Several people have contacted me about how they can help financially with the work that I'm doing. The scholarship that I received to come here covers little more than my travel and living expenses. These prevention programs that I'm working to implement require significant funding. While grants help, they are difficult to get and require that most of your time be spent at the computer instead of in the field. Donations are the fastest and most efficient way to get things funded down here. Every week or so, I will compile a "wish list" for the program I'm working on. If you can help in any way, I would greatly appreciate it.
To donate, please send a check to:
THEO'S WORK, INC.
2303 WEST MARKET STREET
GREENSBORO, NC 27403
Memo: Will's Medical Mission
Contributions are tax-deductible in the U.S.
Wish List:
1. Sandals for all 650 children ($2,500)
2. Propane Fridge for the clinic ($2,000)
3. 100 tubes of Scabies cream ($1,000)
4. Mosquito screens for the 20 children's houses ($50/house)
5. Ringworm treatment for 200 children ($10/child)
6. Public Health van ($15,000)
Any donation helps.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
"Mini Health Care Workers"
After my visit to the hospital, I immediately designated them as most in need for the stockpile of ethyl alcohol that I have. I went over two days ago to deliver them 1,200 bottles. It's no secret, the corruption that fuels the General Hospital and for this reason, I wanted to make sure that the doctors I had met the day before would actually be the ones to receive the alcohol. I had a few of the boys from the orphanage and Paige, (a long-term volunteer at Espwa who runs the ESL program for the kids among other things)to help me deliver the boxes. We brought them to Pediatrics, Surgery, Maternity and when we were just about to drop off a few hundred bottles at the laboratory, a hospital official approached me angrily saying that I needed to collect all of the boxes that I had distributed and bring them back to the main office where the "appropriate people" will determine who gets the alcohol and how much. I refused to recollect what I had already distributed and told him that he could do so himself if he was so inclined. He said that he would and asked that we put the rest of the boxes in the back storage area. I had him promise me that the alcohol would be distributed asap and told him which departments I believed to be in the greatest need from what I had seen during my prior visit. I warned him that if I came back in the next few days to see to find that the alcohol was sold or not given to the doctors to use that I would never come back with another donation for their hospital. He gave me his word and thanked me for the alcohol. I'll be visiting again on Monday to check up.
In an effort to build a network of clinics, hospitals and NGOs in the area, I've been trying to visit and travel as much as possible. Yesterday, I visited the birthing clinic (the best birthing facility in the area). The clinic is free of charge and provides excellent service. With about 1 child birth/day, the clinic is one of the busiest birthing clinics in southern Haiti(most women still prefer to have their babies at home). Cindy and Kyra are the two women in charge and were excited about having an established network among clinics to make it easier to refer patients etc.
Yesterday, I started training one of the older boys at the orphanage to be my right hand man. He is going to help me implement all of the prevention programs that I've drafted, including the nutrition and hygiene programs. I'm currently briefing him on the details of the programs, which includes teaching him about the diseases themselves, prevention and treatment. Together, we will both begin training some of the older boys who are interested, to become our "mini health care workers." As health care workers, they will help with teaching health education classes, mass treatment programs for scabies and ringworm, and daily surveys of the living quarters looking for health hazards, accompanying children who are sick to the clinic and making sure that the children on TB and Malaria meds are adhering to their regimens. Paul Farmer had it right when he said that the only way to make it sustainable was to teach Haitians to treat Haitians. It won't happen over night. This is where my patience will be tested. I'm excited to get started.
In an effort to build a network of clinics, hospitals and NGOs in the area, I've been trying to visit and travel as much as possible. Yesterday, I visited the birthing clinic (the best birthing facility in the area). The clinic is free of charge and provides excellent service. With about 1 child birth/day, the clinic is one of the busiest birthing clinics in southern Haiti(most women still prefer to have their babies at home). Cindy and Kyra are the two women in charge and were excited about having an established network among clinics to make it easier to refer patients etc.
Yesterday, I started training one of the older boys at the orphanage to be my right hand man. He is going to help me implement all of the prevention programs that I've drafted, including the nutrition and hygiene programs. I'm currently briefing him on the details of the programs, which includes teaching him about the diseases themselves, prevention and treatment. Together, we will both begin training some of the older boys who are interested, to become our "mini health care workers." As health care workers, they will help with teaching health education classes, mass treatment programs for scabies and ringworm, and daily surveys of the living quarters looking for health hazards, accompanying children who are sick to the clinic and making sure that the children on TB and Malaria meds are adhering to their regimens. Paul Farmer had it right when he said that the only way to make it sustainable was to teach Haitians to treat Haitians. It won't happen over night. This is where my patience will be tested. I'm excited to get started.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The worst day of my life
This is no exageration. Never in my life have I experienced or witnessed such pain and suffering as I did today, a day empty of hope and full of despair. I visited the General Hospital in Les Cayes today. This is the only public hospital in the city. I don't know how to begin, so I'll just write the first things that come to mind. Forgive me if my thoughts seem random.
There weren't enough beds for the patients. Mothers stood by the bedside of their dying children. Children fanned the flies off the faces of their dying parents. Most of the beds were nothing more than a sheetless and filthy 2inch thick mattress resting on a rusty metal frame. The smell of death filled every hallway and every room. The pharmacy was no bigger than a closet, full of rusted metal shelves only half full. The AIDS ward is an outside area of benches where the patients are left to sit away from everyone else, awaiting treatment they were promised but will never receive. The pediatrics ward was the worst. Children who are so starved and malnourished that their bodies have given up. Babies who were born only to die a few days later. I can go on and on but I'll save you from the details. I don't know how much longer we'll have electricity.
I find myself praying daily. The prayer is always the same. God, give me the strength to aid the weak, the poor, the sick. Guide me to the darkest corners where the suffering is unimagineable and help me to brighten them. That I never forget what it feels like to see a child die unjustly before my eyes. Give me the strength to fight and never lose faith. That I make the right choices and never lose sight of myself. Amen.
I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep. What I see, haunts me. It's impossible to forget. Once you've seen it, you've lived it, and that's unforgettable.
There weren't enough beds for the patients. Mothers stood by the bedside of their dying children. Children fanned the flies off the faces of their dying parents. Most of the beds were nothing more than a sheetless and filthy 2inch thick mattress resting on a rusty metal frame. The smell of death filled every hallway and every room. The pharmacy was no bigger than a closet, full of rusted metal shelves only half full. The AIDS ward is an outside area of benches where the patients are left to sit away from everyone else, awaiting treatment they were promised but will never receive. The pediatrics ward was the worst. Children who are so starved and malnourished that their bodies have given up. Babies who were born only to die a few days later. I can go on and on but I'll save you from the details. I don't know how much longer we'll have electricity.
I find myself praying daily. The prayer is always the same. God, give me the strength to aid the weak, the poor, the sick. Guide me to the darkest corners where the suffering is unimagineable and help me to brighten them. That I never forget what it feels like to see a child die unjustly before my eyes. Give me the strength to fight and never lose faith. That I make the right choices and never lose sight of myself. Amen.
I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep. What I see, haunts me. It's impossible to forget. Once you've seen it, you've lived it, and that's unforgettable.
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