Author: Hazelwood College

Today thanks to the efforts of many people and the generosity of an anonymous donor, 8 of our seriously ill children ranging in age from 3 to 13 were allowed by the Haitian authorities and UN to leave Haiti for treatment. A private jet from Western Massachusetts landed in Cap Haitian this morning filled with nurses and doctors from Baystate Medical Center and left with 8 children from Hopital Sacre Coeur accompanied by 2 physicians and 2 nurses.

The jet landed 4 hours later at Bradley Airport where there were 6 ambulances waiting. Since it was snowing and in the 20’s the jet pulled into a hanger so the children could be protected. They were carefully carried to stretchers covered in blankets and given stuffed animals to accompany them on their trip to Shriners hospital (5 with serious orthopedic problems), a Boston burn unit (2 with serious burns), Baystate Pediatric intensive care unit ( a girl with a fractured pelvis and other fractures).

Our census is around 400 patients despite discharges such as the above miracle. We are still receiving transfer patients from the USS comfort. Our volunteers continue to work 16 to 20 hour days and are an inspiration to watch. My son who just returned was in awe of the Professors of Internal medicine, surgery and Ophthalmology who were changing bandages and caring for patients in the temporary hospital because that was where the need was. Egos and status are put aside and the only focus is on how best to care for our patients. The true volunteer spirit of being willing to do whatever is needed is evident in all of our teams.

Typically we have about 170 volunteers come to Hopital Sacre Coeur each year. Since the earthquake we have had over 250 and will continue to have at least 50 a week for the next 2 months. The list of people wanting to volunteer grows each day. This is proof for all of us that the majority of people are caring and want to help their fellow man. We need to remember this as we read and hear the negative in the media.

Thanks to private donations by individuals, companies and nonprofits such as Americares and Project Hope, we are still receiving the supplies we need to keep the hospital running. Our food shortage has ended thanks to the generosity of Malteser International who is financing the shipment of truckloads of food from the Dominican Republic. God has blessed us in this time of tragedy with the many people who make the Miracles at Hopital Sacre Coeur happen.

Peter Kelly M.D.
President, the CRUDEM Foundation

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Today our patient census is 329 in our temporary Tent hospital and 70 in what we are now calling the old hospital. We have discharged over 80 patients to local missions, to families in Milot who have offered to share their homes and some we helped return to Port au Prince. The influx of new patients has decreased to transfers of patients from other facilities that require specialized care that only Hopital Sacre Coeur can offer.

We need at least 20 nurses a week to help care for the increased inpatient volume. Orthopedic and general surgery teams are busy doing reoperations, debriding wounds and infections, treating burn patients and caring for our usual patient volume. Our Haitian staff continues to run our outpatient clinics and our visiting subspecialty teams are returning at their scheduled times. Last week we had a maxillofacial surgery team who treated facial fractures from the earthquake and dermatologists who provided postop wound care and treated clinic patients.

It is now important for us to create rehabilitation services for these patients. Physical and occupational therapists have started to come and are getting the patients up and moving around. Dr Lovejoy, an orthopedic surgeon who was there the week after the earthquake, is assembling a prosthetic lab in a container that can be shipped to our hospital. This will allow us to produce artificial limbs on site for the many amputees.

As we increase our services and inpatient beds we increase our overhead. Our annual budget before the earthquake was $1.8 million. It looks like we will at least double our size which will double our overhead to $3.6 million. The construction plans that we had initiated before the earthquake will have to be revised and our original estimate of $5 million for new construction and renovation will also increase.

The generosity in donations has been inspiring. Many different schools and churches have raised thousands of dollars to help us care for the patients. Individuals have given in many different ways. A typical example occurred when one of our large surgery teams was trying to get to the airport for their flight. They contacted a local cab company in Fort Lauderdale, Ambassador Taxi, and asked for 4 cabs. When the drivers heard that they were going to Haiti ( the drivers were Haitian) they provided the taxis for free.

Please continue to keep our hospital employees, volunteers and the Haitian people in your prayers. We are still struggling to obtain food for the patients. We continue to need donations to enable us to provide the increasing need for care. We will continue to need volunteers, especially nurses, to come to Hopital Sacre Coeur. This will all be accomplished through your prayers and efforts.

Peter Kelly
President CRUDEM Foundation
www.crudem.org

Please visit our website www.crudem.org for recent footage from the hospital, pictures from volunteers, TV and other news articles. We are also on twitter and facebook crudem_haiti.