UPDATE ON THE HAITI RELIEF EFFORT
The dreadful disaster in
Haiti
is drawing Health Frontiers volunteers and supporters deeply into efforts on
behalf of the hurting children there.
In the earliest stages of the response, Health Frontiers authorized the
purchase of two loads of medical supplies in the
Dominican Republic
, for delivery to St. Damien Children’s Hospital in Port au Prince.
Funding for these supplies was later provided by the American
Academy
of Pediatrics (AAP) and the International Pediatric Association (IPA).
Health Frontier's medical director, Dr. Karen Olness, spent an intense
week in
Haiti
, with Iniciativa de Paz from
Puerto Rico
, treating hundreds of children and adolescents in busy mobile clinics, and
making contact with the Haitian pediatricians. HF board member
Marisa Herran has also gone to Haiti to provide care in the orphanages there. And long time HF volunteer Marlene Goodfriend will
work to solidify plans with the Haitian Pediatric Society.
These three pediatricians have overlapping formal and informal responsibilities
with HF, AAP, IPA, and the Center for Global Child Health at Case
Western Reserve
University, including the collaborative training program on the special needs of children
in humanitarian disasters, now in its 14th year at Case. Three
Haitian pediatricians are graduates of this disaster training program, and are
key contacts for the ongoing relief work in Haiti.
Concurrently, HF is teaming with Rose Charities in
Canada
to facilitate a regular flow of pediatricians and nurses to help staff the
Haitian hospitals. This requires housing and other logistics that are
beyond the capability of our Haitian hosts. Pediatrician Bronwen
Anders and pediatric nurse Angela Assalone are helping staff the Hopital Communaute
in Port au Prince, to be replaced after two weeks by pediatrician Collin Yong
and pediatric RN Doreen Lore. For the longer haul there are plans to rent
a house that could provide space for the Haitian Pediatric Society (whose office
was destroyed), as well as visiting volunteers from AAP and other groups.
We believe such a home base will be needed for at least a year.
Dr. Herran and Dr. Goodfriend will be bringing 1,000 “Comfort Kits” for
Haitian children. These kits were designed by pediatrician Tim Culbert,
and donated by Minneapolis Children’s Hospital. These little bags
contain items such as squeeze balls, crayons and paper, pinwheels and bubbles
for fun or play, but they also contain Creole instructions for using the toys in
relaxation exercises to deal with stress and trauma.
The Health Frontiers book “How to Help the Children in Humanitarian
Disasters” is now being translated urgently into Creole by Haitians living in
the US. As the acute crisis in Haiti recedes, our focus will likely shift to
workshops for relief workers, teachers and medical people who work with
children, especially on the psychosocial effects of the disaster on children.
In collaboration with the IPA, we have supported workshops on these themes in
many countries, and our colleagues at
Khon
Kaen
University (KKU) in Thailand
developed many unique interventions to deal with these sequelae after the Tsunami. Dr. Srivieng
Pairojkul and colleagues from KKU will be part of the Haiti relief effort
.
Thank you again for being part of the volunteers and supporters of Health
Frontiers.
posted February 12, 2010