Supplies being delivered to Fond des Blancs from the USNS Comfort.
As we continue to focus on earthquake relief efforts that don't show any sign of diminishing in importance, I wanted to take a quick time out to reflect on what has happened and where we are going.
Obviously, the catastrophe of Jan. 12th will have a lasting effect on Haiti for decades to come, but the immediate needs are still very evident. As we drive around Port-Au-Prince, Leogane, Petit Goave these days, we see every single free space or public square is filled with makeshift camps of sheets and sticks. Rarely, do we see tents or tarps, and even more rarely do we see latrines or any semblance of sanitation.
People from Port-Au-Prince still continue to pour into Fond des Blancs as life in the capital becomes more difficult. The strain on the community's food resources is evident as an already hungry population is forced to come up with extra nourishment for refugees from the capital. School populations have increased astronomically as tarps are erected and classes are moved to new locations to compensate for the influx of new students. The hospital has also seen a large increase in the numbers of hospitalized patients, as we move towards filling the hallways (and perhaps soon a tent) with cots. Our outlying clinic in Villa, severely damaged in the quake, has been moved to a church hall next door and our team has started seeing patients again only two weeks after the destruction.
The people of Fond des Blancs and St. Boniface have proven to be extraordinarily resilient. Panic over aftershocks has died down and people have come together to start the long process of relief and renewal. The hospital staff has been dedicated to normal activities as well as the added task of receiving daily (and sometimes twice daily) helicopters from the USNS Comfort delivering difficult post-op cases. Many of these patients are paraplegics, as other hospitals in the country don't want the added burden of taking care of these people over the long haul. Our staff has already formed a team to be responsible for their physical rehab and through a partnership with Handicap International, Healing Hands for Haiti, the Clinton Foundation, and our generous donors we feel that we can provide the care that these patients need and deserve.
In the coming weeks, we expect to work on food distribution to the local population, come up with ways to get more refugee children placed in school, provide mobile primary care clinics in the refugee camps in Port-Au-Prince, receive severely malnourished children from the capital and Mother Theresa's home, and continue to receive helicopters carrying patients from the USNS Comfort. These are all short term activities that will help with relief; however we are also working with the local community to identify better ways to rebuild.
Even in the darkest hours here in Haiti, the people still have not given up hope. We thank you for your generous support for all that our team continues to do down here. We promise to continue to do everything possible to work in solidarity with the people of Fond des Blancs and the people of Haiti as we advance on the road of relief and recovery
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.
