A VISIT TO HAITI THROUGH THE EYES OF A NURSE
I recently visited Haiti with a small team of medical personnel along with Matthew Ellis, the
executive director of National Episcopal Health Ministries, and trip organizer Deacon Clelia Garrity
from the Diocese of Nevada. Our goal was to gather information from Haiti’s health officials
regarding the need to vaccinate the children of Haiti.
Upon arriving at Port-au-Prince, I was immediately concerned with the scope of the health needs
of this country. The streets are full of people who smile and wave but are hungry and dirty with
the poorest of living conditions. There appears to be little rebuilding from the severe earthquake
January 2010. A million people are still living in small tents with no running water or bathroom
facilities. Within this tent city about every five blocks there is a small open area that serves as a
community kitchen. Food is stored in open bins. Flies and mosquitoes are everywhere. The
trash is dumped on the side of the streets and burned day and night. Rubble remains
everywhere, even in the middle of some streets. Dirty water flows down some of the small
creeks. The people use this water to drink, bathe and cook with. Diseases such as hepatitis,
cholera, and AIDS are prevalent everywhere.
The Hôpital Sainte Croix in Leogane has been mostly demolished with only 20 beds available at
this time. When it rains, dirty water literally flows through the operating room. The operating
room is without sterilization and the two doctors with me on this trip stated that they would not
operate on anyone in these conditions at this time. Both of the doctors on the trip aim to obtain
better surgical equipment and will be involved with the rebuilding of this hospital.
We were able to meet with some prominent doctors and hospital administrators to discuss the
health needs of Haiti. Our focus is on vaccination of all the children of Haiti. There is a three
year nursing school in Port-au-Prince that currently is educating about 25 students. As part of
the vaccination program we will work with the third year students with the goal of turning the
program over to them at some point to sustain the immunizations on an ongoing basis. We had
some discussions about beginning with a pilot vaccination program on a small scale in a small
village. From that we could evaluate the program before continuing the overall long term
vaccination program. There are many small health programs in Haiti all doing various things.
Deacon Clelia Garrity is gathering information on these projects so no duplication of services will
occur.
This was a successful first trip to Haiti to evaluate the people’s medical needs and I came home
proud to be part of this rebuilding of Haiti project by the Episcopal Church. I plan to go back
when the pre work is completed and we can start the pilot immunization program. This is a big
undertaking and will take some time to accomplish, one step at a time.
Laura Delaney RN, BSN, NEHM volunteer
Parish Nurse, St Brigid’s Episcopal Church
Rio Vista, Diocese of Northern California