In response to the urgent need for medical care after the earthquake, St. Boniface Hospital has been receiving post-operative patients from the USNS Comfort.  Helicopters are bringing these patients to us several times a week.  Many of these patients are paraplegics and quadraplegics, and there are very few facilities in Haiti that can receive them.

This is a new direction for us.  Our staff is committed to providing the best care possible which means we have been busy developing contacts and asking for support and assistance from those who are experts in this area.  Through contact with Handicap International, a team from Healing Hands for Haiti  visited Fond des Blancs this week to provide our clinical staff with training.

Two American nurses specializing in rehabilitation, and two Haitian physical therapists gave courses and demonstrations on various care techniques from transferring patients, fitting crutches, crutch and wheelchair use techniques, and massage.  More importantly, they shared the insight and wisdom they have gained from several years of working with handicapped people in Haiti, and provided encouragement and hope to our staff and patients.

Thank you so much Djonny, Susan, Gail and Michäel!  We look forward to a continuing partnership with Healing Hands.

And also a big thank you to our donors for making this new direction possible.

See more photos of Healing Hand's visit here.