Summer in the United States is a season for relaxation, vacation, rest and a change of pace from the rigors of our daily lives and work. Summer at Hôpital Sacré Coeur unfortunately does not allow a break from caring for the sick and poor of Milot.
Although it is true that there are fewer volunteer medical teams on campus in July and August, the need to care for the continuous stream of seriously ill patients continues unabated. The hospital, which functioned at a 63 bed level prior to the earthquake of January, 2010, now runs at a capacity of 120 beds. There are no private rooms, and beds are jammed into every conceivable space.
Although this arrangement would never be tolerated in the States, the Haitian patients accept it without a complaint because they are so grateful to be cared for by a concerned staff, in the relative safety of Hôpital Sacré Coeur. However, viewing this congestion and imagining what it feels like to be seriously ill and lying twelve inches away from someone suffering perhaps more than you, offends our sensibilities, not only as medical personnel, but as caring human beings. With temperatures in the hospital as high as 105 degrees, no air conditioning and the air buzzing with mosquitoes, you need not see the scene to feel the pain and suffering of these poor people.
Recently, we have been able to remove women laboring in child birth from these rooms, because we have constructed a new maternity unit with an Operating Room which actually is air conditioned (if the generators are working). This is an enormous step forward after watching women labor under impossible conditions for the past twenty years. It was made possible by the generosity of many of our donors. It is a model of what we hope to accomplish for the rest of the hospital.
Although Hôpital Sacré Coeur has suddenly expanded from 63 to 120 beds over the past two years, our fundraising remains mired at the level needed to support the old 63 bed unit. We have been fortunate enough to forge an alliance and partnership with Holy Name Medical Center of Teaneck, New Jersey which will allow us to continue to serve the people of Haiti. However, we do need to markedly increase our fundraising if we are to realize our dreams of a larger hospital, more rooms for the patients, better outpatient facilities, expanded x-ray services and on and on.
This can only happen if our loyal donors continue to support us as they have for so long, if you tell a friend about us, if you are in a position to approach a large company or charitable organization about our work. The need is self-explanatory, but unless more people and organizations are made aware of it, our future is stagnant.
The story of CRUDEM and Hôpital Sacré Coeur is a great and inspiring one. It is filled with pain and suffering, joy and sadness. The best examples of the human spirit in action abound on the hospital campus. Particularly inspiring are the examples of the thousands of volunteers who have sacrificed time, comfort and convenience to aid the desperately poor of Northern Haiti. But if this story languishes in obscurity, it does no good.
So please, tell the story of Hôpital Sacré Coeur to your family, friends and all you come in contact with. We need your help. The people of Milot will be eternally grateful.
-David G. Butler, M.D.
David G. Butler, M.D. is a Fellow in the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists and has worked in private practice in Englewood, NJ for almost 40 years. He is an attending at both Englewood Hospital and Holy Name Medical Center, both in NJ. Dr. Butler received his M.D. from SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY and completed his residency as Chief Resident OB/Gyn at St. Vincent’s Hospital & Medical Center in New York City. Dr. Butler also serves on the Board of Trustees of Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck, NJ. and is the former Chairman of that Board. He and his wife, Mary Ann Butler, M.D., live in New Jersey and are the proud parents of five children.
