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"Reaching out to the heart of our neighbors.”
Obstetrics and Gynecology Needs in Haiti Serge Geffrard, MD
The year was 2006 and we had been working in Fonds Parisiens for two years. I had delayed my Pediatric Cardiology career in the US for one year and took some time off to participate and coordinate mission trips to Fonds Parisiens.
The board of Project Haiti Heart had been discussing renovation plans for the Fond Parisiens medical center. Our plans included construction of an emergency room, an OB-GYN center, a cardiac catheterization lab, several operating rooms, renovation and addition of several ward rooms, and renovation of the outpatient center. We had great visions, however, our financial resources were quite limited. Despite our aggressive endeavors to raise funds for our projects, we only raised about ten percent of what we needed. Some suggested that we keep on trying to raise the necessary funds. Some suggested that we scale down our projects. Others expressed serious doubts about the magnitude of our projects and our abilities to carry them out. As time passed I continued to pray about our projects knowing that we could not accomplish this by ourselves.
In March of 2006, I was in Fonds Parisiens with a group from the University of Florida. One morning we were working at the outpatient clinic when a near-term pregnant woman was brought to the clinic for delivery. The woman had traveled long distances on a donkey before arriving to the clinic. Although the medical center had a delivery room and thousands of deliveries had been performed by the local physicians, we had not been involved in obstetrics care in Fond Parisiens since our inception.
Dr. Maxene Cenatus, one of the local physicians and the medical director, took charge while members of our team provided assistance. The baby was successfully delivered. However, the deplorable conditions under which the delivery was performed made us realize that improvement in obstetrics care in Fond Parisens should be one of our first objectives.
Basic baby delivery materials such as suture materials, peripartum medications, intravenous lines and fluids were either not available or were limited. There was no reliable source of electricity and often times the women are are in labor for hours in a hot dark room. The delivery room lack basic necessities such as sterile gowns. The local physicians told me that after a delivery, they usually run to the showers to sterilize themselves. No doppler or ultrasound machines were available to monitor the baby. In fact, very few women in Haiti have had prenatal ultrasound studies..
Additionally, there were no operating rooms. If after hours of labor and it is determined that a Cesarean section is necessary, the woman has to be sent to Port-au-prince, most of the time with suboptimal transportation methods. Many babies, sadly, never make it to Port-au-Prince.
There was no sterilizing machines. Often times, matches are used to sterilize the delivery equipments. In a country with a high prevalence of HIV and other bloodborne diseases, this method of sterilization is very alarming.
After I returned to the United States, I explained the conditions to the board of Project Haiti Heart and suggested that the construction of an obstetrics center should be the first phase of our construction project. The board agreed with me. After two years of diligent fundraising activities and unmerited grace, we were blessed with the necessary financial means to build the obstetrics center. In January of 2008, we began construction of the obstetrics center.
Click here to view pictures of the obstetrics and gynecology center
Click here to read more Project Haiti Heart articles
Project Haiti Heart PO Box 43332 Atlanta, GA 30336 678-276-9758 E-mail: projecthaitiheart@yahoo.com |
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