Hello again!
And welcome back to our Sixty Seconds of good news from Haiti.
Last week we told you about how Follow-up visits are an important time for children and caregivers to reconnect with the Second Mile Haiti staff. They are also a key part of our commitment to support families long after they leave our centers.
But we didn’t get to share the what and the who!
Let’s start with the who!
Who comes to Follow-Up visits?
Children of all ages, from all years of recovery.
We still see families who spent time at our center 10 years ago! Gasp!
But many of the kids we see most frequently recovered from Malnutrition in the last two to 3 years. Like Roudnaelle, age 7, who spent time at the center with her mom and brother in 2017.
They both have their school tuition fees paid through our school program and Roudnaelle recently benefitted from the dental and vision clinic we held for Second Mile nutrition program graduates.
Her eye exam resulted in the snazzy glasses you see below.
She’s currently Dream’n Big from the first grade.
At the follow up appointments we check their weight and other indicators to make sure their in good health—prepared to give them medication, nutritional supplements, or support the family with a trip to the local pediatrician if they aren’t doing well.
We don’t want a common childhood illness—like a virus or an ear infection—to set a fragile child back even further, and so, if they’ve been sick recently, we may send them home with some high calorie supplements or extra micronutrient powder that parents can mix in their food.
If the child really isn’t doing well, we may have the family stay for the evening so we can accompany them to a consultation at the hospital the following day.
But fortunately, this is rare occurrence!
Out of 1,776 follow-up visits, there were only 7 children that required a more thorough medical check-up by a local pediatrician and not once did we need to re-admit a family to our center! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Children who have recovered from Malnutrition more recently are more at risk for relapse. And so these visits are more crucial and more frequent to allow for closer monitoring.
Just one look at kids like Woodley—who spent time at our center with his mom in 2023—and it’s easy to see that they’re on the right track!
He is 12-months-old now with not of a hint of the fever, dehydration, and gastrointestinal illness that plagued him back in June.
Most of the time, the same parent or caregiver that stayed with their child at our is the one to bring them back for a follow-up check-in.
But since many of those parents are busy tending to the businesses they launched with support from Second Mile Haiti, sometimes we see dads, older siblings, or another family member.
Woodley’s Dad is always present at his follow-up visits and makes sure to remind the team how grateful he is for the support his son and wife received at Second Mile Haiti.
When you support our mission, you make this continued care for some of the Haiti’s most fragile children possible.
Thank you for helping to keep families together in Haiti.
Sending ❤️