Villa Clinic Continues to Provide Vital Health Services in Converted Depot/Tent
Patients being seen in a tent in Villa
On Jan. 12th, St. Boniface's PEPFAR NPI-sponsored clinic in Villa was structurally damaged beyond repair. Despite the lack of adequate facilities in the village to house the primary care clinic, our staff immediately identified a church depot to continue providing services to the community. St. Boniface's facilities team quickly moved batteries and a generator and soon patients were coming for treatment. Those needing more specialized care are referred by the clinical staff in Villa and brought by ambulance to St. Boniface Hospital in Fond des Blancs.
Thanks to our friends on the USNS Comfort, tents were delivered by Navy helicopter to Fond des Blancs and brought by ambulance to Villa. The tents currently house our out-patient consultations and voluntary counseling and testing for HIV (VCT). The pharmacy, lab, and overnight observation room are operating out of the converted depot.
We never foresaw the events of Jan. 12th, but our team in Villa has shown enormous courage and determination despite the adversity they continue to face. Despite the setbacks following the quake, St. Boniface is still on track to meet its annual objectives for VCT under PEPFAR's NPI initiative. More importantly patients are still able to access primary care and plans continue to move forward to build Villa back better.
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.
