Haiti continues to be a tragic place
Posted on June 8, 2010
Haiti continues to be a tragic place to attempt to help. I traveled there this relief effort with Project Medishare and assumed that things would have improved since my first trip in late January just after the quake, but to my sad surprise it seemed that things have only continued to be so very hard for the Haitian population and their caregivers.
“I am on the first night shift for all of pediatrics and its filthy and really unpleasant facilities but the children are dying of typhoid, malaria, TB, etc. The sleeping conditions are terrible- yet the families are thus far so amazingly cheerful and smiling..It is 100 degrees by 8 am and it has been so very busy- ambulances were screaming their way in here-a boy hit by a car, another one whose skull was smashed in by a rock, three year olds that weigh 15 pounds, a child who burned his hand off…and the hospital is filled with army cots where mothers lie with their babies with no food, no showers, just little sacks of their few belongings, and they lie there all day taking care of their sick kids cheek to jowl…no movies no stickers let alone toys. The kids break would break your hearts wanting to play, giggling, wandering around trying hard to survive with so very little and so very little hope”.
Moblepediatrics.org is working hard to raise funds for food and medical supplies-trying to get them all well enough to go back to their schools and a hope of a childhood- …Please please don’t forget to give what you can to the many wonderful projects in Haiti and elsewhere. Mobilepediatric.org is partnering with many organizations across the globe to support, honor and cherish children.
back to haiti again
Posted on May 5, 2010
We are headed back to Haiti again, this time as part of a team working with Medishare, the university of Miami-based tent hospital in port-au-prince. Over the last few months, despite massive efforts and more coordinated care, the need is still overwhelming, and sadly, the children are still very very sick. Hundreds of small clinics that have outposts throughout PaP are able to stabilize children but not manage their acute care so one of the biggest challenges is having to choose which children get transferred to the Medishare Hospital and which children cannot be saved. Unfortunately, transfer to the United States has become almost impossible and requires a hospital to accept the transfer as well as a someone or group to pay medical bills and to sponsor the family. The US government is now requiring signed affidavits for their care and Medicaid is not available for these patients.
I cannot express how saddened I am that the fate of Haiti has somehow fallen off the media’s radar- the problems are awful there- and as the flood season hits, the rates of typhoid and malaria are sky-rocketing. some schools have reopened and Marys meals is feeding over 500, 000 children, but the battle to stabilize this pediatric community has only just begun. please please keep Haiti in your mind as you consider where to send your support.
Thank you
Words from a friend who just returned from Haiti- she sent this as a reminder of the courage of these children:
I’m attaching a few pictures of a ten year old boy name Rosemon who really impacted me. He’s an inpatient at the hospital I was working at in Port-au-Prince. He spent three days trapped in the rubble next to his dead parents. When he was finally rescued he was suffering from a skull fracture, a broken leg and a broken right arm.
He was brought to Heartline Hospital and has been receiving treatment for his injuries ever since (including a skin graft to help heal his head wound), and is such a delightful kid. He should go “home” within the next few weeks. He lost all his family (including his siblings) except for his grandmother. She comes every day to check on him & he will live with her when he is discharged.
What really touched me about Rosemon, is that in spite of all he’s been through, he is full of joy and laughter and jokes. He likes to draw and make art and has made so many friends at the hospital. I was reminded over and over in my time there how much the survivors need some “normal” in their lives. Yes they have suffered, but yes, life goes on.
There is a saying in Creole, “Degaje”…it basically means “make it work”. And that’s what I saw everywhere in Haiti-people “making it work”…no house to live in “degaje”-some sheets and tarps will do, broken right arm “degaje” I’ll learn to draw with my left…tiny baby crying…”degaje”…I pick him up and rest him on my cast! (These are just examples from Rosemon). I was so inspired & humbled by being there. I have so much to learn from the Haitian people. I would love for our school community to have this sense of the spirit of the Haitian people, if it seems appropriate. (And if not, truly no worries!)
Sarah D
p.s. Rosemon snuck a little love note into my bag before I left. It says “Sara is my friend”…and a drawing of two stick figures. Awwwwe.
Cite Soleil: Schools will be reopening
Posted on March 18, 2010
Hands Together and Marys Meals are partners in Cite Soleil. The incredible news is that the schools will be reopening there despite government statements that there are no schools open. Father Tom, the director there, has just identified, in addition to all the other emergency requirements we are funding, a need for a new mobile clinic. They have for some years had a clinic in Cite Soleil from which they do little out reach clinics at their schools and until now we had been talking about funding the rebuilding of this as it was badly damaged in the earthquake. They employ a Haitian doctor who oversees this. Now they think it would be better to instead buy in a mobile clinic vehicle as this would allow them to be more flexible in going where the need is greatest, it would save waiting until rebuilding is possible and it would by pass the huge security problems in storing medical supplies in Cite Soleil (vehicle could be based at their office compound in Delmas. Port-au-Prince). This will be a very effective way to quickly bring vital aid to many people in greatest need.
The vehicle described would be something like an adapted minibus – from which you can pull tent off side, storage for medicines, refrigeration and ideally X ray machine and other appropriate diagnostic equipment. When we have this up and running we would then be able to send doctors going out to spend periods of time in Haiti to work with the permanent team on the mobile clinic.
Thank you
Posted on March 10, 2010
Thank you to all of those who have donated so generously. Noah NY has now signed a contract with the Haitian government to take over one of the hospitals which will mean sustainable, continuous medical care. I am especially excited that it also means that the many many medical students who have offered to help will be able to come, learn and give care. We are now busy raising money to buy a bus to transport supplies more efficiently. Thank you all again.
Earthquake in Chile
Posted on March 8, 2010
The sadness and devastation of the earthquake in Chile has been on all our minds. Thanks to teams like Medishare, we are learning more and more how to be “first responders” and to be more efficient at dealing with tragic natural disasters. Please take the time to look at projectmedishare.org or go to the University of Miami’s website for further information.
Meanwhile, thanks to so many generous donors, we have boxes of supplies waiting to go, and as of today, an enthusiastic group of medical students willing to help from FAU.
On a personal note, I was glad to hear from my host in Haiti that she survived a very severe accident on route to pick up supplies from Santo Domingo and bring them back to Haiti.
Please stay involved- thank you
New York Times article about the relief workers
Posted on February 15, 2010
A recent New York Times article about the relief workers who volunteered early on in Haiti is a devastating reminder of how much work there still is to do in Haiti. Please take the time to check this link:
www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/americas/13doctors.html?emc=eta1
and please continue any efforts you can to support haiti’s relief orgnizations. Thank you,
Dr Geary
Mobile Pediatric update on Haiti
Posted on February 9, 2010
Thanks to generous donors Mobile Pediatric has raised significant funds for Haitian children that will be passed on to two existing charities there based on the quality of care, the commitment to care and the dedication to charitable work that these charities provide. As the director of Mobile Pediatric, my commitment is not only to children’s health and wellbeing but also to insuring that your generous support gets delivered to the best possible charitable organizations that you, as donors, have expressed an interest in supporting. I hope that you will be very pleased with how your generosity is being utilized.
1. Mary’s Meals is helping victims of the Haiti earthquake in: Cite Soleil, a notorious slum outside Port au Prince and in schools and an orphanage in the country’s central region. Mary’s Meals has been working in Haiti since 2006 and, at the time of the earthquake, was providing over 12,000 children with a daily meal in school. Over 6,000 of the children lived in the Cite Soleil slum.
Mary’s meals is now making regular deliveries of clean water to the people of Cite Soleil, assessing the damage to the 8 school campuses in Cite Soleil where we provide Mary’s Meals, employing local people to salvage re-usable material and repair the schools’ perimeter walls, providing food, clothing and hygiene kits for 2,000 families who have taken in people who fled to Hinche from Port au Prince, helping 500 displaced people in Hinche relocate to their home town, delivered $30,000 of urgently needed medical supplies to Hinche hospital
Ongoing plans include
-Resume feeding the children in Cite Soleil as soon as we have a secure base - Restart lessons as soon as possible in temporary classrooms - Repair, rebuild schools once we have properly assessed extent of the damage
2. National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians (NOAH NY) NOAH NY is providing emergency support at Bojeux in Tabarre (located near downtown Port au Prince across from the U.S. Embassy), where they have already established a field hospital. A contingent of volunteer doctors from around the states has been instrumental in administering urgent medical care to hundreds of severely injured children and adults. The continued relief missions will be made possible by the funds received from donations. The funds will be used to purchase desperately needed medical equipment, medical supplies, medicine and transportation for the injured
Palm Beach Day Academy
Posted on February 4, 2010
The students at Palm Beach Day Academy invited Dr. Geary to speak about Haiti, and we loaded up fifteen boxes of supplies the children had helped organize to be shipped to Haiti this weekend as part of a joint effort between MobilePedaitric.org and Rhonda Eyes Alliance which will help by giving container space for the mobilepediatric supplies to reach Haiti promptly.
