25 years after, where do we stand? Are we sustainable?
Sustainability is a concept inherent to all organizations and according to its definition, is multidimensional. Twenty–five years later, Hôpital Sacré Coeur of Milot as an organization is at the cornerstone of that question: Are we, as an organization, sustainable?
Our mission and goals have always been to provide care to the poor with all the dignity that a human being deserves. Working into that credo, people from everywhere have been and continue to seek care in our facility. Located 30 minutes from the main town and the main teaching hospital, Hôpital Sacré Coeur of Milot is still the convergence point for most of the severely ill patients of the northern part of Haiti.
We are a 73 beds facility, but we have been receiving patients well above our capacity. So our hallway is always full of patients admitted for a variety of diseases. Often, we face the dilemma of whether to tell that patient, who came from another village that may be 4 to 5 hours away, to find another facility because we are full. Instead of using that management behavior we always choose to put one more bed into the hallway to take care of that one more patient, who will always be grateful that we took care of them, even though it was in that hallway.
Our limitation is mainly related to the scarcity of resources; we are trying to meet the standard of care that should be provided by any healthcare facility that wants to be respectful of the patients, as a customer who deserves the best service available.
Often, some of our volunteers from the states make the comment, when comparing Hôpital Sacré Coeur to other health care facilities in the country, that we are the “Mayo clinic of Haiti.” I take that comment seriously, not according to the level of care that we are providing, but in the sense that our philosophy is similar to that well known organization: “the needs of the patient come first.”
So we are fulfilling these needs with the support of volunteers coming from the States and local health care providers, on a daily basis. Our range of care spans from basic primary care to a more sophisticated one like “open heart surgery.” So our environmental, social sustainability is strongly established because our clients rely on us and consider Hôpital Sacré Coeur of Milot as their own.
But the other side of the coin is not as bright as we would like it to be; our financial sustainability is often far beyond our control because it depends largely on the actions and responses of others. Despite that weakness, I strongly believe that we are sustainable. This is a “faith statement.” It is unusual in Haiti to find a project that will live past 25 five years. I strongly believe that our large pool of donors is “God’s instruments” helping us in sustaining this mission.
With that support, this week you have helped save the lives of those 20 patients admitted to our cholera treatment center, with your financial commitment, you have helped save the lives of those two patients who had open heart surgery at the only hospital in Haiti that could provide that type of surgery.
Yes, we are sustainable because we are members of one family driven by the credo that we should help each other, to make the world a better place where we can rely on the other.
I strongly believe that our large pool of donors are God’s instruments helping us in sustaining the mission.
Thank you and God bless you!
Harold Prévil, M.D.
Harold Prévil, M. D., Hôpital Sacré Coeur’s new Executive Director tells us about his roots in Port au Prince and his vision for the hospital to be not just a healthcare facility, but a center of excellence in northern Haiti.
