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Determined to Reach the Most Remote Communities

With a white ambulance to one side, a man in blue T-shirt and cap leads a mule loaded with supplies and carrying a woman in blue T-shirt. Local residents look on, smiling.

In the year following the devastating August 14, 2021 earthquake, HEI/SBH fielded five mobile clinic teams across Haiti’s southern peninsula and supported four damaged health facilities.

The slideshow below tells the story of one of these teams on one day in March 2022.

This mobile clinic team, based in the small town of Petit Trou de Nippes, was scheduled to provide care in the remote mountain community of Nan Paul, just miles from the epicenter of the deadly 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Knowing that the vast majority of rural residents cannot afford to travel to a health center, the mobile clinic team was determined to bring health care to them. And thanks to the generosity and partnership of community members, they were successful in their mission.

A white 4x4 vehicle marked “ambulance” is parked at the bottom of a steep, rocky hill while 2 men in blue T-shirts shift boulders.

After driving an hour from the town of Petit Trou de Nippes, our mobile clinic team finds that their four-wheel-drive vehicle cannot go any farther.

On a dirt/gravel road, 6 Haitians in bright blue HEI T-shirts and caps unload cardboard boxes of supplies from a white 4x4.

The team works together to repack medications and other supplies.

2 Haitian women in blue HEI T-shirts and caps lift a woven straw pannier onto a mule standing at the side of the road.

They load the supplies onto mules generously provided by local residents.

With a white ambulance to one side, a man in blue T-shirt and cap leads a mule loaded with supplies and carrying a woman in blue T-shirt. Local residents look on, smiling.

Leaving their vehicle behind, the team continues on foot and by mule toward the community of Nan Paul.

View of a small group on a narrow, rocky road with hills in the background. The group includes a man holding up a megaphone, a woman riding a mule, and a young woman and small girl on foot.

One of the community health workers uses a megaphone to let people know who the team is and why they are in the area.

6 Haitians in blue HEI T-shirts & caps and 2 loaded mules hike up a rocky road with a view of mountains, sky, and clouds.

The team hikes for an hour.

A group of Haitians in blue HEI T-shirts and caps, along with a small girl in pink and two loaded mules, reach the top of a rocky hill under blue sky.

As our Mobile Clinic Director explained, “The objective of the project was to provide healthcare to the most vulnerable, including victims of the earthquake. We make healthcare accessible to the population by bringing it to them.”

9 Haitians in blue HEI T-shirts and caps pose, smiling, with a sign that says, “Restoring Basic Primary Health Services in Post-Earthquake Haiti.”

The team includes doctors, nurses, nurse aides, and community health workers, ready to provide both primary care and education.

Alt: A large number of Haitian men, women, and children wait in the shade of a corrugated tin roof held up by rough-hewn wooden posts.

A large crowd has been waiting patiently. Local community leaders worked with our team to organize the mobile clinic, and they made sure people knew where and when to come.

At a wooden table in the shade, a woman in HEI T-shirt and cap talks with a boy wearing a plaid shirt and jeans and his mother, who wears orange.

One third of the patients seen at our mobile clinics from August 2021 to June 2022 were children. “I’m proud we were able to help people in a difficult situation,” said Clinic Director Dr. Elie Saintilien.

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