HCM's Medical Work

e-Mission Lines November 2011

Touching Haiti with the love of Christ

From the Editor

In the past year and a half, hundreds of volunteers have visited HCM's medical clinic in Fonds Parisien. They have served alongside the Haitian staff meeting the medical needs of the Haitian people. If you were to sit down with any one of those volunteers, they could flood you with passionate stories from their time spent there. Scores of mothers lined up with their children waiting for them in the morning. Babies fighting for their last breath, whonever would have died in the states. Children with crusty noses and scabby scalps, grinning shyly up at them. Clinic beds and floors filled with bloody victims of a horrific tap-tap accident. (Imagine a small pick-up truck with a roof and two benches crammed full with people colliding at high speed with another truck.) Middle-aged men and women with huge grins on their faces after undergoing an operation they never dreamed would actually happen for them. Of course not every life can be saved and yet, many, many lives are saved or improved at our little clinic and hospital.

At present, our buildings are not much to look at when compared to those in the U.S. and yet amazing things still happen there. And it is all done in the name of Jesus. In this newsletter we are focusing on that one aspect of Haitian Christian Mission. In future newsletters we will spotlightdifferent areas of ministry. Keep reading throughout the rest of 2011 and into 2012 as we aim to give you a good look at all the different things HCM is doing with your very important support.

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Dubinsky later This baby boy is the same one pictured at the top of this newsletter. This picture was taken not quite five months later. The nurse practitioner pictured here, also my sister-in-law, was part of the team who first treated him when he was 2 months old and weighed only 5 pounds. You can read her account here on the Ke Nou blog.

Sabine is taking another trip to Haiti with Ke Nou this month. I'm hoping they'll continue their habit of updating the blog while there. You can follow them here.

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Click on the picture below to take a photo tour of HCM's clinic and hospital.

The History of HCM's Medical Work

by Etienne Prophete

With the support of Park Plaza Christian Church in Joplin, Missouri, HCM's medical ministry began in 1974 at Port-au-Prince with a first-aid kit. We pursued our goal of obtaining a grant from Fellowship of Associates of Medical Evangelism (FAME) by writing to Dr. Robert Reeves, the Executive Director. The clinic at Port-au-Prince was built. Several Haitian doctors like Sainvilus, Adolphe, Volmar, Lizie, and Lafontant as well as American doctors served there.

OB/GYN Pavilion In the days following the earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, we grew to recognize just how providential it was that we were there in Fonds and that we had recently finished, and received equipment for, our new hospital complete with operating room. There were not nearly enough medical facilities in Haiti to see all the injured people. We are located on one of the main roads leading out of Port-au-Prince that people travelled down looking for a chance to be seen by a doctor. People were brought to us from miles away with deep wounds, broken arms and legs, dislocated hips, and more. The campus was full beyond capacity. A massive crowd of people stood outside waiting for their turn to get in. It was a nightmare, something I never thought I would see in my lifetime.

Psalm 107:2 says, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." We can anticipate many questions to ask God when we get to heaven. The more we fall short of understanding what befalls us in our lives, the more we will realize that we are just humans and we will encounter death. This is why we need to do what we can to help a neighbor. A lady whose name I do not remember in the quagmire of the large crowd came and told me, "Pastè, Bondye ap beni ou pou lopital sa-a. Gade ki jan moun jwen swen isi-a san zatann. Se yon bagay mèveye." In English, "Pastor, God will bless you for this hospital. Look how the people are getting help at a moment's notice. This is wonderful."

It has become like the opening of a floodgate. Haitians came for help of all kinds. American, Australian, Dominican, and Puerto Rican doctors poured into our clinic and those of other missions to help as they could. From October 2010 to October 2011 a total of 46,925 people were treated in our clinic for diverse reasons. This number does not include the thousands of people seen during the mobile clinics organized by visiting medical teams. We conclude that we can always count our blessings and name them one by one, even when things go wrong, for God has a timetable for his plan of redemption to unfold.

Looking Into the Future
by Dr. Serge Geffrard

In 2004, Dr. Ming Young and I founded Project Haiti Heart, a nonprofit organization, with the primary objective of providing medical, humanitarian, and spiritual aid to the people of Haiti. In 2005, in conjunction with the Haitian Christian Mission, we began raising funds for the construction of a teaching hospital and medical school in Fonds Parisien. In 2008, we finished Stage I of the construction project, the obstetrics wing of the hospital. Today the obstetrics center is staffed by two midwives and three physicians, and delivers an average of 1,000 infants each year.

Seeing the incredible impact of a permanent medical facility first hand, in 2010 the executive board for Project Haiti Heart unanimously voted to proceed with phase II of the construction project. We will expand our medical facilities by building a 12,000 square foot, two-story building to include an emergency room, outpatient center, medical intensive care unit, surgical intensive care unit, medical ward, pediatric ward, CT scan room, operating room, and cardiac catheterization lab. The expansion project will allow us to provide primary and tertiary care to over 300,000 Haitians and will help to further rebuild the nation's infrastructure.

Hospital Design Estimated cost for phase II is 1.5 million dollars. Your support of Project Haiti Heart and the people of Haiti is vital to the success of our projects in Haiti.

All contributions to Project Haiti Heart are tax-deductible.

The People Making it Happen

The HCM clinic staff is made up of:

3 Doctors

Dr. Maxene, Dr. Patrick, Dr. Dieunord

2 Midwives
7 Nurses
4 Custodians
2 Groundskeepers

Plus...

a lab technician,
a pharmacist,
an ambulance driver,
an inventory controller,
and a hospital cook.

Also, fourteen medical teams served at the HCM clinic in the last year.

So Many New Friends

by Sara Dessieux

C-Arm x-ray machine

In the last three months HCM has hosted six medical teams. One group, led by Jana Gottino of Fort Collins, Colorado included an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Roger Sobel, who operated on over 30 patients. Most of the patients were victims of the earthquake who had never had their injuries properly treated. Before the trip, Jana had gotten a C-Arm x-ray machine donated by Poudre Valley Hospital and raised all the funds for shipping it. While in Haiti, Dr. Sobel trained Dr. Maxene and two other men to operate the machine and also took x-rays for about 120 people so they would be able to take the printouts with them to hospitals in Port-au-Prince.

Another member of the team, also from Fort Collins, nurse Amy Livengood, along with her husband Dr. Joe Livengood, donated and shipped a MCI/Pandemic Unit, a product they themselves designed and are marketing. The unit consolidates all medical equipment needed by an ICU patient on one cart that can be moved around with the patient. We are so thankful for both of these new pieces of equipment.

Now see if you can follow this. Two weeks after Jana Gottino's team left Haiti an IDES construction team came. In that team were Don and Dorothy Kimball, my grandparents, who took four trips to HCM between the years 2000 and 2002 but who had not been back since. They are the ones who first took me to Haiti in 2001. I met my husband, Dr. Guesly Dessieux, when he came to HCM for a week with FAME in 2004. After we married we returned to my home state of Oregon where he became medical partners with Dr. Paul Neumann. Following the earthquake, Guesly and Paul spent a week working in Haiti. In the spring of 2010 as we planned for another medical trip, Paul's longtime friend, Dr. Susie Klinger of Colorado heard about it and came along bringing massage therapist Jana Gottino with her. And you read above what happened when Jana brought her own team.

That's how things seem to work at HCM. We rely on all those connections with people and on the passion that is ignited in just about everyone who comes. We know that God is orchestrating the entire thing and we are grateful.

Labor of Love

by Wendy Zehner

Labor of Love is a new partner for HCM. This group, under the direction of Dr. Cheryl Fogarty, has been working with us for over a year now. They have done training with our midwives and have worked alongside Circle of Health International (COHI). Women from all parts of Haiti are coming to receive quality obstetric care at HCM's Christ for All Clinic. Praise God, we are making a difference!

Dr. Fogarty and Dr. Maxene Dr. Fogarty joined Dr. Maxene, as well as an anesthesiologist from Port-Au-Prince, in performing two difficult gynecologic surgeries. In the first operation they removed an extremely large ovarian cyst. The second one was a partial hysterectomy to remove a very large fibroid from the uterus. "In difficult cases, two heads are better than one," Dr. Fogarty said. "It was a great pleasure to partner with Dr. Maxene!"

The women did very well, recovered quickly, and had excellent care! Now Labor of Love is working stateside to raise funds to help support the clinic and its ministry. We thank God for all our new friends and pray that together we will see more people come to Christ.