Remember Haiti

A few years ago, Haiti was high on our consciousness.  As usually happens, we forget bit by bit, but the people living in Haiti are no less in need of our assistance, presence and prayers.  I just watched this marvelous little video that features one of our CSJP Sisters, Sister Ann Crawley, who has been ministering in Haiti since a few months before the earthquake.  One of our CSJP Sponsored ministries, Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, NJ, has also recently announced a commitment to this mission in Haiti.


Please keep the people of Haiti and the CRUDEM Foundation/Hopital Sacre Coeur in your prayers.  If you are financially able and are looking for a charity to support this holiday season, I recommend visiting the CRUDEM website to learn more.

Our Sisters in Haiti made the news

From the NCR website:

Sisters' hospital takes patients from Haiti's capital Feb. 17, 2010

By David Agren, Catholic News Service

MILOT, Haiti -- When the earthquake shook Port-au-Prince, the three Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace began to prepare the 73-bed Sacred Heart Hospital in the northern city of Milot.

The influx of critically injured patients has been more than they ever imagined, however. The hospital has opened additional wards in a nearby school and nutrition center and converted a local soccer field into a heliport to receive critically wounded patients, who were unable to get adequate treatment for injuries such as broken bones, burns and infections in the Haitian capital.

By the end of January, the patient count had topped 300, and Irish Sister Ann Crawley said that number was expected to grow.

"All of this has happened so quickly," Sister Ann said after putting in a 14-hour day at the hospital.

The demand on Sacred Heart Hospital staff highlights the medical emergency in Haiti. Many hospitals in Port-au-Prince were damaged or destroyed, and many doctors and nurses were killed in the magnitude 7 earthquake Jan. 12.

Sacred Heart Hospital was founded as a 16-bed facility by the Montreal province of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in 1968 and is now operated by the Center for the Rural Development of Milot -- which receives funding from the Order of Malta. It has grown to become the leading medical facility in northern Haiti.

The facility is so well regarded that it receives overflow patients from the medical ship, USNS Comfort, said Dr. David Butler, director of the earthquake response at Sacred Heart and vice president of the board of directors of the U.S.-based foundation for the Milot rural development center.

"Anyone here is very lucky to be treated here," said Butler, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, N.J.

"Many of the people here would (otherwise) be in field hospitals" or other less-than-ideal situations, he added. "We've had people brought here that were in a Port-au-Prince sewer plant."

Challenges persist at the hospital, which is staffed by both Haitian and foreign medical personnel and served by visiting chaplaincy teams.

Butler said some conditions have worsened due to a lack of specialized equipment or inadequate prior treatment. One patient, for example, developed serious complications from a tetanus infection. Another young patient ultimately succumbed to diabetic acidosis because the Milot hospital lacked a ventilator to help him breathe.

But the foreign medical personnel in Milot -- many of whom are sleeping on the kitchen floor of the convent -- speak of heartening moments, too, and express an admiration for the courage and pleasant demeanor of their Haitian patients.

"They're incredibly stoic," said Dr. Scott Early, a family physician from Lawrence, Mass. "They don't complain when we don't come quickly enough."

Milot residents have shared scant resources to provide patients and their families with meals, while others regularly stop by the hospital to visit and provide motherly attention to newly orphaned children.

The local Baptist preacher, the Rev. Jean Claude Blaise, distributed small radios with the dial locked on an evangelical station.

"I hope that after this (earthquake) the number of evangelicals will grow," he said. "People that survive will see that it was God that saved their lives."

Patients visited by a Catholic News Service reporter generally spoke well of their treatment at Sacred Heart Hospital and warm welcome in Milot.

Mackenson Berger, 19, came to Milot with his mother, who suffered a crushed arm.

"People here have given us food, given us clothing, given us a place to sleep, given us health care," he said.

Another patient, computer science professor Wildor Victor, lost his arm in the earthquake after his workplace collapsed, but he is expected to survive.

"Thanks to Milot, I have another chance at life," he said.

Others were appreciative, but less enthusiastic about being so far from home and the dim prospects of returning to Port-au-Prince.

"There isn't any way to go back ... but I want to go back," said Celine Bien-Aime, a restaurant worker whose arm was crushed by a collapsed wall.

Such anxiousness to leave is rare, said Sister Ann. She explained that discharging patients has become a challenge for the hospital, since most patients have no place to go -- and their reticence to leave keeps badly needed beds occupied.

She said a long-term challenge will be the recovery demands of those suffering complex injuries and the large number of amputees requiring physical therapy.

"It's difficult living in Haiti as a healthy person, and even more difficult without limbs," said Sister Ann. "This medical emergency will last for years."

Butler, an 18-year veteran of medical missions to Sacred Heart Hospital, agreed.

"We're a long way from ending," he said.

PS - it's not actually our hospital. Our Sisters have been ministering their since October. One of my housemates (Sr. Andrea) is there for three weeks. As the article states the hospital is managed by the Center for the Rural Development of Milot (CRUDEM Foundation). If you'd like to make a donation, it's easy on their website.

Video from Haiti

My housemate Sr. Andrea has been in Milot, Haiti for a week now, coordinating supplies at the Hopital Sacre Coeur. Srs. Marilee, Maureen and Ann have been there since October, and in the weeks since the earthquake have poured their heart and soul into serving the almost 400 people who have swelled the 70 bed hospital.

I've read about the hospital and shared some of it here. But the reality of it has only started to come home to me since I saw this video prepared by a group of medical volunteers.




I ask you to watch it. To pray for their efforts there. To pray for the future of the many children you'll see who have amputated limbs. And to give, if you can, to the CRUDEM foundation. It will be money well spent.

Blessings on her way

After dinner this evening, we gathered for prayer here at Grace House as we always do. Tonight's prayer was a special one ... we had a special blessing for Andrea, one of the Sisters I live with who will be leaving in the morning to spend 3 weeks in Haiti to relieve one of the volunteer staff at Hospital Sacre Coeur in Milot, in the north of Haiti.

We blessed Andrea, and send our prayers, hopes and wishes with her down to Haiti. To our 3 Sisters who have been living there since October, to the doctors and nurses who have been helping the victims of the earthquake, and to the people of Haiti. We know that she will be a special blessing ... her skills, her smile, her very presence. We'll miss her, but know that she will be a presence of peace to people greatly in need.

I'm reminded of these words from our Constitutions:

Our congregational commitment
to live and proclaim Christ's gospel of peace
directs our decisions regarding ministry.
In these choices we take into account
our talents, resources and limitations,
the needs of our times,
and the pastoral concerns of our church.

Our history calls us to a special love
for those who are poor.
The weight of suffering and oppression
borne by so many people today,
especially by those who are economically poor,
cries out to us for action.
Our response demands a firm commitment
to work for justice
in solidarity with our sisters and brothers.

Please keep our 3 Sisters (Ann, Maureen and Marilee) living and ministering in Haiti, and now Andrea, in your prayers.

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.

More from Haiti

Sister Marilee has sent these pictures from Hopital Sacre Coeur in Milot, Northern Haiti.

They speak for themselves, along with her note, no doubt quickly written among the busyness.

here are some pictures. Can you help get the word out that we need donations to improve Haiti's conditions.

Hopital Sacre Coeur is located in the town of Milot, about 70 miles north of Port au Prince. Although the distance seems short, it is a 7 hour trip by car – even before the earthquake made so many roads impassible. The hospital is starting to receive patients who are being transported there by US Coast Guard helicopters--many very young children, along with adults. A large percentage of patients require amputations. The hospital is well equipped to handle what they will face in the near term. They have 2 operating rooms, a fully equipped lab, orthopedic/general surgery/and trauma teams from the US on site to augment 247 Haitian medical and non-medical staff. They can house 75 -100 medical personnel.

The CRUDEM Foundation (a US NGO which runs the hospital with Haitian doctors and nurses) has been in Haiti for more than 20 years and will be there long into the future. As you consider how you might help the people of Haiti, I invite you to take Sister Marilee's plea to heart.

You can learn more and donate online. I also just signed up as a fan on Facebook.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

Haiti

Thanks to those of you who have asked about our Sisters in Haiti. They live in a different part of Haiti, and while they have felt the aftershocks that affected the southern side of the island they are for the most part safe.

As you no doubt have been following, the earthquake has had devastating effects in Port au Prince. The people of Haiti were already suffering such poverty before the earthquake. Really the earthquake is a disaster upon a disaster.

Our Congregation leadership team sent out this message from Dr. Peter Kelly at the CRUDEM Foundation. CRUDEM is the nonprofit that manages the hospital in Milot, Haiti where our Sisters live and minister:

Thousands are missing or reported dead, buried under rubble in the Port au Prince area with hundreds of buildings including the Presidential palace and the UN headquarters destroyed. Power supplies and communications networks have been severely disrupted.

Hopital Sacre Couer [where our Sisters are], which is located on the opposite side of the country from Port au Prince, was not directly harmed. Many of our patients, staff and the residents of Milot have family and friends in the earthquake striken area. Their concern and grief is immeasurable. In a country where people suffer on a daily basis, this tragedy is beyond comprehension. ...

As the situation becomes clearer and rescue efforts take more form, the hospital and the CRUDEM foundation will decide how best to assist our beloved sisters and brothers in the south of Haiti.

If you are able, please make a financial contribution for emergency assistance.

You can donate to the CRUDEM foundation via their website.

Catholic Relief Services is also on the ground.

God of all creation, as we weep with our family in Haiti, console us.
In this time of crisis, open our eyes to look beyond the disaster to see Christ in our brothers and sisters in Haiti, as Christ sees us.
Be with us as we stand in solidarity with those living and working in Haiti.
Be with us in our mourning and guide our efforts to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, comfort the grieving and stand for justice.
With your mercy, sustain us at this time as we continue to work for peace and justice.
Amen.