Dear Friends –

I have been lucky enough to have met a local resident in Cité Soleil in the past few years with whom I have become friends. Alfred lives in the Bwa Nèf section, not far from the Lamp Health Center. A few years ago while living in another part of Haiti, his wife died. “Li te gen fyèv, le sa a mouri,” he recounted sadly to me one afternoon, describing the febrile illness that would take her. At the time she had no access to a doctor or medication.

Alfred is constantly smiling. He lives with this two children in a home constructed of wood cross beams, corrugated tin and rust on the outside, but love and patience and kindness on the inside.

Alfred earns a living by making wood burning stoves for cooking. He has a small workshop next to his home. If you visit, you know he’s there because you can hear the tink, tink, tink of his hammer and awl, pounding the sheets of metal from discarded barrels into rounded forms that will eventually form the finished product. I like to visit Alfred, to sit with him and chat about our families, and admire his craftsmanship. Despite his limited means, he continually and consistently shares what he has, dealing artfully with life’s challenges, and transforming others’ lives in the process.

And so it’s plain to see that sharing forms the cornerstone of this relationship, like sharing forms the cornerstone of any meaningful interaction. Sometimes sharing can be challenging to say the least. But consistent sharing, with vision and organization invariably leads to positive change. This notion is key to understanding why Lamp has been successful.

Lamp for Haiti is the result of a sharing vision in which you have decided to participate. I am guessing that your choice to continue on this journey has been edifying in ways you might not have initially expected. But because of your willful participation Alfred and thousands like him have a health center nearby where children living on the fringe of the economic fringe, are receiving quality health care.

Lamp has made great progress this past year because of an unwavering belief that when we pursue a noble goal — like providing quality healthcare for a community in dire need — and when we do so in an organized fashion with vision and commitment, positive change will invariably come. Maternal-child health, child nutrition, organized electronic records, ultrasound and x-ray. All these were thought impossible. A sharing spirit has made them a reality.

It’s good to have family with which to share at this time of year. Lamp’s efforts are reaching others effectively because of our commitment to this concept. We are helping to transform lives, and in so doing our own lives are changed too. Thanks again for being a part of this worthwhile project.

All the best to you and your own family this season and in the coming year,

James Morgan MD
Founder and Chair of the Board
jmorgan@lampforhaiti.org

We do need your continued commitment!

To make a year-end donation, click on the yellow Donate button
or send your check to Lamp for Haiti, P.O. Box 39703, Philadelphia, PA 19106

Thank You!

The Women’s Health Clinic is one of the Lamp’s most valuable programs. In the past, women in this low-income community did not have an option for affordable care, so that prenatal check-ups, for example, were virtually unheard of. The majority of women also gave birth at home, in highly unhygienic conditions, due to the costs of delivery at a hospital. Complications in delivery resulted in many deaths. In Haiti, in general, 1 in 83 mothers die in childbirth (lifetime) and this number is higher in low income areas such as Cité Soleil.
The Lamp recognized immediately that services for women were a critical need, so that the Women’s Health Clinic has been a feature of the Lamp’s services since its earliest days. But the Women’s Clinic has grown dramatically over time. We expect to provide at least 450 mothers-to-be (and new mothers!) with regular check-ups in 2018.
Lamp services have also increased over time. This year we added ultrasound capability and also decided to include both delivery kits and infant kits in our regular service package. The kits have proven to be more than popular. They a great way to encourage expectant mothers to come in for regular check-ups since we only give kits to those that have come at least three times.
The area remains one of extreme poverty and many births still take place in homes, but the Lamp’s Women’s Clinic has become a well-loved community institution where women can expect to find professional care and genuine concern for their families’ health.
In 2018 we will be initiating a training program for community birth assistants, to reduce the risks of home births. Please stay tuned!

A satisfied doctor (and mom!)

An expectant mom visits the clinic

Dr. Severe examines a patient

A major building project was completed this quarter, namely a 150 yard drainage canal that will drain mosquito infested standing water and reduce flooding in the neighborhood adjacent to the Lamp for Haiti Health Center.  The project will have tremendous benefits for all of the families along its path.  Even more importantly, perhaps, the canal was built entirely with local labor.  As of August 30^th, the Lamp has spent approximately $17,000 on labor costs alone, here in Bwa Nèf, in 2017.  This is an enormous infusion of earnings for the community.  Projects have included the canal, a “peace garden” adjacent to the clinic, and renovations of the public toilets and the main clinic building.  For a massively underemployed population, this is one of the most significant side benefits of having the Lamp health center in the midst of the community.  The dual impact of these projects mean that this is money doubly well spent.  The Lamp is building community in more ways than one.

For other stories from the latest newsletter, click here!

In Bwa Nèf, home of the Lamp Health Center, malnutrition is a serious and ever-present threat to child health and long term development.  The Lamp’s child nutrition program provides peanut-butter based therapeutic foods and other health services to severely malnourished children aged 6 months to five years old.

In the past, severely malnourished children who came to the clinic were placed into the nutrition program by the attending doctor, and the Lamp also conducted assessments in local schools.

But this year the number of children in the program has exploded to more than four times the level of previous years.  One hundred and thirty five children were added to the program in the last six months alone.  The reason for this is simple: this year marked the first time in which the Lamp has employed Community Health Workers to visit each home in the surrounding community.  The CHWs, who make health needs assessments for each family, ended up discovering a great many children who were suffering from malnutrition.  This was heartbreaking in one sense, but worth celebrating in another because, right now, about 40 of those children are back to a healthy weight and the others are steadily putting on the pounds.

The combination of outreach, through the CHW program, and child nutrition services have resulted in an incalculable benefit to the community.

The program costs the Lamp approximately $75 per child.  If any reader would like to consider organizing a fundraiser for this program, please contact the Lamp at admin@lampforhaiti.org or call at (267) 499-0516!

Richanda at start of program

Richanda half-way through program

Receiving packets of therapeutic food

Ms Alissage, the nurse that manages the child nutrition program

As reported last year, Abington Hospital near Philadelphia contributed an ultrasound unit to the Lamp. We can now report, with utmost pleasure, that the ultrasound machine has been in full use for many months. Transporting the unit to Haiti was far from an easy task. Shipping it would have incurred a tremendous customs fee, so it was dismantled and carried over, piece by piece, in personal baggage. Happily enough, we were also able to re-assemble it on the other side! While waiting for all of the pieces to arrive, our staff took courses on advanced imaging interpretation and were able to put the unit to use the same day that it was assembled. We had often asked clients at the women’s health clinic about their satisfaction with our services and the word had always come back loud and clear: please add ultrasound! Well, the satisfaction meter has taken a terrific swing upwards. The ultrasound adds a very substantial capacity to improve care for expectant mothers and many other patients, male and female. A key tool has been added to the Lamp’s diagnostic toolbox.

Lamp founder Dr. James Morgan and his wife Dr. Ellen Cunningham put out the word that the Lamp’s Spring Campaign is underway. The campaign highlights the fact that 45% of patients at the Lamp’s Health Center in Cite Soleil, Haiti, are children. To learn more about the campaign, click here!

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!

Dr. Severe in the Women’s Clinic

For those readers who may not know the details, The Lamp Foundation (Lamp for Haiti) operates a full service, permanent, health center in Cité Soleil, which is a huge shantytown on the edge of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  It is a primary and urgent care center which boasts an all-Haitian staff of 10, including two doctors.  All who come are received!  Patients receive a consultation with a doctor, lab tests, and medicine.  Special services include a women’s clinic (which recently received an ultrasound machine!), a child nutrition program, EKG and X-ray.

 
Your donation will go directly to the clinic.  It is a critical life-affirming institution in a desperately poor community.

Happy Giving Day(s)!

Note, by the way, that Facebook users have a special way to support the Lamp this season.  Starting November 29th, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match donations to any Facebook fundraiser up to $1000, and Facebook is waiving all fees.  The Gates Foundation match stays into effect until December 31 but only until their contribution (1M) runs out, so if you are willing to take the next step, consider starting one now!  All donations can be doubled!

(Select The Lamp Foundation in Philadelphia, PA as your charity).

Thanks, everyone!