Thank you from Haiti
You make a difference
Your support for the work of Haiti Foundation of Hope makes a difference.
The building in the background is the tuberculosis treatment center that is under construction.
Your support for the work of Haiti Foundation of Hope makes a difference.
The building in the background is the tuberculosis treatment center that is under construction.
Haiti Foundation of Hope has had a lot of experience with disaster relief in Haiti over the past 15 years.
There were large floods in the Gonaives area in 2004 and 2008. Both of them caused loss of life and destruction.
There was the major earthquake in Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010.
Then there was the cholera epidemic in November 2011.
HFH was there for each of these disasters, working hand-in-hand with our in-country partners.
The most recent earthquake off the coast of northern Haiti on October 6 was another disaster. The damage and casualties were not as severe as other events but it still caused death and destruction.
With each of these situations, our work starts with an immediate response. We assist in-country partners help those who are affected. Often this is urgent medical care or food in the first few weeks after the disaster. But the work doesn’t stop there. We are involved in the recovery process as well. We provide on-going support as people rebuild health, homes and communities.
Home partially collapsed in October 6 earthquake
Thank you for your support. It has enabled our in-country partners to care for the people in northern Haiti who were impacted by the recent earthquake!
Patients were seen in the Clinic of Hope within 24 hours of the earthquake! This was possible because the Clinic of Hope is staffed by Haitian professionals on a daily basis and they were in place to provide immediate care to those in need. There was no need to wait for outside medical professionals to travel to the region.
The 50 community health volunteers who live and work in the surrounding villages are a resource for their neighbors, especially during disasters. Many of the community health volunteers experienced damage to their homes but continued to reach out to their neighbors.
One of those neighbors is Mme Cetoute. She requires constant medical care and the community health volunteers visit her on occasion. She has no income and little family to help her.
Her home almost completed collapsed in the earthquake. Our in-country partners and the community health volunteers are working with her to provide immediate care and long-term assistance.
With your continued support and involvement there is HOPE in the area of Terre Blanche. When disasters suddenly appear, HFH and our in-country partners will be there!
By Dr. Joe Markee, HFH board member.
Works begins on the new tuberculosis treatment center.
This is a story of partnerships. Haitians in Terre Blanche recognized a serious health problem in their community: tuberculosis. They received a grant from Medical Teams International, assistance from the Haitian Ministry of Health, and ongoing help from Haiti Foundation of Hope and its donors. These partnerships resulted in a valuable program located in this rural area, which means people can get care in their own community for this major health problem.
Several years ago a young mother and her three-year-old daughter came to the Clinic of Hope in Terre Blanche with the same complaints of weakness, fever and weight loss. The mother was infected with AIDS and tuberculosis (TB). Her three-year-old daughter did not have AIDS but had an advanced case of TB with a pneumothorax (collapse of one of her lungs).
Because of cases like these, the community health volunteers in Terre Blanche saw the need to seek out patients in the community who might be infected with both AIDS and TB. Studies show that 50 percent of patients with AIDS are also infected with TB.
In 2013, the community health volunteers identified TB as one of their top three health priorities. In that same year they received a three-year grant from Medical Teams International to assist the volunteers and the Clinic of Hope in the teaching and training for this project.
Patients diagnosed with TB were quickly referred to treatment centers in other communities since Terre Blanche did not have a TB treatment center. However, this required patients to travel long distances to get the necessary treatment.
In 2016, three patients with a history of TB were interviewed about their experience with the disease. One man described a prolonged cough and weakness and spending a great deal of money on a witch doctor’s remedies – without improvement. A community health volunteer convinced him to come to the Clinic of Hope where he was provided transportation to a treatment center.
All three struggled to afford transportation costs to get tested and treated and would have found it easier to complete treatment if it was available in Terre Blanche. They also described feeling isolated from family and neighbors.
Due to the excellent work and reputation of the Clinic of Hope, in 2016, the Haitian Ministry of Health approached the clinic and offered to place a TB program in the clinic along with the existing AIDS clinic. The ministry felt it was imperative to start immediately and provided both professional personnel and medication. However, the ministry noted that the clinic did not have the full facility requirement for TB services and asked that an appropriate lab and consultation building be built to isolate the TB patients.
In May 2018, after architectural drawings for a lab and a consultation building were made, the board of Haiti Foundation of Hope committed to build when the money was raised. The project cost was $80,000 and the board began to pray about how to raise the needed funds. In July, while still in the praying and planning stage, two anonymous donors provided over $73,000 for this project! Within the next several months additional donors made commitments to provide the remainder of the funds by the end of the year. God provided as we prayed!
Ground breaking for the new TB treatment center was on September 1, 2018. A volunteer medical team will be in Haiti this November and we expect a building dedication to take place. What a celebration!
We are grateful to all of our partners who enable the Clinic of Hope to provide a safe and well-built facility for the diagnosis and treatment of TB in the community. We give all praise to God who provides so well for His work here on earth and especially the area of Terre Blanche. Bon Dye bon! (God is good!)
How to Help
The TB building is funded but there is opportunity for you to be involved. The community health volunteers and clinic staff are vital to this program. They provide education, identification and support to those in their community who suffer from TB.
Patients describe feeling isolated while they are undergoing treatment but the relationships of the community health volunteers and clinic staff offer them support, hope and encouragement to complete their treatment. The volunteers also continue to educate and bring awareness to the rest of the community so there is less fear surrounding TB.
Community health volunteers are volunteers but there are costs for ongoing training, home visits and patient transportation. The clinic staff are paid positions funded by Haiti Foundation of Hope.
Would you consider monthly support or a one-time gift for these important workers?
A woman, supported by community members, stands in the midst of her collapsed home in Gros-Morne.
We’ve been learning more about the damage caused by last Saturday’s earthquake. The 5.9-quake struck near Port-de-Paix, on the northwest coast of Haiti, less than 50 miles from Terre Blanche. The tremors were felt throughout the region.
In Gros-Morne, a 30-minute drive from Terre Blanche, damage was reported in the news. Specifically, we learned that for one patient of the Clinic of Hope, her house collapsed. This patient was recovering from an illness related to her heart and had been at the Clinic earlier in the week. Volunteers have provided her and her family with food.
We know of a woman in Terre Blanche whose house collapsed. Her son is a faithful worker with the volunteer medical teams.
For another man who works at the school and with the visiting medical teams, his house in the nearby community of Finel collapsed as well. He and his children are sleeping outside since they have nowhere else to go.
Damage is also reported in another nearby community called Labranle.
The school buildings in Terre Blanche and Dubedou as well as the staff housing at the Clinic of Hope are in need of repairs following the earthquake. Some of the clinic staff are sleeping outdoors because they are afraid to sleep inside since the earthquake.
Community Health Program volunteers meet to discuss the recent earthquake and other concerns.
At the recent meeting with the Community Health Program volunteers, we learned that some of their homes had collapsed walls and most of the volunteers had big cracks in their house walls.
Beyond the physical damage caused the earthquake is the emotional fear and panic it has created. In 2010, Haiti was struck by a powerful earthquake that destroyed home and killed thousands of people. Tremors, cracks in walls, and collapsed homes bring reminders of the potential damage and loss caused by earthquakes.
Please continue to pray for Haiti and those rebuilding homes since the recent earthquake.
If you would like to help, Haiti Foundation of Hope has an ongoing presence in northern Haiti. We support ongoing medical care and food distribution, among other projects. Donations of any amount will help those in need.
The March Haiti Foundation of Hope team led by new leader Katie Thom, another HFH board member.
Haiti Foundation of Hope sends four medical teams to Haiti each year. A typical team is made up of about 16 members with half of those being medical professionals and the other half being support personnel.
From a leadership perspective, preparing for a team is a task few are aware of because most of the tasks are completed behind the scenes. Haiti Foundation of Hope has led more than 50 teams to Haiti so many of the details have been smoothed out. To the credit of Haiti Foundation of Hope’s founders, Joe and Linda Markee, team members can board the plane from all parts of the country and expect to arrive in Terre Blanche 24 hours later, tired but ready to start a fully planned week of work.
Several board members are beginning a new chapter as volunteers by stepping into “team leader” roles. Joe and Linda will continue to travel with the teams but others are beginning to assume more of the team leader responsibilities. Developing other leaders is at the core of growing a sustainable organization. We are excited about expanding the team leadership roles so that we can continue our work in Haiti.
By Dave Zollner, HFH board member and March 2019 co-team leader
Translators and medical staff at the Clinic of Hope.
The months of May and June are full of days to share gratitude for many influential people in our lives: Mother’s Day, Nurses Week, Teacher Appreciation Week, Memorial Day and Father’s Day to name just a few.
As I have been reflecting on how much growth has happened in Terre Blanche the past few years, I was struck by the reality that none of it would be possible without our translators. Besides their primary role of translating for our providers and patients, which is no easy task in a rural clinic, they help us build relationships with the staff at the Clinic of Hope, community health workers, teachers, and support staff.
They explain cultural nuances and share with us the realities of living in Haiti. They partner with us in being the hands and feet of Jesus in Terre Blanche, lovingly caring for those seeking Hope. I am so grateful for their friendships and inspired by their servant hearts. Thank you, translators!
* According to a Google search, International Translation Day is September 30. I’m marking it on my calendar!
By Katie Thom, HFH board member
During the recent Haiti Foundation of Hope medical team, three ophthalmologists were at the Clinic of Hope. Patients were screened for cataracts and glaucoma.
On March 9, Dr. Pierre-Yves Decastro, a Haitian ophthalmologist from Port-au-Prince, came to perform cataract surgeries. Ten patients had successful surgery – the gift of sight.
Haiti Foundation of Hope is thankful for the partnership with Dr. Decastro. In the four years he has come to Terre Blanche, 45 people have had this sight-giving surgery. Another surgery date is scheduled for 2019.
Sitting along a cinder block wall in the shade of a tree near the school in Terre Blanche, Etienne reminisces about being a student there.
Now 24 years old, Etienne attends an engineering school in the nearby city of Gonaives, where he focuses on learning construction skills such as plumbing and electricity.
But his education started in Terre Blanche. At the time, he lived with his aunt, uncle and four cousins in Gonaives. That meant he had to travel to Terre Blanche – about 30 minutes each way – to attend school. He would pay for a tap-tap (Haitian bus) or motorcycle taxi each day. On the days when he didn’t have money, he would walk, stopping to rest along the way when it was too hot.
Etienne remembers teachers helping him learn French and writing. His favorite classes were English and French. He remembers playing soccer with friends and eating rice for lunch in the cafeteria.
Today, there is a new cafeteria at the school. Etienne, no longer a student when it was built, was on the construction crew. And that wasn’t the first time he saw construction at the school. While he was a student, he saw the Clinic of Hope being built. He also saw the secondary school building being constructed. These are all part of the reason he decided to go into engineering.
Giving back to the community was the example Etienne’s aunt, Silia, provided for him. She is a community health volunteer in Terre Blanche and the surrounding area and now works at the Clinic of Hope. He saw her volunteer selflessly for three years before she became a leader in the program.
Etienne still lives with his aunt and sometimes helps his younger cousins with their school work.
If he could tell today’s students one thing, it would be to keep the school challenging. “Every day work hard and they can find the key to happiness,” he said.
At the beginning of this year, the community health leaders in Terre Blanche and the surrounding areas started a new project to target sexually transmitted infections and high blood pressure. These two issues have come into focus based on numbers of cases and the impact on the community.
More than 3,000 patients come to the Clinic of Hope each year for high blood pressure. A health survey conducted in 2013 revealed that about half of the people in the community had never had their blood pressure checked, and more than half of them had high blood pressure. High blood pressure can lead to strokes, which are devastating for people no matter where they live but especially where resources are limited. The Clinic of Hope records nearly 5,000 cases of sexually transmitted infections each year.
Building on the success of the past eight years, the community health volunteers and supervisors decided to use home visits for blood pressure education, screening and monitoring. They are also using home visits for behavior change support to prevent sexually transmitted infections and provide education on when to get treatment.
The community health volunteers are a key link between the community and the clinic, making referrals and following up on patients. In the first six months of this new education plan, the volunteers conducted 36 community gatherings for education on sexually transmitted infections, making dozens of home visits to refer cases. They also monitored the blood pressure of 200 community members and referred 60 people for treatment.
The community health volunteers continue their other programs, including many to promote healthy mothers and children: diarrhea prevention (handwashing, breastfeeding, clean water), safe motherhood (refresher training for traditional midwives, education about danger signs), HIV prevention and treatment, tuberculosis monitoring and referral, nutrition tracking, and the treatment of malnutrition.
Earlier this year, a celebration was held to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Clinic of Hope. The clinic has been providing medical care for patients for the past decade and the numbers say it all:
Would you consider making a donation to support the ongoing work at the Clinic of Hope? Any amount makes a difference and you can donate online.
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