March 10, 2017
The Lamp for Haiti Health Center is located in a desperately poor neighborhood called Bwa Nef, a neighborhood within the enormous slum area called Cité Soleil (City of the Sun). People of this neighborhood are extremely appreciative of the services we provide but we know that hundreds of thousands of persons, in the neighborhoods surrounding the health center, are also in need of medical care. Any one of them could come to our health center and receive care, but they may not know about this possibility. Also, travel within Cité Soleil is dangerous, even for its residents. Rival gangs control the various neighborhoods. The Lamp’s mobile clinic program, therefore, answers (a very small part) of the tremendous need that surrounds us.
Last week the Lamp held a mobile clinic at a community organization that serves the nearby areas of Cité Lumière, and Twa Bebe (City of Light, and Three Babies). This organization, called Sakala, is a close partner of the Lamp; we have held several mobile clinics at its facilities. Three additional doctors were engaged for the day, including two pediatricians, and several support staff. It was a tiring and gratifying day, with over 230 people receiving consultations, lab tests and medicine.
Now, the Lamp is planning to expand its mobile clinic program. Our goal is to provide one mobile clinic per month, from a previous level of four per year. Happily enough, we have been given strong encouragement from the new Mayor of Cité Soleil, who has agreed to facilitate these mobile clinics in various locations throughout Cité Soleil. We hope that this collaboration will be a very fruitful one. The expansion will raise many practical difficulties for us, but the need is very great and we don’t wish to look the other way when our neighbors are suffering! This program is something that we can offer to the community at large and we want to take up that challenge!
