The State of the Lamp 2012

November 20, 2012 Featured, From the Medical Director

By James Morgan MD (from the Fall newsletter)

For most of my adult life, a common refrain that I have heard is “we are living in difficult times”. I suspect that throughout the ages, there has been a tendency to say that the current epoch is more difficult than the ones preceding it. And yet what often shapes our common knowledge of those eras is not so much the difficulties faced but the responses, the human responses, sometimes right on the mark but just as often a little off-center. Mother Teresa comes to mind as one who faced certainly overwhelming odds in addressing poverty. But rather than feel hopelessly paralyzed she put one foot in front of the other, and tirelessly cared for those that even the inanimate gutters of the dirt and cobblestone streets seemed to have rejected. She would go on to start an order of nuns providing care to the most marginalized persons of the globe. (She started two homes in Port-au-Prince which operate there fully today!)

The earthquake in Haiti, that furious and terrible 40 seconds, seconds of horror that would for some bring years of misery, was in January 2010, almost three years ago. The country in the immediate aftermath was a cracked shell of the shell it had been just before the tranbleman tè. It was, in a word, teetering. People living there and people all over the globe, people just like you who care about souls they have never met and never will meet, people who have families and jobs and debt, and parents who are aging and grandchildren who are sick, who themselves have health problems, these people – you are among them – reached out a hand and said “grab hold. I can help. I can’t do it all, but I can help.” And it is because of your solidarity, real and pragmatic and soulful, I am convinced, the country did not teeter over the edge into absolute despair. There is progress. I bet Mother Teresa would be proud of your path.

Lamp’s Health Center is now staffed with full time professionals and support personnel. Our primary and urgent care setting allows people to see one of our two physicians, Dr Jude Dorsainvil and Dr Barrère Hyppolite who provide respectful and quality healthcare. Our laboratory allows for testing for common diseases of poverty and the tropics, like malaria and typhoid, as well as basic serologies that serve to screen for illnesses such as diabetes and kidney disease. Our pharmacy has benefitted from donations from individuals and larger organizations, for example AmeriCares and Catholic Medical Mission Board, and allows our doctors to appropriately treat those conditions, and then to see the patient back in follow-up weeks or months later.

We are especially proud of our own Ms Moza Flaure Alcius, RN, who next month will complete a one year training program to become a nurse midwife. Lamp sponsored her enrollment in this excellent schooling, run by Midwives for Haiti, located in the country’s Central Plateau. Ms Flaure will be the driving force behind our women’s center, slated to launch January 2013. She is guided by Anjali Gupta, MD, a physician in New Jersey, as well as Board member Dr Dulaurier Jacques, a Haitian OB-Gyn physician.

We continue to provide our services, including medications and supplies and labs testing, at no cost to the patient. This is an issue that has been visited and revisited, and we always come to the same conclusion that people will not choose health care when they cannot buy food. Until the economic climate improves in Cite Soleil – the typical resident there gets by on about 50cents per day, in a country where one gallon of gas is about eight US dollars –we believe that we have no other option.

In what is certainly a good sign, we are growing out of our current space. The coming year will see us either expand locally or move to a nearby spot where we can build. When we do , of course we will maximize our use of local labor and skills as we are able.

These are difficult times, especially if one lives in a slum in Haiti, under a leaky tin roof. And yet this project, the work of the community and staff of Lamp, and of our supporters should give one pause for hope. Most of you reading this have heard at one time or another that Haiti has made no progress in these past three years. I disagree with that, at least in some arenas. (With regards to the public sector it is true that thousands of people are still living in ragtag tents today. However the Ministry of Health is a much stronger bureaucracy than it was before 2010, and has played a key role in helping to address major public health issues like cholera. There are certainly many other like examples. ) Many nongovernmental organizations like Lamp for Haiti, Partners in Health and St Damien’s hospital have made tremendous inroads.

At Lamp , as in each of our lives, we effect change where we stand. This model of quality care in one of the poorest slums on the planet, of showing compassion and solidarity by providing not just throwaways but quality, solid meaningful care, by and for Haitians, this is something of which we ought to be proud. Let’s celebrate that and keep up the effort. Thanks for your continued support and confidence in this important work.

School kits start the year off right.

October 24, 2012 From the Executive Director

Something that is very striking in Haiti is the hunger for education. When school ends for the day, the streets of the capital are filled with kids in their colorful uniforms. Education is rightly seen as a way to a better future, but parents struggle to pay the basic costs. The Lamp supports many children in local schools but this year we decided to extend our help a little further by providing school kits to each of the three schools that are near our clinic. It was a bright day for those kids and now they are ready to learn!

ENSLEY IS A FIRST

September 25, 2012 Featured, From the Executive Director

Ensley Jerome, the young man pictured here, was our first clinic patient to take advantage of our collaboration with the AmeriCares surgery program in Port-au-Prince. The Canapé Vert hospital is a long way from Cité Soleil but his mom was there to keep him comfortable and in the end he was a model patient. The doctors at Canapé Vert did a marvelous job and the hernia operation will allow him to grow and develop like any normal kid should. It’s all one could ask for.

BEING THERE FOR THE VULNERABLE

September 1, 2012 From the Executive Director

Hurricane Isaac over Haiti (NASA image)

Hurricane Isaac arrived in Port-au-Prince late at night on Friday, August 25th. I was as safe as could be, on the bottom floor of a two storey cement house but others were much more vulnerable. I had never been in a hurricane before: the sound of the wind was strange — wind simply shouldn’t sound like that. The violence contained in that sound was terribly unnerving. I could only imagine, with a sick feeling, the impact on the tens of thousands of people who still live in tent cities across Port-au-Prince.

Marc, who lives in this house, had received a phone call just before the main storm arrived: the roof had begun to lift off of the house where his wife and children were temporarily staying. He went off into the howling darkness with his little flashlight to help. There was very little rain at that point, the air and the house were full of dust. I could hear heavy objects falling all around the house and the sound of at least two tin roofs crinkling and tearing away from their supports. Near morning the wind lessened and the rain began.

The city seemed remarkably unchanged the next day although the sounds of people repairing their homes was everywhere. Fitting, I suppose; surviving crises is a necessary skill here in Haiti.

Marc came back to say that he had moved his family to a safer place. He had spent the night at the damaged house, comforting his kids. Everything in the house had been ruined by the wind and rain. He had rescued a neighborhood boy whom he found hanging from electrical cables, two storeys above the ground. The boy had been asleep in his bed when the wind blew the wall of his home away. His mattress was on the ground below him. On the way home, Marc passed two bodies, still not claimed by relatives.

News reports say that 19 people died in Haiti as a result of the storm but this is woeful under-reporting. The storm passed over the entire country. Only deaths that are reported to authorities are ever recorded.

On Monday, the clinic opened in Bwa Nèf as always, a real testimony to the quality and commitment of our staff. Thankfully the clinic itself was not damaged. Ms Astrude was trapped in the Dominican Republic, where she had gone to visit relatives. A bridge had washed away. But there was no question that each one’s personal stories and worries would have to wait until work was done. Ms Astrude even managed to turn up for a meeting later in the day.

Henry 30/8/2012

An Amazing Program is Launched — A Vehicle is Needed!

August 14, 2012 From the Executive Director

The Lamp is very pleased to announce that it has been accepted as a partner in an excellent new program by the large US nonprofit AmeriCares. It is a surgery and pediatric treatment program. A medical unit has been set up in a downtown Port-au-Prince hospital, and will provide minor surgery and treatment to clients on a no-cost basis. Our acceptance into the program means that we will be able to refer patients directly to the program. Surgeries that can be provided include hernia operations, appendectomies, removal of ovarian cysts and others. The program also offers treatment to children (and some adults) who are suffering from complications of malaria and typhoid, gastroenteritis and respiratory diseases. To be able to offer a range of surgery and treatment like this is an unprecedented thing, a marvelous gift to the residents of Bwa Nèf (our community). We are eager to take full advantage of these offerings!

But the program demands that we provide transportation for the patients. Some of the interventions require four or five visits to the hospital and we are only too aware that our ability to provide this transportation is very limited. Our current (single) vehicle is constantly in use and we simply must have a second vehicle to take full advantage of this program. We must, therefore, move ahead with the purchase of a Toyota ambulance, as pictured above. But it is an act of faith on our part; our finances are already stretched as far as they can go!

Meeting with AmeriCares staff (below)

Your contributions to the Lamp have always resulted in the most direct assistance possible; they will be doubly appreciated now! Please take the time to consider whether you are able to make a substantial contribution now. Thanks in advance for your consideration and support!

July 15, 2012 – An Interview with Benoit Florestal

July 16, 2012 From the Medical Director

July 15, 2012 – An Interview With Dr. Barrere Hyppolite

July 16, 2012 From the Medical Director

Training for Women’s Health — by Moza-Flaure Alcius

July 3, 2012 Featured, From the Executive Director

Training for Women’s Health: A New Experience

Moza-Flaure Alcius (in the turquoise scrubs) Lamp for Haiti nurse

[This is an article from our latest newsletter. Find all the newsletters under the News tab]

I worked for two years at the clinic in Bwa Nèf, Cité Soleil. In addition to my normal nursing duties I was in charge of a nutrition program that involves treating children, from 0 to 5 years old, who are suffering from malnutrition. Then, a few months ago, I was invited to participate in a training program for midwives. The program is an initiative of an organization called Midwives for Haiti and is located in Hinche, a three hour drive north of Port-au-Prince. It is a 10 month program and I jumped at the chance to gain a different kind of experience and acquire new knowledge about health.

As with the other successful candidates, I went through an interview process in November, and started the courses in mid-January. There are 16 students in the course, 14 women and 2 men, all with different backgrounds and experiences. They come from many different places in Haiti. The courses are not hard and are becoming more and more captivating. They are based on obstetrics and community health and are taught in Creole.

On some days we learn theory in class, and on other days we are given practical training at the hospital. The practical work in the hospital is very helpful; it allows us to encounter cases that we have not yet learned about, and later we discuss these cases in class. We also participate in mobile clinics that may go to very remote areas. In these areas pregnant women may easily die due to complications, because of the lack of health services. We saw one patient in her fifties who had already had several children. She said that she was in her fourth or fifth month of pregnancy, but when we examined her and gave her a pregnancy test, we discovered that she was not pregnant. When we explained that she was going through menopause, she did not want to believe us and said she would consult someone else, because she knew she was pregnant.

Experiences like this show us how much we can offer; being a midwife is no small affair. Women without means, whether in remote areas or in Cité Soleil, need care to ensure that they have a healthy pregnancy and childbirth. Pregnancy should not be a life-threatening affair because of a lack of care or lack of education. I am proud to take part in this program because it will permit me to do my part to reduce maternal mortality in Cité Soleil, to empower women to take control of their own childbearing, and to bring healthy babies into the world.

Thank you for your confidence and kindness!

July 2, 2012 Featured, From the Medical Director

On behalf of those whom we work with and for, a resounding Thank you! for your generosity in material, finances and spirit. We are making a difference.

Since the earthquake of January 2010, we have refocused our mission to prioritize that which provides direct patient care, and related services. In short we want to keep our strengths strong and we are doing just that.

Some accomplishments to highlight…

Nurse training

Ms Flaure, one of our top nurses, is presently receiving advanced training in Hinche about 37 miles north of Port-au-Prince in the country’s central plateau region. The program is run by an organization called Midwives for Haiti (http://www.midwivesforhaiti.org/). She will return to work for us in December and will manage the women’s program.

Expanded hours

While previously we were able to see patients three days per week, we now are open five. Under the direction of Dr Barrere Hyppolite and Mr. Benoit Florestal, the facility is operating in a manner consistent with our goal of being about Haiti, run by Haitians.

Laboratory

Our laboratory has been inspected by the Ministry of Health, and we passed with flying colors. We perform basic serologies, blood counts, blood and sputum smears (for malaria, TB and other tropical illnesses). Miss Aline, our certified lab techinician, keeps the lab in top shape.

Pharmacy Expansion

Our pharmacy provides medications to patients at no charge. Periodically we revisit the notion of patients paying a small stipend for the meds. The reality is that when patients need to pay, they forgo treatment. Most people get by on about 50 cents daily in the area where we work.

Leadership

Perhaps more than anything, the leadership now in Lamp for Haiti has taken a huge step forward. Dr Barrere Hyppolite and Mr Benoit Florestal together set the tone for professionalism as they work each day, often under extreme circumstances, to ensure that patients are receiving quality health care.

Partnerships

We have partnered with several organizations providing health care and related services in Haiti. Among them are Americares and Pure Water for the World. We provide logistics support at Cardinal Stepinac orphanage in Bon Repos, located about 30minutes outside of Port-au-Prince.

Tension in Cité Soleil — the Lamp shines on

April 19, 2012 From the Executive Director

I’ve just come back from two weeks at the clinic in Haiti and the topic on the top of my thoughts is security. The Lamp’s work goes on as always, the staff are ever-more impressive, the quality of care always improving, but there is little doubt that life and work in Bwa Nèf is becoming more and more risky.

I have always been very aware that the Lamp’s special significance is its willingness to work in an area that few would even dare to visit — but this trip made the reality come alive for me.

The Lamp for Haiti works in Bwa Nèf, a section of the sprawling slum of Cité Soleil. All of Cité Soleil is impoverished and to some degree dangerous, but Bwa Nèf has a reputation well below the norm. It is a place that is outside of any normal government concern — the residents must sink or swim on their own. The area is dominated by local gangs that threaten, harass and rob the residents, and demand “protection money” from local businesses. On the main roads they surround and rob passing cars, including even long distance buses with 60 passengers or more. Bwa Nèf has always been a risky place to work but it has been getting worse.

The week before I arrived, a gang in a neighboring area shot and killed the principal of a local school along with the head of a well-known radio station and two other people. Police response to this type of incident takes the form of armed forays into the residential areas in search of the guilty parties. Pitched gun battles are the result, with innocent bystanders the frequent victims of gunshot wounds. Gangs take the opportunity to commit robberies wherever they wish. In this instance, gang members stormed through Bwa Nèf, robbing residents with abandon, and burning at least two homes. Many people in the area responded by simply fleeing — staying away from Bwa Nef altogether until the situation had settled.

When I arrived I found that local gang members had increased their visits to our clinic, demanding money. I braced myself for a conversation with them but other things intervened, for good or ill. A couple of days after my arrival a group of policemen crashed into our clinic, pointing their guns at the staff and demanding to know if we had been treating any “bandits”. They were, it seemed, searching for a gang member they had wounded in a recent shoot-out. It is certain they would have shot him dead if he had been at the clinic that day. Ironically enough, their aggressive behavior scared the staff more than any gang member ever had.

A couple of days later two bodies were found on the main road, very near to the clinic, and gang activity died down in anticipation of local police action.

It is a hard neighborhood, there is no doubt. Our own hope is this: that we can continue to build our reputation in the area, for neutrality, community service, and genuine caring, to the point that all community members, even the gangs, view us as an integral part of the community. Something to be protected rather than attacked. Our many meetings with community leaders show us that we do have a tremendous amount of respect and support in the community. With their help, and with the inspiring commitment of our staff, we will push through the hard times, put down deeper roots and, together with the community itself, grow stronger.

Please note that your donations to the Lamp will directly support our activities in Bwa Nèf, Cité Soleil — a community that is as impoverished and deserving as any in the world. Your compassionate consideration is very much appreciated.