HAM's Haiti Earthquake Response Continues
The HAM team returned from their earthquake response trip to
Haiti on February 5th, but health care in Dumay continues five days a
week. Over the past two weeks, the new community health center HAM has
envisioned truly became a reality.
CENTRE DE SANTÉ COMMUNAUTAIRE DE DUMAY (Center for Community Health in Dumay, CSCD) is
the main health care provider for a community of approximately 10,000,
Dumay, about ten miles east of Port au Prince. HAM has been working diligently with the Dumay community to open
a new clinic to fill the void of medical care created when our
previous health clinic was closed last March by the property owner, the
Bethel Foundation. Community leaders in Dumay located a vacant existing
facility
and HAM gained legal authority to use the facility for a health clinic,
"...as long as they are providing humanitarian services to the
community." A committee of local leaders, the Fondation D'action Pour Le Developement De Dumay
(Foundation for the Development Action of Dumay, FADD), was formed to
represent the community in working with HAM to create and direct the
future of this new health clinic.
The HAM earthquake response team was in Port
au Prince within
twelve days of the earthquake and treated hundreds of victims in both
Port au Prince and Dumay. Additionally, the team worked closely with
the Haitian Ministry of Health and the FADD to find a supply source of
medications and medical supplies, as well as hire a competent Haitian
medical and administrative staff. The goal was to set up the CSCD to
remain open Monday through Friday for the next three months without
HAM's daily involvement, providing free medical care and
medications. The post-earthquake reality has moved beyond the initial
acute trauma response phase and the medical needs are quickly
turning to addressing a multitude of infections and diseases which
shall only multiply as the rainy season begins this month. As the
region's hospitals, those still standing and the foreign field
hospitals, remain overwhelmed, it
becomes critical that community health clinics such as the CSCD are
open and available as the population suffers the next wave of the
earthquake related health crisis.
HAM has made a commitment to funding the CSCD's weekday operation
through April. We are also working hard to raise the funds necessary to
keep the clinic open 5 days a week beyond that date, as well as equipping
the facility with an electrical source to support expanded care and a
lab. Additionally, we plan to convert an adjacent to a bunkhouse for
visiting medical teams, as most hotels and guesthouses in Port au
Prince collapsed in the earthquake, as was the case with St. Josephs
Home for Boys where HAM teams previously stayed.
99% of funds contributed to HAM go directly to the support the
people of Haiti. Your financial support of HAM allows us to directly
save lives in Haiti. To find out how to contribute, please click here. 
Earthquake response continues
