58% of the population in
pre-earthquake Haiti lacked access to clean water. Since the earthquake that figure has worsened, though no one
knows by how much. With the outbreak of cholera, the need for clean water is
greater than ever, and the community of Dumay, which HAM’s Center de Sante
serves, is no exception. During HAM’s April mission, a localized outbreak
erupted in the Dumay community and HAM’s Cholera Clinic was overwhelmed with
cholera victims to the point the clinic had to be expanded to over 70 beds and
the staff was tripled to accommodate the case load. Cholera is a highly
contagious waterborne disease and this latest outbreak in Dumay is thought to
have originated at one of the 13 primary water sources for the community. Access
to clean water within the community must become a priority if the health of the
Dumay community is to be effectively improved and cholera sufficiently reduced.
Cholera patients at HAM's Cholera Treatment Center
Clean water is currently at the top of HAM’s agenda, as
efforts made during the most recent mission to Haiti demonstrate. A few months
ago, the nearby water well that supplied HAM’s Centre de Sante and Cholera
Clinic with water was cut off from our access. Water to support the Center de
Sante and Cholera Clinic must now be obtained from a well close to a mile away
and transported in five-gallon containers. To resolve this issue, during our
April mission we contracted with a Mennonite group to have a new well drilled within the HAM compound
which has been completed. In August a team of volunteers traveled to Dumay
to install a new solar powered well pump so that both clinics will have sufficient
water supplies. This water will still need to be treated to
make certain it is clean enough for drinking.
Just as important for the community at large is HAM’s
effort to restart a clean water program in Dumay that involves low cost, point-of-use systems comprised of two five-gallon buckets, rope and charcoal filters
with chlorine added. When the program ended in 2009 in Dumay, there were
approximately 3,000 units in households. Today, there are only 857 functional
units. HAM has begun a partnership with Gift of Water, who
manufactures the systems, to repair the broken units. Read more about this and HAM's other efforts in the article on this page, far right column titled, " Access to Clean Water." In the past, HAM has also worked with the community of
Demier, a small village in the mountains south of Port-au-Prince, to provide
clean water. We also started up the Gift of Water program in Demier.
A primary building block for the health of any community is
access to clean water. HAM’s efforts to help provide a healthy community in
Dumay must involve such access. It is only through the continuing support of
HAM’s friends that we will be successful in our efforts and goals. To
contribute to HAM, please go to our Support Page. |
CHOLERA CRISIS GRIPS DUMAY
HAM's cholera clinic overflowed with patients in mid-April
Haiti’s Cholera Epidemic, currently
the largest cholera outbreak in the world, painfully continues and Dumay became
the hotspot of cholera in the country in April. After almost six months of about seven cholera patients per day,
HAM’s Cholera Treatment Center in Dumay was overrun with over 90 patients at
one point. Our cholera clinic was expanded to 22 beds in early 2011 and treated
approximately 2000 patients last year with the average patient stay at the
clinic lasting three days. We anticipated an increase in patient load in April,
given the first rainy season began in March, but we were unprepared for a
crisis of this proportion, which took place over the weekend of April 14-15.
Fortunately, Dr. Tracee and a HAM
team were in Haiti at the time of the outbreak to provide additional support
for the Haitian medical staff, but with these large numbers we were quickly
running out of resources. Calls for assistance were immediately made to the MSPP
(Ministry of Health) and several of our partners in the UN’s Port-au-Prince
Health Cluster, and by Monday afternoon, April 16th, the cavalry
began to arrive. After spending the past several years working to cultivate
relationships with the government and the large NGO’s with resources
unavailable to such a small organization as HAM, it was inspiring to see our
efforts pay off. The MSPP sent ten nurses and ALIMA (Alliance for International
Medical Action) brought in a new tent and supplies to house and treat 50
patients, increasing our patient load to over 70. New controls and tighter
protocols were put in place to keep the outbreak from spreading internally, and
ALIMA, OXFAM and DINEPA (Haiti’s water and sanitation department) began the
hunt for the source of the outbreak. We now believe the source to be a spring
located a little over a mile from Centre de Sante. HAM and the other groups
also increased our clean water education outreach into the community at the 13
water sources in Dumay and at schools and churches. Fortunately, through the combined
efforts of HAM and our partners, by the end of that week cholera numbers at
HAM’s Cholera Treatment Center had reduced to a more manageable load. As of
early May the cholera clinic is treating an average of 25 to 35 patients per
day.
 HAM's new cholera tent courtesy of UNICEF
According to the New
York Times, as of March, 2012, "...cholera has killed more than 7,050
Haitians and sickened more than 531,000, or 5 percent of the
population."
Cholera is a waterborne highly contagious disease that is easily treated
with rehydration and antibiotics. However, without immediate treatment,
the cholera
can quickly dehydrate the body causing the circulatory system to
collapse and
death within hours. Deborah Sontag, in her recent article in the New
York
Times, " In Haiti, Global Failures on a Cholera
Epidemic", gives a
thorough history and analysis of the cholera situation in Haiti. Ms. Sontag
writes of numerous limitations and missteps made by foreign humanitarian
groups. Despite the failures she documents, HAM's efforts have been timely,
committed and effective. HAM's cholera
clinic, provides oral and IV treatment therapy and antibiotics to anyone
suffering with cholera at no cost and has been open since November of 2010.
Employees include doctors, nurses, and support staff responsible for keeping
the facilities clean and disinfected, a crucial factor in curbing the spread of
this highly contagious disease. HAM's direct costs of operating the clinic
exceed $2,300 US each month. Because we have developed important partnerships
with some of the major international NGO's working in Haiti, HAM received donations
of approximately $450,000 worth of medicines and medical supplies during 2011
to support this vital program. In addition to the MSPP and ALIMA, partners
include UNICEF, PLAN International, Direct Relief International, América
Solidaria (Chile), Bundesrepublic Deutschland (Germany), AMI (Portugal), and
Promess (France).
To help support
HAM’s ongoing efforts to treat cholera and provide primary health care in
Dumay, please visit our Support Page and contribute.
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HAM is aggressively working to provide access to clean water for the Dumay community of 20,000. Prior to August of 2012, our Centre de Santé primary care and cholera clinics did not have direct access to any water, having to bring water to the clinics in barrels and 5 gallon containers from the nearby irrigation ditch and wells or a spring a mile away.
First addressing the access to water issue, in April of 1012, HAM contracted with Mennonite group called Blue Ridge, we drilled a water well on our property, just 30 feet from the clinic. The well was drilled over 250 feet deep through sandstone, and in August a team of HAM volunteers, lead by HAM board member Keith Hare, flew to Haiti to install a pump to be powered by HAM' solar system, designed and installed by Keith. You can see photos and read blogs from the team during their time time in Haiti, HERE.
The first week of the July/August mission we restarted a partnership with the group Gift of Water http://www.giftofwater.org/, to provide simple in-home clean water filtration systems to the community. Gift of Water (GoW) manufactures point-of-use filtration systems that involves low cost,
in-home systems comprised of two five-gallon buckets, rope and charcoal filters
with chlorine added. But the GoW program ended in 2009 leaving leaving almost 1/3 of the 3000 systems in Dumay broken and unusable. As of July we have hired three water technicians who have been going through the community and repairing and re-educating those with broken GoW systems. A small fee, a small fraction of the actual cost, will be charged for the replacement parts to help impart ownership and responsibility, though the labor is paid for by HAM.
During the October mission, HAM medical director, Dr. Tracee Laing, HAM's Haitian medical director, Dr. Jean Fritz Jacques, and Director of Operations, Paul Hammond will meet with a team of volunteers from the First Presbyterian Church of Richmond, Virginia,
our newest partner in providing health services to the community of
Dumay, Haiti. This parish has committed to funding and installing a
large-batch water treatment system on the grounds of Centre de Santé
Communautaire de Dumay as part of the Living Waters for the World
project. This meeting with the First Presbyterian Church
of Richmond will
involve a final assessment of the technical details, the signing of a
covenant, and meeting HAM's medical and clean water program staff. Once
the final agreement has been completed,
HAM will complete the designs and begin construction of a new building
on the clinic property to house the treatment facility. At the end of
January, First Presbyterian Church of Richmond will bring a team of
people down to install the system and train our staff in the operation
and maintenance of the system, as well as provide comprehensive
clean-water education for HAM's staff.
In September HAM received word from the First Community Church, Columbus, Ohio that we were to receive a $15,000 grant to construct the building required to house the new water filtration system. This new building will be approximately 240 square feet in size, built of cement cinder-blocks according to post-earthquake standards, the building will house the filtration system, 5 gallon bottle cleaning and storage, as well as provide sale and refilling services to community members at about 38 cents for 5 gallons. What the clinic can not use will be available for sale to the population and an accessible price.
All money collected from the community for GoW system replacement and maintenance parts, and all money from the sales of the Living Waters bottled water sales, will be reinvested in the community clean water projects. The primary goal for these programs is to provide access to clean water resources for the entire community, but there is value added through moving these programs towards financial sustainability.
To help support
HAM’s ongoing efforts to provide clean water access for the population of
Dumay, please visit our Support Page and contribute.
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