December 1, 2008
Dear Friends,
Recently, a first time visitor to Hôpital Sacré Coeur announced with great conviction, “We don’t need to bring the United States to Haiti and make that country like our own. We just need to help remove the obstacles that keep the Haitians from being who they really are and from being all that God created them to be!” I had to smile in agreement.
With impassioned insight, this New England grandmother encapsulated our working premise. CRUDEM has never been an endless rescue mission but rather, a grassroots community empowerment movement. We are not the Haitian’s caretakers, we are their partners.
Hôpital Sacré Coeur’s astonishing success and future hope derives from our engagement in a shared venture with the Haitian people to increase their accessibility to quality healthcare. In the process, we have worked with the Haitian people in the northern region of the country to increase not just the standard of their living, but to open the way for their own self-empowerment.
Last year we provided the 270 Haitians employed at Hôpital Sacré Coeur with medical supplies, continuing education training programs for medical and non-medical staff, and financial resources. These Haitian professionals used these resources to deliver quality medical care to the 65,000 people who entered the hospital and the 150,000 people who participated in the Community Health Services Program. And, the greater Haitian community gave what they could as well to assist in this joint effort. In 2007, approximately 40% of the hospital’s direct costs were covered by patient contributions.
The Haitians are not a people in need of handouts. They are a proud, naturally generous and practical people eager to learn, grow and raise their children into a better future. The same love of freedom and independence that drove and sustained the Haitians to defeat Napoleon’s army and become the world’s first black republic in 1804, is the same fierce and determined spirit that drives the Haitians today as they face, with a humbling tenacity, the most incomprehensible and daunting obstacles to survival.
I saw this inspiring spirit in action this fall. Four hurricanes caused major devastation to Haiti, exacerbating an existing food crisis, driving fuel prices to $15 a gallon, destroying the crops, crippling roads and bridges, and shutting down the other hospitals in the region. Our partners, the employees of Hôpital Sacré Coeur, not only saw to it that the hospital remained open, but they found ways to accept a major influx of new patients, feed and shelter community residents left hungry and homeless by the floods, tend to their own families, often miles away, and find an endless number of caring and compassionate ways to offer comfort and hope.
I honestly can’t say that I would have succeeded in the face of such a challenge. And that is when the “shared” part of venture came into vivid relief for me.
Like all our donors, I share my financial resources. Like the 170 volunteers who visited the hospital in 2007, I share my professional expertise and my time. With each visit, with each story I hear from volunteers, I am blessed with the priceless gifts of wisdom, inspiration, caring and friendship generously given, to me and to others, by the magnificent people of Haiti. Learning to live tenaciously, hopefully and with gratitude during tough times is a gift to be treasured, particularly these days! Learning to live cooperatively, in community with others, is a gift to be enjoyed again and again.
During the season of Advent and Christmas, we anticipate and celebrate the birth of Jesus and the love, sharing and hope that marked the birth of a new worldwide community. During this season, I invite you to join with me, and thousands of others around the world, as we learn, grow and share with the Haitian community of Hôpital Sacré Coeur. I promise you, the empowerment that is experienced, will be mutual!
Enclosed with this letter is information about two exciting and creative ways you can join in this community movement to partner with our neighbors, the Haitians, as they work to birth a decent standard of living today and a brighter, hope-filled future for their children. It is a goal we can all appreciate, understand, and together make happen!
Becoming an “Angel of the Day” and sponsoring the hospital for the day of your choice is a great way to begin. Sponsorships can be given as gifts, InMemorial and/or to acknowledge special days such as birthdays, anniversaries or feast days. Community groups, churches, and families many consider collectively sponsoring a day or more at Hôpital Sacré Coeur.
Thank you for your continuing support on this amazing journey!
God bless you all!
Peter J. Kelly, M.D.
President
P. S. We are now taking orders for the CRUDEM 2009 calendar!
