Everyone knows that Haitians are in desperate need of aid. Most people don’t know how they might help. Here is some useful information:
First, Paul Farmer’s organization, Health Partners, can be trusted. Farmer has spent more than two decades working in Haiti and has done extraordinary work.
As Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Tracy Kidder, author of Mountains Upon Mountains,” observes in a New York Times Op-ed: In Haiti “there are the many projects that seem designed to serve not impoverished Haitians but the interests of the people administering the projects. Most important, a lot of organizations seem to be unable — and some appear to be unwilling — to create partnerships with each other or, and this is crucial, with the public sector of the society they’re supposed to serve. . . “
But Kidder observes: “there are effective aid organizations working in Haiti. At least one has not been crippled by the earthquake. Partners in Health, or in Haitian Creole Zanmi Lasante, has been the largest health care provider in rural Haiti. (I serve on this organization’s development committee.) It operates, in partnership with the Haitian Ministry of Health, some 10 hospitals and clinics, all far from the capital and all still intact. As a result of this calamity, Partners in Health probably just became the largest health care provider still standing in all Haiti.
“Fortunately, it also offers a solid model for independence . . ..”
Matthew Holt’s The Health Care Blog has published this appeal from Health Partners, addressed to: Surgeons, nurses, and other medical personnel: “We are deeply grateful for the multitude of people who have contacted us wanting to provide medical assistance. As patients flood to our sites from Port-au-Prince, we’re finding ourselves in need of both medical personnel and supplies. In particular, we need surgeons (especially trauma/orthopedic surgeons), ER doctors and nurses, and full surgical teams (including anesthesiologists, scrub and post-op nurses, and nurse anesthetists).
“If you are a health professional interested in volunteering, please send an email to volunteer@pih.org with information on your credentials, language capabilities (Haitian Creole or French desired), availability, and contact information.”
“As phone lines in Haiti remain down and transportation and communication are difficult, PIH is still in the process of determining where we can set up operations in Port-au-Prince, and how we can transport patients and volunteers to our sites. We will be able to offer more concrete information after these logistical matters are resolved.”
It might seem too late to volunteer. So many Haitians are dead or dying as we speak. But those who were badly injured are hanging on– still hoping for help. Over the longer term, they are going to need physicians and nurses as they try to repair lives. In many cases, those who survived but are injured are orphaned children.
If you’re like me and can’t travel to Haiti, you still can contribute. Send as little a $10—or as much as you can. I’ve contributed to Partners In Health’s website here.
done
Before donating, you may want to check to see if your company will match your donation. That way you can provide even more help.
run 75441 and Robert–
run 75441– Thank you!
And Robert, thank you for the suggestion.
Also done. Good to know a specific organization to add to list for this cause in addition to Doctors Without Borders and Red Cross. To clarify comment within quotes, is that Kidder or Mahar who is on the development committee?
Richard
Thank you–
I’m not on the committee.
Kidder is, which is a good thing–knows much more about Haiti that I do!
In this crisis, I think the main thing is to get money to organizations who know Haiti –and desperately poor countries like Haiti –well enough to know how to get food and water to the people without attracting looters, creating riots etc.
I agree, by the way that Doctors Without Borders is another excellent charity.
They’re actually my favorite charty. (When I did a story about charities perhaps six or seven years ago, I found that Soctors Without Borders’ administrative costs are remarkably low when compared to some other charities.
Most of your donation actually goes to the people you are trying to help.
i really want to help i’m a registered nurse i’m not new in volunteering i already volunteered for two medical missions and volunteered 6mos in a local municipal hospital. I’m from Philippines… is it possible? thnx
Matthew Holt is Kaiser Permanente’s Health Care Blog Brat, who rents himself and his blog out to the highest bidder for speeches at pharmaceutical conventions and other health industry lobbyist galas. He and his blog are industry shills, who cover up Kaiser’s patient privacy fraudulent scheme, “Kaiser Permanente Plunders Patients’ Piece of the Pie,” in concert with the Rawlings Company. Original investigation posted on YouTube and HMO hardball. Robert D. Finney, Ph.D.