I will talk about an aspect of Planting Hope that is exciting to me. To put it simply, space.

Medical care is very different in Haiti than in the U.S. or compared to other developed countries- to state the obvious. Many Haitians have no access to the care they need because it doesn’t exist in Haiti or because they cannot afford it. Very few Haitians have medical insurance and patients must pay for their medical care before they receive it in most instances. There is no guarantee a patient will receive the care they need even if it is available and they can afford it- care given is up to the discretion of the treating physician. In addition, many of our patients live in the mountains and must travel a great distance to get to our clinic- it takes serious effort to come for an appointment, and going to Port au Prince for care in a hospital is increasingly overwhelming.

So, we keep all the above in mind when coordinating care for a patient. As many of you know, we provide outpatient medical services that include a wound care center and an inpatient malnutrition center. The inpatient malnutrition center is currently our only official inpatient facility. However, it is not uncommon that we have 1 or more patients who are not malnourished staying for care. For example, right now, we have an older women staying with us for wound care. She was in a motorcycle accident and she sustained severe injuries to her hand. Lori and our wound care nurses were able to care for the wounds, however, she needs daily wound care and motorcycle rides with these injuries is not ideal. So she stays in an extra bed in a quarantine area in order to receive wound care. We also have a young woman with a severe urinary tract infection (pyelonephritis) who was sick for 2 weeks before coming to clinic. She waited for 2 weeks because she didn’t have money for transport. The patient said she would not go to a hospital if I referred her- she couldn’t afford it and she lives in the mountains and did not want to go to Port au Prince. She is doing much better after IV fluids and continues to receive twice daily IV antibiotics. She stays on a bed in the wound care center- but it’s tight quarters. We literally do not have another space for a patient who may need prolonged care.

The clinic and the inpatient malnutrition center operate in a 2000 square foot area. The CTC remodeled to be the clinic/ wound care center and malnutrition center will offer 12,000 square feet of space! Can you imagine?! We have an area already mapped out to dedicate to patients needing prolonged care. There will be so much more room in the malnutrition center so we can provide better infection control by isolating little ones who have fever. Not to mention other exciting things such as space dedicated for medical education for staff, patient education, space for parents visiting their kids, a PLAYGROUND! for kids who are recovering and have the energy to play. And we can remodel, improve to our hearts content because it is our property. We operate in rented spaces now. And our landlords have been very gracious, but it is still rented space, so remodels/ changes are subjected to the owner’s approval and space constraints. It excites us to invest into our own facility and the future!