Haiti Outreach Program’s Medical Aid History: 2000-2008

In December 2000, the Haiti Outreach Program’s medical support efforts began when a small group of doctors, nurses, and laypeople travelled a grueling 5-1/2 hours into the mountains of Haiti's Central Plateau to a dusty village, Chambo, in the parish of Boucan-Carré. We set up a makeshift clinic in the local school seeing over 500 patients in about one week. While there, we treated severe malnutrition, dehydration, and serious life threatening infections. We also vaccinated the population against childhood diseases and taught hygiene. The community lacked all infrastructure necessary to sustain healthy life. There was no food, potable water or health care. As time for our group to leave approached, it was painfully clear that more had to be done to alleviate the suffering and misery of the majority of people in this remote region.

Our group hired a full time nurse and established the first and only health care facility in Boucan-Carré, the St. Michel Clinic. The number of patients seen at the clinic increased quickly, making access to needed medical supplies and pharmaceuticals a challenge to manage from 1200 miles away in Knoxville, Tennessee, where our group is based. Over the next two years, we visited the clinic three or more times and brought, bought or sent supplies every chance we could get. We hired two additional nurses and a Haitian doctor to work 6 days a week.

In 2003, an international public health organization founded by Dr. Paul Farmer learned of our clinic in Boucan-Carré. That organization, Partners in Health (or Zhanmi-Lasante in Creole), operates a hospital about 40 miles away in a small shanty town, Cange. After negotiations between Partners in Health (PIH), the Haitian Department of Ministry, and Haiti Outreach Program, it was decided to operate the clinic jointly. The joint venture with PIH has enabled the St. Michel Clinic to acquire the necessary medicines and qualified personnel to expand its services each year. The collaborative effort of PIH and the medical and dental teams sponsored by the Haiti Outreach Program have brought dental care, optometry, ophthalmology, and the first surgery (including general, eye and gynecological surgery) to the region.

In 2003 and 2004, we raised funds at our Hope for Haiti Medical Mission Banquets that enabled us to enlarge the St. Michel clinic to include a 20,000 sq. ft. hospital. The hospital operating room was outfitted with funds raised by the 2005 Medical Mission Banquet. In 2006, we raised funds to build an additional 5,000 sq. ft. unit to house and separate HIV/TB patients from the general inpatients. The fundraiser of 2007 provided funds for ongoing operations and mobile clinics to reach out to those who could not travel to the clinic. Our goal for 2008 is to provide funds to build additional space for staff and patient registration and to acquire an ambulance for transport of the sickest patients to the hospital in Cange.

Today, the St. Michel Clinic functions as a mini hospital and is the primary source of health care for a desolate region of over 50,000 indigent Haitians. The clinic is equipped with ultrasound, a laboratory, X-ray equipment and an operating room. The clinic treats over 300 patients a day and maintains a daily inpatient census of 20 to 30 patients. Services include medicine, pediatrics, and caesarean section deliveries. Community health workers travel to all reaches of the area to see and educate patients about how to prevent and treat illnesses such as HIV, malnutrition, TB, and dehydration. The Haiti Outreach Program and Partners in Health operate a malnutrition program at the St. Michel Clinic and other sites. Currently, the malnutrition program is administered by Jordan Pyda, of Knoxville, who is a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University, planning to attend medical school.

Since 2003, the Haiti Outreach Program has sponsored 10 medical missions to Haiti and the surrounding area. All donations to the St. Michel Clinic are matched dollar for dollar by Partners in Health. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation, please click here.

Nonmedical personnel are also needed as support personnel, youth chaperones, and workers to assist in building, reforestation and clean water programs. If you have an interest in the trip of a lifetime, please click here to contact us about volunteering.