Project Medishare for Haiti has a very strong presence in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince at the countries only critical care and trauma facility, Hospital Bernard Mevs. However, this is not the only place where life saving work is completed. We have teams in the Central Plateau and in Miami that collaborate with doctors, nurses, staff, etc. on a daily basis. These relationships are so important as they are the ones that together, ultimately save lives in Haiti. One Saturday, earlier this month was a great example of the incredible team work that goes on to help Haiti.
Project Medishare often sets up mobile clinics in order to provide health care to those that otherwise would not receive it. One Saturday in early June was no different. A mobile clinic was in place in the Central Plateau. One of the patients seen was an infant with a cleft lip. The baby and her mother are from a small community near the remote village of Marmont. The doctors described the baby’s condition as being “on deaths door step”. She is a four month old that weighed only four pounds. She was not feeding as she could not form a field on her mother’s breast because the cleft was so severe. Initially, the doctors at the mobile clinic sent her to the regional hospital in Hinche with one of the Medishare drivers and nurse practitioners. The regional hospital did not have any pediatric tubes there so the staff called the hospital in Cange only to find that they did not have a pediatric tube either.
The Project Medishare staff in the Central Plateau, Port-au-Prince and Miami all put their minds together to find a solution. In Miami, staff worked to find a breast pump as “formula was not an option without refrigeration.” By Wednesday a breast pump was in the hands of the baby’s mother and the Medishare nursing team taught her how to use it properly.
The baby was successfully released on Friday only six days after first being seen at a Project Medishare mobile clinic. The baby is scheduled to return for the next cleft surgery week. As Project Medishare co-founder Dr. Arthur Fournier said, “The work involved in saving this child’s life illustrates the need for balance for our work involved in primary care, hospital and community care programs in Haiti.” Together, another life is saved.
