Medical Aid to Haiti

From: Outreach to Haiti
c/o Kyn Tolson
860.638.1018 (office)
860.848.2237 ext. 206 (office)
kyntolson@gmail.com

An evening program on March 31^st hosted by Diocese of Norwich Outreach to Haiti and St. Peter Claver Church of West Hartford will feature a Haitian doctor who worked at the main hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, immediately after the earthquake in January 2010.

Dr. Jude Banatte, who has been with the Catholic Relief Services in Haiti for 11 years, will talk about the emergency efforts that followed the earthquake and that continue today. He was at the capital’s Hospital St. Francois de Sales, which was destroyed in the disaster, but he and others set up operations in the ruins. They tended to the injured, tried to salvage medical equipment and supplies, and worked to get the hospital running again.

Dr. Banatte will speak at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 31 at the parish hall of St. Peter Claver, 47 Pleasant St., West Hartford.

There is no charge for attending, but donations to support medical work in Port-au-Prince will be greatly appreciated.

For more information, please contact the office of Outreach to Haiti at: 860.638.1018 or 860.848.2237 ext. 206

Dear Friend,

Since the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti nearly a year ago this past January, we’ve all heard about the horrendous loss of life, the squalid tent cities, the Cholera epidemic, and now, the violence. It seems the sadness never ends for this small, desperate island nation, however, I’d like to share some good news with you about a charitable organization that is making a difference by “helping Haitians heal Haitians.”

A few years ago, I went on a medical mission as a volunteer for an organization that was providing much-needed healthcare to communities whose people rarely received organized care.  Like most first time visitors to Haiti, I experienced sensory overload shortly after my arrival there.  The poverty, overcrowding, noise, filth – even the smell – all contributed to what I sum up as desperation.  My role, as the sole non-medical persoon the team, was to help organize the  clinics that we conducted at various sites in and around Port-au-Prince.

The trip was arranged on a shoestring budget, yet we were able to provide basic healthcare services, including medication, to more than 500 people during that week. Wleft for home with the uneasy knowledge that the patients we had treated, and the sites our clinic visited, would have to do without medical attention until we returned. Their
need fueled my desire to do more, and it gave birth to Medical Aid To Haiti, Inc. (MATH).

MATH, formed in 2009, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that sponsors medical missions to Haiti and, most importantly, sponsors a Haitian-staffed mobile medical clinic that operates in and around Port-au-Prince.  The mobile clinic travels three days each week to the same medically-underserved areas, providing a desperately needed
continuum of care.  In response to the earthquake, during this past year MATH sent five medical missions to Haiti to work hand-in-hand with the Haitian mobile clinic staff.

The annual cost to support the mobile medical clinic and fund medical missions is approximately $75,000.  MATH is an all-volunteer organization and 100% of the money we raise is used for clinic and mission expenses.  Our hope is to expand the operation of the clinics to five days each week and to have the funds needed to ensure its continued operation.

Here is where I ask for your help. MATH has been presented with a donations challenge by a small group of donors. If we can raise $25,000 by March 31, 2011, they will match it with their own contributions. Please help us take advantage of this opportunity. This is a time when the people of Haiti need our support more than ever. We cannot accomplish our goals without your help, and we ask that you join us in offering a much-needed helping hand to those in need.

We gratefully accept donations at the address below, or on our Web site at www.medicalaidtohaiti.org.  Thank you for your generous consideration.

Kind Regards,

Rick Thibadeau
Chairman & Founder, MATH

Mail tax-deductible contribution to:
Medical Aid To Haiti, Inc.
80 South Main Street
West Hartford, CT  06107

Aid workers race against rains in Haiti

March 5: Rainy season could spark major health problems in the devastated city of Port-au-Prince.

NBC’s Ian Williams reports.

Click on the picture to view the MSNBC segment or click here (please excuse the commercial from MSNC)

WEST HARTFORD, CT, March 2, 2010 — A Medical Aid to Haiti (MATH) sponsored team returned home last night after a successful medical mission to Haiti. During a normal (i.e. pre-earthquake) mission to Haiti – while conducting five one-day medical clinics at various sites – our team would see approximately 500 patients. Last week’s team treated more than 900 patients, including 250 on one day alone! The most common ailments treated were Malaria, Typhoid, hypertension and diabetes as well as follow-up care for wounds and orthopedic problems caused by the earthquake. The clinics also saw an unusually high number of sick children suffering from malnutrition, fevers, parasites and scalp and skin infections. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was apparent across a broad spectrum of earthquake survivors. We spent the week working alongside a team of Haitian healthcare professionals who will eventually staff the MATH Mobile Medical Clinic. This mobile clinic will operate weekly to provide a desperately needed continuum of care and fulfill the mission of MATH by “helping Haitians heal Haitians”.

The trip began on Friday, February 19th with a flight into Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. On February 20, we flew to Port-au-Prince on a United Nations humanitarian charter flight. Our bags – 20 heavy suitcases filled with medication and supplies – were transported ahead of us by helicopter. Flying into Port-au-Prince, the physical damage was not immediately apparent but the international relief presence was both astounding and foreboding. Over the next day and a half we unpacked gear, had various meetings, and prepared for the week ahead. Our first clinic was held on Monday, 2/22 in Sarthe, a Port-au-Prince slum adjacent to the airport. There was a large crowd waiting for us when we arrived and it was clear that we would not be able to see everyone there in one day. Thus, we made the decision to treat as many as possible and return for an additional clinic later in the week. This scenario was repeated the next day in Cabaret, a poor village approximately 30 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince. Many earthquake refugees have dispersed from Port-au-Prince and are populating rural areas. This was the case in Cabaret and we decided to return later in the week. When we returned to Cabaret on Friday, NBC News correspondent Ian Williams, along with a film crew, spent a few hours filming and interviewing both our team members as well as our Haitian patients. The crew seemed genuinely surprised by the size of the crowd as well as our ability to provide effective treatment. The segment is scheduled to run on NBC News sometime this week.

Many Haitians, in and around Port-au-Prince, are living outdoors in tents or some other form of makeshift shelter. They do so because their homes were either destroyed, are structurally unsafe, or because they fear being indoors should another earthquake occur. Our team gained firsthand experience of this fear as we were awakened during our first two nights in Haiti by earthquakes or aftershocks. As each occurred, we immediately ran out of the building, but the decision to go back indoors was difficult. We were frightened and unnerved as our view of shelter was altered by what we had experienced. We were staying in the temporary Mission House of Haitian Ministries (of Norwich, CT) because their permanent residence in Haiti was completely destroyed by the earthquake. It took several days in Haiti for the scope and magnitude of the disaster to become truly evident. As our medical team traveled from site to site, the grim reality set-in that nearly 250,000 people have perished. We saw hundreds of buildings flattened to the ground that still contain the remains of victims. Over one million Haitian earthquake survivors are living in squalid tent cities which are breeding grounds for disease. The situation will only become more dismal as the rainy season begins in a few weeks. Haiti needs our continued help.

For the remainder of 2010, MATH will be sending medical teams to Haiti in April, May, June, July, September and October. We anticipate having our Haitian-staffed mobile clinic operating on a regular basis within a few months. We are seeking donations to fund our medical missions, buy a mobile clinic vehicle, procure medication and supplies, and pay the Haitian staff of the mobile clinic.

MATH is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, charitable organization. For more information visit: www.medicalaidtohaiti.org. Tax-deductible contributions can be mailed to: Medical Aid to Haiti, Inc., 80 South Main St., West Hartford, CT 06107.

CONTACT:
Richard Thibadeau, Chairman
Medical Aid to Haiti, Inc.
Home: (860)521-8704
Cell: (860)930-5582
rthibadeau

WEST HARTFORD, CT., February 12, 2010 - Beginning this week – and over the next several months – Medical Aid to Haiti, Inc. (MATH) will be sending teams equipped with medicine and supplies to the devastated earthquake region in Haiti. Teams will consist of 8 -10 U.S. healthcare professionals who will work in conjunction with MATH’s Haitian staffed Mobile Medical Clinic based in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Each team will stay in Haiti approximately 10 days and conduct medical clinics at several sites in and around Port-au-Prince.

MATH is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, charitable organization with the following mission: “Helping Haitians heal Haitians by providing needed resources for the care and treatment of their poor.” For more information about the work of this organization, please visit: www.medicalaidtohaiti.com. Tax-deductible donations can be mailed to: Medical Aid to Haiti, Inc., 80 South Main St., West Hartford, CT, 06107.