North Haiti Rehabilitation Unit
Last weekend our CEO had the opportunity to meet with the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation and discuss the long term heart behind our rehabilitation work. This was another exciting opportunity for us to explore ways to better serve the population in North Haiti.
After taking in our original 25 earthquake spinal chord injury patients, HHA realised alongside others that this work was needed for more than just these victims. As one of only two long term rehabilitation centre’s in Haiti offering this SCI service and the only one north of Port au Prince, it was felt we should continue the work. With the Minister of Health for North Haiti’s blessing, and in partnership with the Konbit Sante, HHH, The UN and The Swiss Paraplegic Foundation, we got some designs made for a new 12 bed rehabilitation unit for North Haiti. This new unit includes a physiotherapy gym and occupational therapy area to also provide weekly outpatient services. You can see a little sneak preview of the design below!
The Christian Blind Mission have also come on board with supporting some of the on-going costs of this unit, a partnership we’re extremely blessed and privileged to have. Their support has meant that we could continue this urgent work which is already up and running in the hospital whilst we await our new centre to be built. The construction should start within the coming few weeks!
We’ve already received some new inpatients for this unit and had some great out patient days providing rehabilitation support for a number of disabled children and severe stroke patients.
Rehabilitation is a major need in Haiti. According to the World Health Organisation only 2% of people with disabilities in the developing world have access to appropriate rehabilitation and health support. Even before the earthquake in Haiti there were an estimated 800,000 people living with disabilities, of which 200,000 were children. Haiti’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Work reported in 2009 that only 3.9% of an estimated 120,000 children with disabilities in Port au Prince were accessing education. Only two schools specifically addressed this issue and the needs of children with disabilities, both of which tragically collapsed in the earthquake. Whilst funding has been made available for rehabilitation in Haiti, a vast amount has been directed at specific earthquake victims, often missing the vast numbers of other people with special needs who urgently need our help, like Grace (above left).
There is a Creole slang word in the Haitian language… ‘ Cocobai’ – which means worthless. It’s the term often used to describe people with disabilities. We have a real heart and passion to see that changed! If you want a little example of how, you may not realise but the child just above is Grace (the same child pictured above, next to the previous paragraph) after a year of support through HHA. Focusing on disability rights will be at the heart of our work this year as we advocate for some of the most vulnerable people on this planet. As construction begins, new staff are employed and community outreach begins, we need your help.
If you’re a regular visitor to our site and have been touched by the journey so far, could you take just a few minutes and commit to supporting our work on a regular monthly basis? Rehabilitation is a long and slow process which is often unreported after the seemingly more ‘exciting’ or news worthy stories of acute trauma. However it’s a service Haiti desperately needs, and one together we can bring about. If you need to see a little glimmer of hope as to what your support will achieve, please watch our Hope for Haiti video. It’s only 3 minutes long, but will share some of the stories of people who medically speaking should never have made it this far but have done in part thanks to people like you who choose that no one in this world is worthless.