HOSPITAL VS. REFUGEE CAMP
I’ve decreased my updates to weekly because the acute phase of this catastrophe has ended. However the catastrophe continues and in many ways is worse than the acute phase. We still have 300 patients in Hopital Sacre Coeur and still have over 50 volunteers a week. Our staff continues to work without complaint and we are receiving calls from around Haiti to accept patients. The most recent was for a patient who had a cervical spine fracture that left him paralyzed on the left side. This patient was deaf and taught sign language so his injury was especially incapacitating. Only the spine surgeons at Hopital Sacre Coeur could give him a chance to recover his mobility.
These patients need our care and are willing to come to Hopital Sacre Coeur. However most if not all of them will not have a home or family to return to. The patients that were sent to us after the earthquake for emergency care are also discovering that they have no family or home to return to. So……. they refuse to leave the hospital and the family members that survived travel from Port au Prince to be with them and also stay at the hospital. That leaves us with the responsibility to feed over 1000 people a day.
Now we have a full service referral hospital to which everyone wants to send patients and a growing population of patients that can leave but refuse to leave. These people are labeled internally displaced people by the aide agencies. However despite our efforts there are no agencies in the northern part of Haiti that are providing services for these people.
We just had our board meeting in St Louis. I again was impressed by the dedication and depth of experience of our board. We discussed our future and our responsibility to the people of Haiti. We approved many building projects, agreed to accept patients for the care only we can provide and will continue to care for the internally displaced people at our hospital. However we also understand our financial constraints.
Although we have received many contributions since the earthquake we recognize that to provide care we need continued support.
It is easy to forget about Haiti especially with all the other problems in the world. Our prayer is that you won’t forget. We need your support now more than ever before. One of our orthopedic teams is sponsoring a fund raising event in Washington, DC on March 19 at 6:30 PM at Famosa Restaurant on 5471 Wisconsin Avenue, Chevy Chase, Maryland. If you are in the area and can attend please rsvp to Lesley and John Duncan at fjduncan@gmail.com.
Please continue to keep Hopital Sacre Coeur and the people of Haiti in your prayers. We have accomplished a lot since the earthquake but have a long road ahead of us. If you have any contacts with aide agencies that can help us care for these internally displaced people please let me know.
God bless you,
Peter Kelly MD / President
