Healing Hands for Haiti

I don't cry often but occasionally I will hear a story that causes the flood gates to open. Although my back ground is nursing, and for years worked in rehab, since being in Haiti, I've done just about everything but nursing most of the past 18 months that I have lived in Haiti. On this day, Fiona came home from work to tell me that she had been in the community to see a few of the spinal cord injured patients that can not make it out of their homes to visit the clinic. The young man she told me about was not injured in the earthquake but shot by a person who stole his motorcycle. The bullet passed through his chest, missing his heart but severing his spinal cord. He has been unable to leave his home since leaving the hospital due to the lack of accessibility. He lives on a steep hillside, many narrow stairways and rubble filled passages that are difficult for strong healthy people to navigate. Imagine living in a small room, minimal if any electricity and no running water. Its not hard to understand why he is very distressed and depressed, completely dependent on his wife for his most basic needs. Before the earthquake, few people with spinal cord injuries survived their initial injuries, most received from motor vehicle accidents, gunshots or falling from trees. Those that did were taken home, confined and dependent on families to meet their care needs. With little knowledge of what this involved, they did not live long. Since the earthquake, specialized care for spinal cord injuries has been available from surgeons who stabilize the spine to nurses and therapists who train the caregivers how to deal with the individual needs of each person. This care has decreased the mortality and morbidity rates like never before. There are over 200 spinal cord injured patients in our data base surviving and living in the county and Healing Hands for Haiti clinic is providing follow up care to over 50 of these. Healing Hands for Haiti has one of only a handful of Physical Rehabilitation doctors in the country seeing these patients. We have hired a nurse who is in a wheelchair. Having survived her spinal cord injury, she is an excellent peer support and trainer. We have peer support meetings for patients and their families each month. We are searching for funding to help provide transportation to the clinic for medical care and therapy (we have received a grant through the generosity of Haiti Hospital Appeal). We are searching for ways to help them earn a new living. we are fighting the battle for inclusion and accessibility. For this young man, it may be a battle to late and for this reason, I feel incredibly sad.

But Healing Hands for Haiti (Klinik Kay Kapab) staff, with tremendous effort and much credit to Fiona, Dr. Moise, Nadege, Nadia, the therapists, nurses and volunteers, has provided care and education to the injured and their families and care givers, including nurses, techs, and physicians in the community. We have to feel proud of the success of what we have accomplished to date and secure in the knowledge that more people will survive their injuries due to this dedication to provide excellent standard of care and continuing education for the most vulnerable in Haiti.

Our hope is that the new clinic will be opened by early spring (see pictures below- we are about halfway to completion). While I don't know how long I will be in Haiti, its really why we are there. To fight the battle for those that can't. I think it is why Fiona and Al are there too. We deal with day to day frustrations and stress, to do what we can to see that all men, women and children have a better chance for a life beyond mere existence.

A couple of weeks ago, Fiona and I had the opportunity to attend a home exhibition show. Last year a contest was opened to provide and opportunity to design homes for Haitians. It was supposed to open last fall but like a lot of things, it didn't. We walked through dozens of houses of different designs- of course, we were looking at each in terms of accessibility and asking the important questions. We didn't bother looking at the houses that had more than 2 steps to enter the house. There were several that were elevated, no doubt to appeal to those living in flood prone areas but obviously not suited to wheelchair users and even difficult for people who have suffered a stroke. Hopefully, our inquiries spurred some thought for those architects, engineers and builders that were hoping to win the design contest. But it was more than that as a couple of presidents were in attendance as well- Former US president, Bill Clinton and current Haiti President Michel Martelly. Despite the obvious and not so obvious security, we trailed along and even worked our way through the crowds to get up close to be part of the paparazzi! All in all, it was a pretty fun day to skip work! We learned that plans have been made to begin building 3600 new homes in the weeks following the home show.

We are always surprised to learn that we can find just about anything a person needs in Haiti. I'm hoping we can make some renovations to the guest house and one of the things that has interested me is to have a water filter to protect the pipes coming into the house. After talking to someone at the home show, I actually found out that there is something available and suitable in Haiti that will do the job and for a very reasonable cost. This could potentially save us from replacing shower heads and decrease a lot of other plumbing problems we have because of the heavily sedimented water running through our pipes.

All of this is to say that there is much hope for building back Haiti better. The are still a lot of difficulties ahead- Martelly's second candidate for prime minister has been rejected; thousands of people remain living in tents in the worst conditions; hurricane season is headed into full speed ahead and most of the promised aid money has yet to be distributed but we have to see that hope is there, we have to believe that the promises made will be kept to have the strength to keep taking the steps to the future.

a new business- building TapTaps to rent, the Haitian version of an RV. These small buses are very colorfully painted and are even set up to have a TV and a toilet for those longer trips or heavy traffic days!
They look like a decent alternative but the seats are made for little people.
Progress is being made on the HHH physical rehabilitation clinic.
Gracie left her footprint(s) in the cement. No one really cared since it will be covered but as she is a daily visitor to the site checking on progress and joining the workers at lunchtime it seems appropriate.



Wheelchair ramp...



On site supervisor.

Haiti's president Michel 'Sweet Mickey' Martelly. Photo taken at the Home exhibition show.

This one was my favorite.

This one had a very nice interior....
The kitchen was beautiful.

Former president Clinton visited the home show with President Martelly.
Martelly, surrounded by some key people...his body guards.
Not sure who the helicopter belonged to- it wasn't the president- and I took the picture for my friend Cory.
The view coming home...to Portland.
The view from one of our favorite places for watching the sun set over Port au Prince.