Conor Shapiro meets with Handicap International and Healing Hands for Haiti
Patient arriving from U.S.N.S. Comfort for care in Fond des Blancs.
After meeting in Port-Au-Prince yesterday with Handicap International and Healing Hands for Haiti, we were able to establish a partnership to offer necessary services and care to the quadriplegic and paraplegic patients that we are receiving from the Comfort. Since we are the only hospital in Haiti that has agreed to accept these patients from the ship, we have already received 7 patients paralyzed by the Jan. 12th earthquake.
Healing Hands for Haiti is based in Port-Au-Prince and has years of experience working with the Haitian population. However, the earthquake destroyed their facility and now they are looking to help other organizations to help take care of those affected by the disaster. A team of American and Haitian volunteers will come to Fond des Blancs this Tuesday to train our staff, patients, and family members on how to care for our quadriplegic and paraplegic patients. With helicopters arriving at St. Boniface from the Comfort almost daily with new patients, we couldn't be happier to start this partnership to offer our patients the care that they need and deserve.
By Marie Nancy Seraphin, MPH - Monitoring & Evaluation Officer
Throughout a two week evaluation, we were able to access the program's efficacy in the field. We also got a unique perspective on St. Boniface's other programs and services in the 16 communities we visited.
We are distributing food in 42 different communities in Fond des Blancs and Villa, and have reached 7000 young children and 4000 pregnant and lactating women - 11,000 people.
This week, people have transferred from their beds to their chairs, learned liberating self-care techniques creating a renewed sense of independence, and some have even taken their first few steps.
