A Focus On Health Team Visits To Haiti

A nurse checks a woman's blood pressure during a medical team visit.

A connection between the Boston Metro area and Haiti has developed through the work of BREAD OF COMPASSION. Medical professionals and other volunteers make trips to Haiti to help those in need.

In March of last year, the organization sent a medical team to Jeremie, Haiti, where they conducted five clinics. This little city sits on the coast of Haiti, on a peninsula that leaves it relatively isolated from the rest of the country. It is known as the "City of Poets" because of its literary and artistic community.


Preparations included packing up donations of medications and medical equipment to be available for distribution to patients. To give you an idea of how many individuals receive support, in just the first two clinics conducted by volunteers, they were able to see approximately 500 people. By the time the trip ended, 2200 people were given health care services.

These trips to hold clinics are among the basic services provided through Bread of Compassion. Without these trips, people in these areas of Haiti would not have any access to health care. That is why the average daily number of people seen per day ranges between 300 to 500 people. Besides the direct care health professionals, a number of pharmacists make the trip, so prescriptions and vitamins can be provided to patients. Some of the conditions seen at the clinics include scabies, parasites, malnutrition, and vision problems.

Sometimes, the organization hears from Americans, who are working as missionaries in Haiti. Nigel and Madeline Hundy were working with Life Impact Missions in the area of Hinche, when they paused to thank Bread of Compassion. This organization had provided a $3000 gift for the mission's medical work in Haiti. That enabled Life Impact Missions to see more than 2400 individuals through five makeshift clinics in different locations. The Hundys had noticed that many children were malnourished and a number of adults had infections; this assistance enabled their mission to treat these problems.

Supplies are all set to go with the medical team to Haiti.

Besides trips to Haiti, Bread of Compassion medical teams have traveled to Hyderabad, India. On their radar was Agape International Orphanage, which provides a home for HIV+ children. Besides providing treatment and dental care to the children, the group also built a permanent dental clinic.

There are even crutches for those who need them.

Another trip was to Okeechobee, Florida, destination Real Life Children's Ranch, where children who have been abused and neglected, can receive long term foster care. This particular trip was made up of teen volunteers, who spent time with the children, repaired housing, and improved landscaping.

Thanks to information provided on the Bread of Compassion homepage, along with the above link.

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