afternoon session.

The day ended at 1600, and I embraced the possibility of an early evening shower and dinner with the hopes of having an early evening to bed. Tomorrow the prosthetic team and I will head out to Port-au-Prince to one of the orphanages to measure and cast new candidates for prosthesis.

Thanks for reading-Project HOPE volunteer Joy Williams

Photos by Allison Shelley

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Keeping Work Flowing in Haiti

Although very busy with patient care, I spent what free moment I had this morning getting the office ready for hand off to the person that will take over my position. Over the past week or so, I have been making sure all important information that includes phone numbers for contact persons, office flow guidelines and file organization etc. are readily available for the appropriate people to have access to.

I also had the unfortunate task of informing one of the potential candidates I interviewed that he did not have the qualifications necessary to take over the case manager position. This therefore meant that I could not hire him. Easy it was, but also very difficult at the same time. As I looked at him and saw the sadness and disappointment on his face, I too became very sad. Not the way I wanted to start my day.

Just about everyone in Haiti needs a job, so whenever the opportunity arises no matter how small, one latches on and tries with all might to hold on and not let go. Every opportunity is a potential job. Every “come and shadow me for the day” is a potential “I have a job.” Every nod is a potential, “I have a job” and a sure means to make some money and provide for one's self and one's family. For me to take this opportunity away, no matter how small, is heartbreaking.

As saddened as I was about not being able to hire any of the individuals that sought after the case manager position, I was elated to find out that my roommate Gozde was able to hire about 250 Haitian in her work for pay program. This is such an exciting moment for her and her team as so many hours of hard work and determination had brought them to this point. This is also exciting times for the people of Deschapelles. Although all that are in need of a job will not receive one, still many will. This is definitely a move in the right direction.

Thanks for reading-Project HOPE volunteer Joy Williams

Photo by Allison Shelley

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Prosthesis Work Continues in Haiti

It was a very quiet day today with no clinic patients scheduled to be seen. I left my dorm and arrived at the clinic at about 0800. After opening up the necessary doors and putting my things away I sat on the veranda for a few moments, observing the day as it went by. As I sat there I wondered if we would have any unscheduled visits or if I could take off and go for a scenic nature walk on this very beautiful sunny, hot day.

Spencer one of the prosthetist arrived at the clinic just about the same time I did. Before heading to the laboratory where he makes prosthesis, he stopped and chatted with me for a short while. After chatting for about one half hour or so he went to the lab and started putting prosthesis together. It was at this time that I decided I would stay at the clinic even if no patients showed.

Most of the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer /Hanger clinc volunteers went to Cange a 2.5 hours drive East of Deschapelles to cast and fit patients at another hospital. Other volunteers, including myself, stayed behind to organize the office, and to be available for possible new admits. One volunteer, Jean, a Haitian-born prosthetic technologist, went to visit his birth parents some distance outside of Deschapelles. Jean who presently lives in the United States was adopted at a very young age about 20-25 years ago. With much, much coordination that initiated in the United States, Jean was able to embark upon the 10-12 trip to visit his birth parents for the first time since his adoption. This is so exciting but also so scary. I can't wait to hear reunion stories. Jean returns tomorrow late evening, I hope I won't need to bring tissues. Stay tuned.......

Thanks for reading-Project HOPE volunteer Joy Williams

Photos by Allison Shelley

Help support Project HOPE's long-term efforts to help the people of Haiti. DONATE NOW

Midwifery in Haiti

Angela Ferrari, a nurse midwife from Massachusetts General Hospital, recently completed a volunteer mission for Project HOPE at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS), helping to strengthen the hospital's midwife program. Enjoy her story on International Day of the Midwife.

Each morning, the entire provider staff at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS)meets to go over the cases of the last 24 hours. This multidisciplinary meeting is usually followed by a presentation from one of the providers on a topic of their specialty. The director of the hospital had asked me to talk about midwifery and how it might benefit the hospital. I was excited as I knew the hospital had sought out myself and other midwives from the U.S. to visit because of their firm belief that the hospital needs to employ a midwife. Further, I had been at the hospital for over a week and even had made a visit to the community and I had been coming to a wonderful conclusion: as limited in resources for maternal and infant care as the hospital and the community seemed to be, they already have everything they need to provide great and safe care. Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNM’s) with their unique training in all birth environments, were ideally suited to provide the care in the hospital’s tertiary maternity unit which has less technology than, say, a tertiary care center in the U.S. Midwives in the US are trained to work not only in hospital environments where large amounts of technology are available but also in birth centers and the home where less interventions are available and the care is more basic but equally safe. HAS is currently seeking to employ a Haitian nurse-midwife to attend the many normal births that occur in their facility and I knew I was speaking to a crowd that already knew the benefits of midwifery care.

My talk consisted of reviewing the history of nurse-midwifery in the U.S. and drawing parallels between the development of the profession in the U.S. over the last 100 years and what I had learned about the recent development of the profession in Haiti. In both countries, midwives had been used as part of large public health initiatives as it is often recognized that an easier way to access a population is through its pregnant women who are sometimes seeking prenatal care or labor care.

Preventative health initiatives, like vaccines, can then be administered to pregnant women and their infants through midwives. HAS in Haiti had used midwives in Haiti to wipe out the endemic of tetanus in the area of Deschapelles. The first Nurse-Midwives in the U.S. had administered vaccines in the mountains of Kentucky in the 1930’s. When looking to improve maternal and infant health outcomes, it was recognized in both countries that midwives attended most of the births and have the greatest access to women especially in areas of highest need. And so, here in Haiti as in the U.S., midwives were being trained to maximize their skills both in the mountainsides and rural areas as well as in urban areas of the country. I am certain that my audience’s favorite part of my talk was when I showed a photo of the Frontier Nursing Service (CNM’s) all saddled up on their horses and lined up for a photo. On horseback, the CNM’s appeared a formidable force to be used against poor high rates of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality.

While the Grand Rounds talk should be given in French (this is one of the languages that belongs to Haiti), I can only vaguely remember my high school French lessons and so the Canadian OB/gyn, Don, visiting for the week who speaks French and French Creole interpreted for my talk. But what I know for certain is that my American and Canadian colleagues walked away with a better understanding of midwifery. I had listed a series of skills that CNM’s are particularly good at and trained in and that would be particularly useful at HAS and in Haiti to improve outcomes: optimizing physiologic process of labor, intermittent auscultation, skin to skin care, breastfeeding, neonatal resuscitation in all environments.

The pediatricians who were visiting from Vermont were thrilled to learn about the breastfeeding skill as they were currently caring for a 2-week-old malnourished baby whose mother was telling them that her breast milk supply was diminishing (potentially the cause of the baby’s malnourished state.) My talk made them realize I might be a good resource for mom which would in turn help the baby and they asked me to consult with mom who was in the nursery.

With interpreter at my side, I visited mom in the nursery where she was with her small, slightly preterm baby (both set ups for low milk supply!) During our conversation, she mentioned that she had pain in her stomach and lack of appetite. She had had a c/section 2 weeks before for eclampsia as well as another indication and as we talked, it became clear that she had not once taken pain meds after the surgery. She had been prescribed a medication that the pharmacy did not carry by the covering doctor on the weekend she had her surgery. This M.D. was likely less familiar with the medications available at this particular hospital. Unable to get the prescription filled, the patient gave up trying to get medicine. I talked to mom about ways to help stimulate more milk production by her body but felt fairly certain that pain from her c/section might be a reason she was lacking in appetite which would in turn affect her milk supply. I prescribed her a pain medicine I knew the pharmacy had and hoped that with pain management she would eat more.

I visited her over the course of the day in order to observe her breastfeed and noted that despite her fears, her own milk supply was actually good. As a good multidisciplinary effort goes, the picture wasn’t complete until the next morning at breakfast when the pediatricians told me that they had talked to mom again and she had confessed that she did not have food to eat. I was embarrassed that I had not uncovered this fact but I also know that many times it takes many interviews with patients to uncover the entire story and that it often takes many providers to elicit the full story. At any rate, the pediatricians are able to “prescribe” food for the moms of malnourished babies under their care (there is no food available in the hospital available for inpatients—families must provide food for patients.) They prescribed mom food which I am certain would help mom make more milk for baby. I was confident that our care truly made a difference for the health of mom and her baby.

Read more about Ferrari's work with mothers at HAS

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New Video of Project HOPE Volunteers in Haiti

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Studying Under Streetlights

The day ended with our team meeting at the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Hanger clinic, that started at 1800 and completed just about 1900. We discussed the impending transition of another person into the case manager’s position. Unfortunately, the process of finding a Haitian-born Creole speaking individual to take over the position has been initiated but has not been finalized. This position will therefore continue to be held by a volunteer from outside of Haiti until someone is hired. Although I am very happy about the accomplishments that we have made over the past few weeks, I am still saddened at the prospect of moving on. How great it would have been to follow the process through completion.

After the meeting I headed towards my dorm. As I slowly walked along the graveled path my mind started to wonder. In less than one week, I will be returning home, back to my normal everyday routine. This was such a great experience. I have learnt so much. My only hope is that I was able to leave something of worth behind for continued growth. As these thoughts raced through my mind, I became a little sad. I stood for a short while thinking about leaving, then suddenly I realized how quickly it had gotten very, very dark. For visual reasons, I headed back to the office and grab the only flashlight that was left on the shelf. Retracing my steps down the path I noticed a few young boys perched on top of rocks beneath street lights, reading. I thought this very odd, as there were a few of them deep in concentration. My curiosity got the better of me. I went over to where one of the young men was sitting to get a glimpse of what was so interesting that it so captivated his attention. I approached him quietly and noticed that he was reading from what appeared to be a hand-written school notebook. I asked if he was studying and his reply was yes and so were the other boys.

It had been told to me that many school-aged children here at Deschapelles would often study beneath street lights when it became dark. This was so as most houses did not have the luxury of electricity. How dedicated and determined they are. The little things that we so often take for granted. I felt pressed to give one of them the flashlight that I held, but soon thought that this would not make a huge difference as the battery would probably only last for a short while.

Jay the head prosthesist joined me as I walked slowly down the path. As we walked, we talked about what we had just observed. He stated that this is a very common practice here in Deschapelles, a few weeks ago when he first observed this, he too was pretty amazed by it. We continued talking as we walked. Later when I arrived at my dorm I mentioned to my roommate what I had seen, she also stated that this was a very common practice here. In line with this, Gozde mentioned that a former volunteer now a staff member here at HAS, has initiated a program that would make available, a secure building with electricity. This was all made possible by donations from a woman's organization in Connecticut called Sisterhood Group. According to Paul the initiator of the project the building presently under construction will be a library that will provide a safe and convenient place for the young people here at Deschapelles to study.

What an awesome proposal, this is something that definitely deserves supporting.

Thanks for reading-Project HOPE volunteer Joy Williams

Help support Project HOPE's long-term efforts to help the people of Haiti. DONATE NOW