Patient at St. Damien Neonatology Unit

Published in Haiti’s Le Nouvelliste January 20, 2012 and translated into English:

Haiti: The Saint-Damien Pediatric Hospital launches two new services

While many institutions of the country celebrated the second anniversary of the earthquake of January 12, 2010, Our Little Brothers and Sisters (NPFS) inaugurated last Thursday, maternity and neonatal unit of St. Damien Pediatric Hospital in Tabarre .  The management of the  St. Damien children’s hospital took the celebration of the second anniversary of the earthquake of January 12, 2010 to inaugurate on Thursday, maternity services and neonatology. In these new structures arranged in an attractive space, Our Little Brothers and Sisters (NPFS) intend to give a new signal in the various activities leading to the rebirth of the country.

The Apostolic Nuncio, Bernadito Auza, with guests visiting the neonatal unit

Maternity has 42 beds, two new operating rooms, five delivery beds and employs 53 people under the leadership of Dr. John Edgar Aupont, program manager for high-risk pregnancy. Aupont says, fewer than 15 babies are born every day safely in this hospital where the care is completely free. 500 deliveries are made each month. This center has become the benchmark for excellence and for the high-risk pregnancy in Haiti. All furniture and equipment were imported from Italy. Staff training is provided by teams of doctors and midwives from particular Buzzi Children’s Hospital University of Milan, Italy. According to Dr. Aupont, neonatology is a unique medical branch in the country with 32 beds in intensive care, which deals each month with 50 premature infants with neonatal diseases, treated by 20 doctors and nurses.

Doctors and nurses in the process of caring for premature babies with neonatal diseases

The neonatal unit is paired with pediatric hospitals Dal Ponte Hospital, Varese and Bambino Gesù in Rome. Father Richard Frechette, in his speech for the occasion, welcomed the cooperation that existed between the Department of Public Health and other partners. A partnership that has enabled the realization of that dream. In addition to the maternity hospital St. Damien, with the support of the Fondazione Francesca Rava, has created two other maternity facilities in the region, receiving 23,000 visits per year, and offer direct assistance to the field: the clinic Manitaine in Tabarre, where laboratory tests are performed and visits of obstetrics and prenatal ultrasound performed, and the mother-child center Timoun Piti in the area of ​​Wharf Jeremie. All patients who need special assistance were sent to the hospital Saint-Damien.

“Our centers are very well equipped (latest technology) and are paired with Italian institutes for the training of doctors, midwives and nurses in Haiti. They are already considered a landmark in Haiti for qualified assistance to pregnant women and their babies, “adds Father Frechette.

In her speech, Genevieve Arty, medical director of the hospital, said to the attention of the guests the presence of any management team at the opening ceremony. For her, this reflects the size of the view that NPFS  bring to the community of Tabarre and other parts of metropolitan Port-au-Prince. “This act of medical care allows us to meet the needs of the population of Tabarre. We celebrate life with the opening of these new structures, “said Dr. Arty, who emphasized the modernist of these new services.

For its part, the representative of the Ministry of Health estimates that each time a hospital structure is formed, it is a response to the problem of suffering at the community level. ”We welcome a very high point of activity that takes place in this hospital. I understand that there is a skill and dynamic that lends its service to the hospital. The center will remain in our field of vision. We will work to increase the capacity of the hospital structure for the good of this community, “she added.

Ultrasound is not included in the training and practice of gynecologists and obstetricians in Haiti, even thought it is a technique of great help for early diagnosis of fetal malformations and diseases of pregnancy and for assistance during childbirth. Thus, this advanced training, organized by the Fondazione Francesca Rava – NPH Italia with the prestigious International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG), took place from January 9 to 13 at the NPFS pediatric hospital of St. Damien in Tabarre. This is the second phase of a program in 18 months, will allow the introduction of ultrasound technology in training and practice of 30 Haitian doctors and midwives at St. Damien, other health facilities in the country and of the Hospital of the State University of Haiti. At the end of the course, the same participants, members of the Haitian Suoga, become trainers themselves. Teachers and trainers are among the best specialists in the United States and Italy, and are Dr. Lisbeth Hanson, Head of Mission and Professor Enrico Ferrazzi’s Buzzi Hospital in Milan (Dr. Ferrazzi is also the Clinical Advisor and Coordinator Project maternity NPH), and Dr. Jean Claude Fouron.

Opened in 2006, St. Damien Hospital in Tabarre is the only pediatric hospital in Haiti. Both maternity and neonatology rooms opened during the earthquake efforts and were fitted over the last two years to achieve excellence in clinical expertise and highly specialized staff, in order to save thousands of children and their mothers with assistance quality offered by qualified personnel in Haiti. According to officials, St. Damien is the first pediatric hospital in Haiti. In 2011, it provided free care to 80,000 children whose medical needs could not be met elsewhere in the country. Following an Italian project and thanks to the decisive contribution of the Fondazione Francesca Rava, it provided assistance in emergency earthquake in more than 10,000 people in less than three weeks, 150 medical volunteers have come Italy in the range of 6 months. NPH is present in Haiti since 1987 under the medical direction of Father Rick Frechette. In collaboration with the Fondation Saint-Luc, it gives work to 1,600 Haitians and helping 1 million people a year with its four hospitals, including St. Luke’s Hospital for families, St. Philomena for cholera, two centers for disabled children, two native plants, three orphanages, including 2 homes built after the earthquake, 28 School Street, the training center Francisville, to name a few.

Amos Cinci

cincir2005@yahoo.fr

Repairing damage at the St. Philomena Chapel.

“Choose love rather than hate,
a smile rather than a frown,
Choose to build rather than to destroy,
to persevere rather than to quit,
Choose to praise rather than to tear down,
to heal rather than to wound,
Choose to give more than to take,
to respond rather than to delay,
Choose to bless rather than to curse,
to pray rather than to despair.“
[unknown]

Dear friends,

This time last year, I wrote about our beloved chapel, St. Philomena, which had stood through the destruction and shock of 2010. She was cracked and weakened, and held up by struts, inside and out, which looked like crutches. A church on crutches—a fitting image in a country where so many people were left limping, or limbless, or worse.

“Choose to build rather than to destroy”

During 2011, the chapel enjoyed an artistic renovation, and a beautiful painting of resurrection now covers the once broken stones of the back wall. The front wall was repaired and secured with additional support. Throughout 2011, we find ourselves to be guided by the spirit of Resurrection, as we rebuilt so much of what had fallen, and even more beyond that. Building up healthcare, education and outreach services, building up programs and people, such that of all our leaders are Haitian, many of them hailing from our original home and school, St. Helene. The post earthquake programs of 2010 have flourished and continued to grow to serve the marginalized and unfortunate, and give dignity to thousands.

“Choose to heal rather than to wound”

As we reflect on the second anniversary of the earthquake, which is also our 25th year in Haiti, we can see very clearly the fruit of our labor in all we have accomplished.

• The Fr. Wasson Angels of Light program for vulnerable and displaced children permanently cares for 180 children daily while an additional 700 children from the community attend the onsite primary school.
• St. Helene in Kenscoff opened their doors to over 60 new children.
• A housing complex was build for our high school and university students.
• The new maternity program cared for and delivered 4,799 babies.
• Neonatalogy gave life to 640 premature and endangered babies.
• Our cancer center has served 140 children providing them a second chance in a country where cancer is s death sentence.
• Public health services reach 20,000 people still living in the deplorable condition of the tent cities.
• Rehabilitation programs of St. Germaine and Kay Elaine assisted 1,500 adults and children.
• More than 1,600 jobs are provided with each person supporting a family of four.

“Choose to give more than to take”

We gave

• 3,000 bags of rice weighing 25 kilograms each
• 852,000 bread units
• 199,000 packages of pasta
• 1,728 trucks of water
• thousands of burials, too many to count
• thousands of cement blocks to make homes and cobblestone to build roads.

“Choose to love rather than to hate”

On this 25th anniversary of our programs in Haiti, it is worth to remember our mission. Fr. Wasson built NPH on the gospel values of unconditional love and acceptance, and of indebtedness to the community. Work and responsibility were cornerstones of the home. In the 1980’s, NPH started becoming multinational, extending to nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean today. When I joined Fr. Wasson I did not work with him on the traditional program but rather on social aspects of the program. I worked on projects such as community involvement, life food distributions to Yucatan, explorations of Central America to find the sites of new homes, and incorporation of the elderly and mothers with AIDS into the program in Honduras.

When I came to Haiti in 1987 to start the home, the number of dying children offered for our home was alarming. Most suffered from malnutrition, diarrhea, pneumonia, and a new sickness called HIV/AIDS. So in Haiti, we started a hospital as well as an orphanage.

The orphanage was named St. Helene and has had a population of about 400 children for 25 years. A subgroup are 35 children with severe disabilities who require lifelong care and supervision, who live in our Kay Christine home. Our pediatric hospital, St. Damien, had about 15,000 outpatients a year and 4,000 admissions a year. Throughout the years we have attended to over 500,000 children.

Seeing such great need in Haiti, and since our St. Damien Hospital was developing so fast, I attended medical school in 1998 and became a physician. After I studied medicine, things changed. We had more contacts, more openings for community involvement, and people counted on us more in Haiti through hellish social problems and upheavals. In 1999, I started roaming the slums to help out of a truck. I was helped by “ex-pequeños”, the name we give young adults who grew up at an NPH orphanage. It was beneficial to all of us because previously they had no work – 80% unemployment persists in Haiti.

Our team began to set up clinics and schools, so we created a second generation program led by ex-pequeños called the St. Luke Foundation. The Foundation was named for St. Luke because St. Luke was both an evangelist and a physician.

We also began having the team from Kay Christine come with us, to provide mobile therapy for disabled children in the slums. All of this mushroomed. The St. Luke program grew to 28 schools in very poor areas – we call them street schools. One street school is for blind and deaf children; another is a beautiful high school called Academy for Peace and Justice, funded mostly by Hollywood celebs; a third is a vocational school sponsored by the Mexican government, called St. Francis Vocational School.

Some of the clinics have turned into permanent centers – two are maternity centers and one is a new hospital called St. Mary Star of the Sea in Cite Soleil (Sun City).

The St. Luke Foundation also started a production center called “Francisville” which makes construction materials and essential foods. It was named for St. Francis of Assis and operates under the slogan, “Works of justice are works of peace”.

Then came twin disasters: the January 2010 earthquake and, only a few months later, the outbreak of cholera in October. Both NPH and St. Luke went into high gear:

• NPH expanded St. Damien to include programs destroyed in the capital when other hospitals fell: maternity, neonatology, surgical, and oncology programs.
• NPH also developed St. Germaine, a center for disabled children including production of prosthetics and rehab for child amputees from the earthquake.
• In addition, NPH set up a new orphanage and schools out of shipping containers for orphans and vulnerable children called “Father Wasson Angels of Light.”
• St. Luke did disaster relief including setting up cholera camps (St. Philomena), and creating a hospital out of shipping containers for adult victims of the earthquake and other tragedies (St. Luke Hospital).
• St. Luke also started building houses and youth centers for the homeless in a program called Force Lakay, which means “the strength of home.”

Thanks to your generous help and our strong Haitian team, we’ve been working day and night to build bridges of light and hope, of friendship and solidarity, traversing deep valleys of sorrow and hardship.

“Choose to persevere rather than to quit”

In memory of Fr. Wasson, and his commitment to children, at a moment when the earthquake dead were being recounted under high publicity, I imagined the many children of Haiti asking to be counted as the living…

“We are God’s children
The fruit of the earth
destined for greatness
we’ll show you our worth
Count us in as the living
The eager, the bold
Count us in as true friends whose proud stories are told
Count us in as the grateful for life and for bread
count us in we beg you
count on us, it’s our promise
Let’s begin!“

To view a slide show of our work visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmLlwo0PFNQ

Fr. Rick Frechette, CP
National Director, NPH Haiti
]]> http://saintdamienhospital.nph.org/2012/01/11/nph-haiti-anniversaries-25th-anniversary-and-2nd-anniversary/feed/ 1 erinkloos Repairing damage at the St. Philomena Chapel. http://saintdamienhospital.nph.org/2011/12/22/a-simple-story/ http://saintdamienhospital.nph.org/2011/12/22/a-simple-story/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:46:46 +0000 Robin Forestal http://saintdamienhospital.nph.org/?p=870 ]]> It was a simple story.  Jesus was born in the simplest way, in the simplest place, of the simplest people.  He was born at the simplest time, without disturbance or noise.  No pomp, no ceremony, no titles, nothing of vanity. No place to be born within society. The onlookers were camels, donkeys, cattle and sheep. (And now you and I, onlookers from across the centuries, sadly sometimes resembling the first)

Hay for a blanket, stars for the canopy.

Humility, simplicity, gratitude, love, and faithfulness. These marked the moment.

This simplicity resonated in deep harmony with the heavens.  Heavenly favor was revealed by a playful star, by enchanting trumpets, by choirs of heaven voices, by profound peace on earth. Who could ask for more?

The depth of this witness brought simple kings to their knees on the floor of a manger, far from their splendid halls, (but it drove complexed kings into jealous rage, pacing fretfully on marble floors, planning the murder of children).

Would that the world were simple. Wonder if children were just children. Not poor or rich. Just children. All favored. Does anyone even notice the dancing star anymore?  Or are we weary, heavy, burdened, and trudging on with little hope?

Wonder if the way to help children, whose circumstance brings them far from their God-given favor, were simple. No heavy beaurocracys’ that become self-serving, no divided motivation, no demands for attention or fame or reward. Just simple.

Imagine committees, studies, projections and budgets giving way alternately to loving embrace, or passionate challenge, each in its season.

The call of Christmas, to you and to me, is the call to the simplicity of life that gives us freedom. It is call to free ourselves from complexity, and all the dangers that complexity brings. It is the call to serve humbly the God who is the beginning, the middle and the end of our journey. The God who especially loves children.

It’s a call to be simply, father, mother, daughter, friend, to the children who need us. The call to share hearts and values, time and treasures, and to share a journey together across the streets paved by our very limited days, toward our endless horizon.  No one too far ahead.  No one too far behind. No one left alone, no one left discouraged, no one lost.

A song for food, a laugh for drink, the joy of bread and wine.

As we continue to work together to help the children of Haiti, in season and out of season, in an ever more complex world, let us beg God to help us as we build with them, and for the children, a future.

Yes, we surely build homes and schools. We build clinics and hospitals. But we must build up lives and values. We must build up mercy and justice, dignity and peace, hope and trust. We must build the simple values proclaimed by the heavens, and fashion for ourselves and for the children simple lives. (Unless the Lord builds the house, in vain do the builders’ labor!)

 Once again, we thank you for joining us in this noble cause. We carry you in our hearts and prayers. The New Year holds for us all many difficult challenges. We pray for you, in thanksgiving, that you will be blessed and strengthened by the One who is called Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

(But, be blessed and strengthened by all of us, too!)

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Fr Rick Frechette
Port au Prince, Haiti
December, 2011

Approximately one in 700 children born have a cleft lip and/or a cleft palate. The deformity is one of the most startling physically, distorting the newborn’s face and nearly impossible to hide. While easily fixable in the developing world, finding the necessary aid in Haiti can often be impossible.

Estha Jeudy remembers when her son Sebastien was born with the tell-tale split lip. “I had neighbors telling me to abandon him at the nearest hospital,” she explains, cradling the 7 month old baby. “We live in Jacmel, and they just told me to go to Peredo Hospital and leave him there. But instead I went to the hospital and asked for help. One of the nurses, she told me to come here.”

Estha then made the 5-hour journey with her husband and her son to St Damien Hospital. At the same time, Children’s Surgery International (CSI), a non-profit organization serving underprivileged children around the world by providing free surgical services, was also making their journey to St Damien. CSI is an expert in reconstructive surgery for cleft lips and palates, and Sebastien was scheduled for one of the group’s 50 surgery slots.

Estha remembers, “I saw all these doctors, and I was filled with hope and fear at the same time. Before Sebastien’s surgery, I came in the room and I asked the doctor to give me a chance to talk with one of the patient’s parents. The mother looked at me, and I think I must have looked very upset, because she asked, “Why are you so sad?”

“I told her, ‘I have been carrying this pain in my arms for 7 months. Sometimes I feel like I’m losing strength and all my courage runs away.’ The mother put her hands on my shoulder. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘you see all those doctors over there; they are all here to help. Everything will be fine–just give them an hour of time and you will feel and see the difference.’”

Estha smiles. “And that’s all it was! After one hour, I went up to ballon room and I didn’t recognize my son! I only knew it was him because of the yellow t-shirt he was wearing! His face was completely changed–a miracle had been made by the CSI doctors.” She shakes her head. “A word of thanks wouldn’t be enough to say to all the staff, especially to CSI for this beautiful gift that they gave to my family. All I can give or offer is my prayer asking God’s directive so the NPFS organization can reach the highest level all over the world.”

Over half a million Haitians still reside in the squalor tent cities that tumble across Port-au-Prince. While a decline from the over one million Haitians who found shelter in these dwellings directly following the quake, those that are left are “are “the most vulnerable, the hard cases, the lost”, according to the Internal Organization for Migration.

Given the conditions of the tent cities, it is no surprise that residents are at risk for a plethora of public health maladies, including cholera, an epidemic which has infected over 440,000 Haitians, and killed 6,300. In order to respond to this need, the Public Health Center of St. Damien has been doing outreach 15 of the tent camps* in the Tabarre area.

At the camps, the public health center provides both education and preventive care-teaching the populations about both infectious and non-infections illnesses. They visit the “homes” of patients, and meet with community leaders. There is extensive community involvement from everything to cleanup campaigns and immunizations to outreach to pregnant women from 15 to 49 years old.

The most common illnesses they see are IRA (acute respiratory infection), scabies, and diarrhea. Serious cases are referred to St Damien Pediatric Hospital, which serves as a tertiary healthcare system, or St Luke Medical Center, which provides secondary care for children and adults.

Says Michelle, the coordinating nurse. “The services we provide at these camps serve a vital need that prevents people already living on the edge from falling over. We hope that the international and national efforts to rebuild and resettle those displaced by the earthquake will continue to aid and help those most in need. Complimentary programs by St Luke, such as their Houses for Health Program (which aims to build 1,000 houses in regions where poor housing and squalor living situations cause and complicate numerous illnesses and diseases) aim to provide homes that preserve the dignity and the autonomy of the Haitian people and increase health outcomes for children and adults

*These camps are

1. Fleurio: (Citi Kay Mere)
2. Clercine: (Lamartiniere Family)
3. Troutier: (Troutier)
4. Dumornay (La Cour Dumornay)
5. Galette Tapage: (Camp Galette Tapage)
6. Caradeux (Caradeaux Camp)
7. Izmolie, (Tabarre 27)
8. Jean Paul (Tabarre 27)
9. La Cour Kenepe (Tabarre 27)
10. Lekol Nastyonal de Tabarre (Tabarre 27)
11. Diaboule (Santo 23, Camp Diaboule)
12. Manitane (Tabarre)
13. Marecafe
14. Soisson
15. St Germaine (Santo 17)

During the visit, the group toured the 3 disability centers of NPFS: Kay Germaine on the Tabarre Campus, the Kay Christine home at St Helene in Kenscoff, and the new Kay Eliane in Kenscoff. The focus was on the 3 big needs of capacity building and staff and parent training for general care and specialty disciplines like speech, language, and art therapy, vocational workshops for young adolescents, and the expansion of adult services. The construction of Kay Gabriel, which will be located next to Kay Germaine and offer expanded disability services in Tabarre, was also discussed.

Explains Gena Heraty, the Director of Disability Services for NPFS: “Kevin, Joe and Derek are very committed to helping us in all our areas of need. They think it might be possible for us to twin with The Watson Institute and this would be fantastic as they have similar services as we do and they are more advanced but will be able to assist us get to where we want to go. On a practical level they also have workshops and recently built a new building and so they have some ideas as to how we should organize Kay Gabriel.”

Additionally, the Spiritual Quotient committed to an initial $80,000 to furnish Kay Gabriel, including a special swing for wheelchair kids and staff salaries for four staff members.  In a country where 800,000 people suffer from disabilities, the support of the Watson Institute, as well as Irish Autism Action, and Spiritual Quotient will continue to offer hope and a new world of possibilities to the disabled in Haiti.  

“There is nothing wrong with your child!” Gladys laughs triumphantly, patting a worried woman reassuringly.

The mother stays concerned. “But she’s not sleeping through the night,” she gestures to her 4 month daughter. “Isn’t that a problem?” Gladys gives another smile and shakes her head.

“It’s perfectly normal.”

Nurse Gladys Charles is working triage at St. Damien Pediatric Hospital, a task that involves a 6am start time and requires a steady stream of patience, intellect, and observance. The nurse spent her formative years as both a nurse and animateur, providing entertainment to sick children and education to parents. The energy required for such work made her the perfect fit for St Damien triage, which involves directing and aiding the one hundred to two hundred patients a day who flood to the gates of the hospital.

“It can be a bit crazy,” the 34 year old acknowledges. “You take a place like Haiti, that has limited healthcare services coupled with minimal knowledge about even the most basic health conditions, and the result is this: a whole cadre of scared, worried, and panicked mothers, fathers and children. As a nurse, I am one of the lucky ones who has the knowledge of what is going on, of what is needed. We have three places-outpatient clinic, external clinic, and the emergency room. For each patient you need to make a quick but informed decision.”

It’s no easy task. Children come into St Damien’s from all over the country with conditions ranging from headaches to bone cancer. “About half the children who come in every day do not need to be in a hospital,” Gladys explains. “That being said, there often isn’t anywhere to go, so they come here. For those 50% we take them to an area separated from the hospital and give them individual consulations.”

“My favorite part is the education. We have a lot of patients here who are sick with preventable diseases-for example new mothers who have malnourished children because they don’t know how to breastfeed them.  I like sitting with them and explaining clear solutions to fixable problems. Other times, the ‘illnesses’ are perfectly normal problems-but the families just don’t know it!” She gestures to the 4 month year old who doesn’t sleep through the night. “That girl over there? Her mom is worries, but there’s nothing to be worried about. Being able to tell the mothers that, being able to be the reassurance, and the bearer of good news, well, that’s one of the best things for someone in Haiti to be.”

Times seems to go so fast here and i suppose it is the same everywhere! Things in haiti continue to challenge us to the core and as always i look to the kids and their mothers for the inspiration to keep going. Today we had a lot of mothers enrolling their kids for school. Oh these beautiful mothers – so strong and so loving and so desperate for a better life for their kids. So as you know I like to write from time to time and I share with you my thoughts on this Monday. I thank all of you for all the ways you support us in haiti and I assure you that we are working very hard to put your money to good use for the very poorest of the poor. Please pass this message to all those you know that are supporting is and more specifically supporting my own work. It is fantastic that so many people are helping us and we are most thankful. Best wishes to all of you and may the blessings of God always be upon you.

Gena

Thoughts on a Monday

The roads are long and dusty, they walk them every day

The sun is hot and burning, it accompanies them on their way.

See them in our centres, these mothers so brave and strong,

Bringing their special children, suffering for far too long!

Each one with a story, a struggle to live each day,

A life that that has known only misery, no hope for another way!

Bright children in twisted bodies, songs that very few will hear

Spirits that refuse to be broken, with love we conquer all fear.

Taiina in her coffin lies peaceful, her face so angelic and clear

The screams of her mother unending, she’s lost the one she holds dear.

As I look at the mothers there present, my heart it goes very tight,

Their children all so fragile, we could lose them any day or night.

And look at the state of this country, where people go hungry each day,

The squalor inflicted on people, what the hell can one say?

Big international organizations, dispute how many have died,

Why not come count those living in misery, see what’s going on outside.

See how people are living, see the hell and see the pain,

See the struggles they daily encounter, see those that have gone insane.

See all the hungry children; see the malnutrition all around,

See the crowded hospitals; see the reality here on the ground.

Go visit the tented cities, see the havoc each rain brings,

And ask yourself the question, where is the bird that sings.

I go back to the little children, those smiles that touch my heart,

I honour their wonderful mothers – their courage sets them apart.

Some fathers also come with their children- what a witness to love they do bear

See Papa Garvenson, how much he loves and does care.

When you see those loving parents, see all that they go through,

Your heart swells up with emotion, you wish there was more you could do.

For who would want their loved ones, living such a hell every day,

Who would want their loved ones, living in this way?

Who would want their loved ones, hungry and without hope,

Who would want their loved ones struggling each day to cope?

These families are our loved ones; we try to help them out,

We try to make a difference, try to turn things about.

My message it is very simple, we have to be people of light,

We have to find ways through the darkness – we must not be afraid of the night.

For the night will give way to the brightness, but we must accept it is there,

And we must never get tired of the darkness; we must never cease to care.

Our children’s lights are shining, shining for me and you,

They will light up our every darkness; their hearts are pure and true.

I pray to God in Heaven, for those families we see each day.

That someday their lives will be a little easier- somehow, someway!

         The giggles are overpowering. It’s Friday afternoon at St Damien hospital, a time where the week is usually winding down and weekend arrangements are quietly being made. Bellowing laughs are not usually heard. At least not as loud as this.

Approaching the church, gigantic boxes of cakes come into view. Children sit on mother’s laps as a raucous group runs back and forth across a premade stage. A toddler erupts with glee: “Gade mama!” She squeals. “Watch!”

It’s Mothers day in Haiti-or at least it will be. Falling on the last Sunday of the month of May, the holiday, much like its different incarnations celebrated throughout the world, celebrates the sacrifice, love, and compassion of mothers in Haiti. St Damien’s Santé Communitaire (Public Health Center) has put on a special performance for those mothers carrying an extra burden this weekend, caring for a child with HIV.

“These mothers, they carry their cross in such an extraordinary manner,” explains Dr Jacqueline Gautier, Director of the Center. “We wanted to do something to celebrate them, what they’ve done, what they do.”

The display is not surprising from a center that has always gone the extra mile to ensure quality, compassionate, care for their patients and families. The catchment area of the center doubled last year, and Dr. Gautier’s team met the challenge by offering public health prevention measures to the approximately 20,000 people now requiring help. Public health agents immediately started implementing community meetings in two tent camps to get real time information on the biggest issues affecting the patients.

And then of course there was the HIV program, which had 800 children enrolled for care. Out of 800, only 226 met requirements to be put on Antiretroviral Treatment (ART). Dr. Gautier explains, “Many more are eligible but their social conditions limit their care. For a child to start ART, we need to have parameters permitting this child to receive their drugs:

The mother/care giver needs to have a fixed address, a backup caretaker for when the mother isn’t available, and compliance with her own treatment if the mother is infected. We also require acceptance of the disease-a psychologist works with them as soon as they know the child diagnosis. If they strongly believe it is a curse, even if the child needs the drugs we can not start, because any time they may stop and bring the child to the countryside for hungan (voodoo medicine).”

She takes a pause and looks out onto the crowd. “So it’s a very hard, and complicated disease. So whenever we can celebrate the strength it takes to fight it, and the triumph these mothers are able to have over nearly impossible circumstances, we do.”