When the Fear of Death Become of Lesser Importance than a Bowl of Rice and Beans
By Harold Prévil, CEO Hôpital Sacré Coeur
In Haiti social and economical disparities are really prominent. Forty nine percent of all Haitian households live in extreme poverty, on the equivalence of one US dollar a day. There are wide differences among localities and regions. Twenty percent of the households in metropolitan areas, fifty six percent of the households in urban areas and fifty eight percent of the households in rural areas are extremely poor. Most of the approximately 3.9 million Haitians who are extremely poor live in rural areas. Hôpital Sacré Coeur operates in the rural area of Milot where we are the main job provider, providing both direct and indirect jobs.
It is a daily pilgrimage for the people of the town to come to my office and ask if and how we can provide them with a job, and they insist that they will accept anything. You have to find a word of hope for every one of them. But our credo is that if you cannot provide something to someone right away, do not kill the hope of this person for whom the hospital is perceived as the only opportunity to feed his family.
Two weeks ago, Johnson stepped into my office. This 38 year old man has been a patient of the hospital since he was ten, struggling with a chronic disease from which he will probably die in the near future. Frequently, Johnson had to be admitted for severe anaemia. The last note of the American doctor who saw him reported: 38 years old man with sickle cell disease last seen one month ago, hospitalized with pain crisis at that time, recent transfusion for Hb of 3.4, the lowest threshold should have been 10. The physician continued, “Pain resolved at that time, doing well since discharge but sleeps poorly at night due to stress. No other complaint.”
Was his stress due to the fear of an imminent death? That would have been my or your worst fear because our basics needs are fulfilled. No, that was not the case; he did not ask me for helping him to recover, and neither to find blood for him. He was wondering can we help him have one meal a day, basically a bowl of rice and beans.
We know where our mission started, where should be its limit? Can we ignore Johnson’s most urgent need? Can we try to help all the Johnsons and still be focused on providing medical care to the most needed?
Our healthcare mission cannot stay within the wall of our facilities. We need your help to take good care of our patients; care that encompasses the biological, the social, and why not the economical? Can we?
