Hello!
Happy holidays. We hope you are enjoying the season.
You may remember the story we shared a few weeks ago about 4 young children who needed blood transfusions to survive.
We shared about how there wasn’t any donated blood available for the babies in Northern Haiti. But that we were able to purchase blood that had come into Haiti from the Dominican Republic.
While we were happy these 4 littles ones got what they needed, we wanted to learn why blood was suddenly so difficult to find. We knew that other mothers wouldn’t be so lucky. We didn’t want the new normal to be purchasing blood every time a client from one of our Maternity Centers or one of the children at our Malnutrition Treatment Centers needed blood.
Along our quest for answers we learned that
1) blood donation centers in Northern Haiti couldn’t take blood donations because they did not have the supplies (pouches, tubes, etc.)
2) that the Red Cross no longer responsible for testing blood and the delivery of supplies
3) The Red Cross has not made the transition to partnering with the Ministry of Health.
As we learned about why blood wasn’t available and tried to figure out how we could change this, we met some really cool people.
We worked closely with a team of technicians at the blood donation office in the town of Ft. Liberté, to figure out what they would need to hold a blood drive.
Then, we worked tirelessly—visiting offices, sending emails, and calling high-ranking officials—until the necessary supplies had arrived safely to their office.
By promising to host and organize a blood drive with at least 40 donors, we were able to move the supplies that had been so illusive in the previous months.
Then came the big day!
Second Mile staff members donated 1/3 of the donations we hoped to receive during the campaign. When they finished, they went into the local community to find others who willing to donate.
12 students from a local nursing school jumped at the chance to contribute during the blood drive.
All in all, the two-day drive was a huge success.
And we are thrilled for the 40 adults, or as many as 160 infants, whose lives will be saved because of this effort.
After making our donations in the Ft. Liberté donation office, our team made it’s way down the street to the public hospital of Fort Liberte where we had a second project underway.
Last month, after being told time and again that the local hospitals did not have adequate supplies of oxygen, we sat down with the expert technician and the representative of the Haitian Ministry of Health in Fort Liberté who is responsible for supplying oxygen to hospitals in the North.
We learned that the oxygen supply issues were not related to a lack of diesel fuel as we had initially suspected.
The oxygen generator was simply overheating and could not be run more than two hours a day.
In an effort to make oxygen more widely available to the critically ill around Northern Haiti, we procured a specialized fan which instantly improved the function of the machine.
Next, we built an overhang to protect the container that holds the oxygen generator from weather and sun.
The machine now has the capacity to generate oxygen 12-14 hours per day.
Our team learned a few valuable lessons in our quest for blood and oxygen:
The problem isn’t always what it appears to be at the surface.
Persistence pays.
And being a part of something bigger than ourselves feels good, pretty much 100% of the time
As always, we thank you for being a part of something “bigger.”
We think of you every time we are able to tackle a problem that seems insurmountable.
You make the impossible possible.
And we couldn’t do it without you.
❤️ Courage from Haiti