Haiti remains the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. For the people of Haiti, there is little relief from any distress.  They are hungry, tired, their muscles and bones ache from hard labor, when they can find it. The mountain people have little or no access to health care. 

By Janet Constantino, APRN

I’ve travelled “beyond the mountains” several times, providing health care to over one thousand people each time, many of whom had never seen a health care provider before.

I have not seen much improvement in conditions in Haiti since the 2011 earthquake.  The local hospital is poorly equipped and understaffed, and most of the doctors want to be in Port au Prince, not isolated in the mountains.  Cholera and typhoid fever still exist. 

People walk for miles when they hear of our clinics, and wait for long periods of time to be seen.  All of the donated medication and supplies we take with us each year bring relief from pain, sleeplessness, heartburn, itching, and more, all things that we take for granted.   At the end of our visit, people come to talk and sing for the volunteers.

Footnote:  Janet is a Family Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist in Mental Health at Yale School of Nursing.  She is also a board member of Global Health Ministry, and an experienced traveler to third world countries whre health care is desperately needed and minimally available.   Visit globalhealthministry.org.  It is a journey that will change you forever. 

By Rev. Sharon

Our suitcases stuffed full of medicines and supplies seemed like so little but we cannot over-estimate the effects of such respite, if even for a short time.  The people to whom we delivered these small gifts were profoundly grateful. We set up clinics in four different villages and practitioners saw many things regularly, and some few very dire things that would not have improved without medical attention like injuries and infections.

The sad reality is that none of the things we saw were life-threatening, unless you have no access to care and necessary medication. A man was blind from glaucoma; people with hypertension who hadn’t had their medication in months; a child with hydrocephalus was permanently brain damaged because the family could not afford to go to the hospital to have a shunt put in.  Things like that do not need to happen.

Following our return to Trinity,  it was an easy decision to honor the request from the village townspeople of Kayimit to help with the needs of the orphans.  One hundred earthquake orphans were placed in this small village up in the mountains, and they do not have the resources to provide school uniforms and books.  We were impressed by the organization and energy of the town leaders so we sent money which bought yards and yards of material, enough uniforms for 60 children, and books for the school.