More patients every day

Last night at dinner one of our Sisters shared news from our Sisters in Haiti ... the 75 bed hospital where they have been living/ministering in Northern Haiti since October has become a 500+ bed hospital in the weeks after the earthquake in Port au Prince. As she was talking to Sister Marilee earlier in the day, their call was cut short by the arrival of another helicopter from Port au Prince. That gives you an idea of the reality on the ground.

Contrast this with the story I heard on NPR this morning: the US has halted medical airlifts of critical patients from Haiti. The most shocking bit of the story was this--to date hospitals in Florida had received around 500 patients from Haiti. This put into perspective for me what has been happening at Sacre Coeur Hospital in Milot, Haiti ... this one little underserved Haiti hospital has received the same number of patients as multiple well-equipped US hospitals in Florida. If the US hospitals are struggling with resources to care for these patients, imagine what it's like in Milot which has already grown 5 times it size in terms of patients. And more are coming. Now that air lifts are halted to the US, more helicopters will be coming to Milot.

The good news is the CRUDEM foundation is on the ground. They've been in Milot for 25+ years and have great relationships with the community. It's a real community effort. Volunteer doctors and nurses are coming in shifts from the US to help the Haitian medical staff. The town has converted school buildings into makeshift hospital wards.



Local families are taking in the families of the injured from Port au Prince. Everyone is pitching in ... staying with patients, cooking meals, etc.... Here's a picture from the CRUDEM blog that shows Milot residents making meals for the patients.



What they need from us is prayerful support ... and MONEY! Money to pay for expensive medical equipment and supplies. Food. Electricity. You name it.

If you have a few dollars to spare, please consider making an online donation to the CRUDEM foundation. They have been in Haiti for years, and will continue to be there. The money will be well spent.

You can follow the news from our Sisters in Haiti on the CSJP website.