Conor Shapiro, our Director General in Haiti, is in Port-au-Prince today meeting with AID organizations in an effort to arrange for patients to be transferred to Fond des Blancs. The past two weeks have been extremely frustrating as appeals for patients have gone unheeded. Our hospital is in a remote mountain location, approximately 65 miles from Port-au-Prince and a 3-4 hour drive from the capital under the best of circumstances.
There has been a large influx of people migrating into our area from the capital to live with relatives in Fond des Blancs. Tiny shacks are busting at the seams, as they take in 5 and as many as 10 relatives into their humble dwellings. Food shortages are getting ever more critical. People with barely enough to feed their own are stretching limited resources thinner and thinner. Ellen Bolden, our nutritionist, and Jean Denis, our Program Manager, are also in Port-au-Prince today meeting with CRS and UNICEF to request food aid for our area. As time goes on, we will have many refugees living in Fond des Blancs.
Nannette and Linda are home, deeply saddened by the destruction they witnessed in Port-au-Prince. So many of our friends there have died. Others have lost everything. Convents, schools, and guest houses we brought groups to are gone. Sacré Coeur and the church at St. Rock are gone.
Check back tomorrow for news, as we are expecting patients to be airlifted in to the hospital. Also, be sure to check Ellen's Personal Blog, linked on the right of this page for more news.
