Family and Friends,
Day 106 of our Haiti Adventure!
We thought it would be nice to post something about the medical ministries offered here in Ti-Rivier, Haiti. Most of the care is through the local clinic, which operates under the leadership of FAMA, an organization based in Connecticut. Personally our family only helps in small ways from time to time with medical programs, so we thought the best way to gather this information would be to interview people who are more involved with the day-to-day work and the oversight of the clinic. Below you will find some brief biographical information of the people I had a chance to interview as well as the interview itself. As a side note, all three of these individuals are between 55 and 60 years old, so they are also good examples of having a vision from God to serve people “later” in life, just like Richard (see post “Richard” to read more on this topic).
Sue Houck- Sue is Mission Haiti's full-time nurse. She comes from Sioux Falls where she worked for North Central Heart Institute for the last 19 years. Previously she worked at Sioux Valley for 14 years. Sue has been working in Haiti on short-term teams since 2004, and has been coming for extended periods since 2007. Her current plan is to work here indefinitely, returning to the States for short visits a few times each year.
Adrien Alexandre- Adrien is the administrator of the local clinic. Born in Haiti, as a child he immigrated with his family to the US, where he lived for 28 years and became a US citizen. He served in the Marine Corp in Vietnam from 1970-72. He later worked as a emergency room technician in St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. Adrien returned to Haiti in 1988 and has lived and worked in Ti-Rivier since 2003. I hope to share his story in more depth in the future. He is a great guy and very helpful to our family and with everything Mission Haiti does.
Crizauld Francois- Crizauld was born in Ti-Rivier, Haiti, and lived here his entire childhood. He has lived in the US for the past 30 years and also became a US citizen. His background is in computer science and information systems. Previously he worked for the Bristol-Myers-Squibb pharmaceutical company, but now he does consulting and project management. Crizauld began the clinic in Ti-Rivier in 2001 and opened the doors in 2002. He is the president of the board for FAMA (Famille Amour en Action, or “Family Love in Action”), the non-profit organization that sponsors the local clinic.
CORY: What medical services are currently offered by the local clinic with the support of FAMA and Mission Haiti?
SUE: We offer a nurse on site at all times (me), and we give out medications to the people who need it. We also do consultations with patients to help them know what other care they might need. To some extent we offer emergency treatment such as stitching, etc... We also do blood-pressure clinics and classes for mothers to cover the period between pregnancy and the child reaching two years old. Occasionally teams come from the US to do outreach clinics in the mountains and the community. Adrien and I also do home visits as time permits. Lately we have spent a lot of time taking people to the city to get surgery, and Mission Haiti pays for most of those procedures.
CRIZAULD- We offer free medical services to all school-aged children. We have some lab equipment and a space to use it at the clinic, and we are sponsoring a student in University who plans to work for us when she is finished. We bring in a doctor and a dentist once a week on Friday mornings. Future projects include a sewing room which will provide jobs and an artesian well to offer better water to the community.
ADRIEN: Right now we are somewhat limited by the building we are using, which is actually a rented house. We hope to one day have our own specialized building for the clinic where we could continue to improve and expand the services we are offering.
CORY: How has the medical work changed throughout the years the three of you have been caring for patients in Ti-Rivier?
ADRIEN: When we began we were seeing 50 to 80 people per month. Now we are seeing 250-300 people per month. In the past people who were sick would rarely come to the clinic because of the expense. Now that we have managed to lower the cost we are seeing more people, and they are coming in earlier and getting help before they are too sick.
SUE: We are seeing more people now and more serious cases. Most people know about the services we offer at the clinic now, and they only pay $5 Haitian (63 cents US) to be seen, and their medications are free after that. Now we have a better facility, scheduled hours, and more medications, so we can do so much more than when we first started. There are also more medical people coming on teams than there used to be.
CRIZAULD: When the clinic was first opened, the basic services we offered were blood-pressure checks and simple medications. We did not have well-trained or specialized staff of any kind. Over the years we have been able to offer more services. With the help of medical missions, we sometimes get missionaries to come with various specialties. One example is a cardiologist who occasionally visits. With Sue and Adrien's help we are able to make everything more affordable. Both of them do everything on a volunteer basis.
CORY: What are some of the greatest joys of doing medical work in Haiti? What are some of the biggest challenges and frustrations you face?
SUE: It is always a joy to help the kids and see them better after they have been sick. The people often say “Thank you” by giving me fruits and vegetables, and the medical help we offer meets a real need in the community. It is frustrating that we don't have the facilities to do more here such as lab work, x-rays, and other things we have to go to the city so often to accomplish. Sometimes it is difficult to discern who comes to the clinic to really get help and who just wants a handout.
CRIZAULD: The biggest joy is to help someone, from infant to child to adult, to be able to go back to their everyday life healthy. The biggest challenge is the level of poverty, which sometimes leads to procrastination in seeking medical treatment. Also, the walking distance is so far for some people. Just today a 70-year old woman walked 2 ½ hours to the clinic, and of course afterward she had to walk home. Also, we would like to be able to pay the staff at a more competitive level and to be able to help with their continuing education so they can keep up with the ever-changing medical field. Another frustration in doing medical work in Haiti is with the lack of availability and also the lack of regulation of pharmaceutical drugs in the country.
ADRIEN: The biggest joy of doing this work is knowing that you can truly help someone. I also feel very good when people come from surrounding communities, even ones with clinics, to see us because they trust our services and we give them the medications they need. The greatest frustration is when you know what a patient needs, but they refuse to follow through with the instructions you give them. We are always telling people with high blood-pressure, which is rampant in Haiti, to stop drinking so much coffee and/or alcohol, but they go and do it anyway. Then they have a stroke. This story repeats itself over and over, and it is frustrating.
CORY: Are you and the other clinic staff prepared to handle a cholera outbreak or some other tragedy that could happen in this village?
SUE: Yes. We received information from a nearby physician's assistant from the city of Les Cayes that helps us with diagnosis of Cholera. We also gathered rehydration medication, antibiotics, and other supplies to help people out. Our strategy is to triage people here and then send them on to the big Cholera centers in Les Cayes for further treatment. During rainy and buggy seasons we also have to deal with many cases of Malaria. Sometimes other typical problems occur here just as in the US, such as pink eye and common colds, but the difference here is that people tend to not come to the clinic until they are really, really sick. This is improving.
CRIZAULD: Yes and no. We have been discussing this a lot recently. We aren't at the level where we could realistically handle a big disaster or outbreak. We don't consider ourselves a treatment center, so our strategy is to do first-aid, stabilize the patients, and then send them on to Les Cayes for further treatment. So in a sense yes, we are ready for something like that, because we have our strategy in place to help as much as possible.
CORY: How has doing this work in Haiti impacted your faith in God?
SUE: It has strengthened my faith tenfold and my belief that God has me here for a purpose, and He will help me fulfill that purpose. I really feel that the medical work that I do here is appreciated much more than in America. People in Haiti will wait all day without complaint to be seen for a few minutes. This helps me feel that I belong here and God has me here to help these people.
CRIZAULD: It has strengthened my faith in the sense that I don't need to be afraid of challenges in life. This project has been a big challenge, but God has been faithful. We are approaching ten years of doing this work. Many times in Haiti people don't get paid on time. One of the promises we have made to our staff is to pay them on time, even if it isn't a big salary. We have been able to do that, and we can see God at work as He gives us what we need right when we need it.
ADRIEN: Doing this work increases my faith in God. To know that the people we have helped come back and say “Thank You” means a lot. It affirms that we are doing what God wants us to do. For example, a man named Semirak (which means “It is a miracle”) will not leave the clinic until Sue gives him a kiss on the forehead.
CRIZAULD: Adrien is right. Part of our work is actually a kind of therapy for the people. We comfort them and give them our time and understanding, and that means a lot. We help them heal in many ways, both body and soul, and we can see God at work when this happens.
CORY: What is the best way for people back in the States to partner with and support the important medical work you are doing?
SUE: Pam (Mission Haiti Director) sometimes puts a list of our needs for medications on the Mission Haiti website (http://www.mission-haiti.org/). People can check there and make a donation. We also take monetary donations to pay for surgeries and other procedures people can't afford. That budget is running low right now because so many people have needed help recently, so that is a pressing need. For example, we have a waiting list of ten people just for hernia surgeries.
CRIZAULD: Mission Haiti and FAMA are working together to offer these services, so please contact either organization to get involved or to support us. We are always in need of fundraising and donations of medical supplies and equipment. We also need uniforms and badges for the staff. We use a lot of over-the-counter items such as vitamins, pain medication, and cold medications. Another person who has been very involved in this work is Nancy Hannigan, secretary of the FAMA board, and she would be more than happy to answer any questions you have. People can contact our organization at http://www.fama-haiti.org/.
We hope you have enjoyed this post. Please feel free to respond with any comments or questions.
May you enjoy good health on your Adventure today!
-Grimm Family Adventurers
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