All of CCH’s earthquake response updates are compiled here (most recent on top).

10/8/21

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As [the HRC] began carrying out rapid assessments the first week after the earthquake, we quickly identified three ways that we could add value to the response:

The first is the need for responsive direct support to earthquake survivors is urgent. As the Coalition team visited hard hit communities, we used our interviews to learn more about neighboring areas and the conditions there. Our team hiked up mountains and through rivers to reach some communities that are very remote and where damage from the quake is extensive. People lost homes, animals and gardens and are now facing the future with no savings or income. While many people initially asked for tarps, food and water, our rapid assessment methodology encouraged people to talk about how they would like to be helped and what resources were locally available. Through interviews and first-hand observation, we learned that most markets have food available. By making cash transfers to affected families, we can help them meet their immediate needs while also buying what they need from their neighbors at the local market, therefore getting those funds into the local economy at this critical moment.

As we talked more with people in Pestel and Corail, we learned that there are no springs or rivers in the region and households rely on individual artisanal water cisterns built into the ground in the yards to catch rainwater and then treat it for drinking. While they initially asked for water, what they really want is to be able to purchase materials to repair their cisterns so they can fill them before the rainy season ends.

While the rainy season is ongoing, everyone whose home was damaged or destroyed is suffering without shelter, and tarps are the first thing that is requested. However, in most of the affected zones, people have adequate space to build temporary shelters in their own yards while they repair or rebuild. For this reason, tin roofing and wood or bamboo posts are preferable, and they are available for purchase on the local market.

The other two priorities that HRC is focusing on over the next few months are: improving coordination at various scales of response in Haiti and promoting best practices and lessons learned.   (* Italicized text above provided by the Haiti Response Coalition)  

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CCH is honored to be part of the HRC and plans to focus our ongoing earthquake response on these efforts. Your donations will support some of the cash transfers that are described above.   As always, thanks for being a part of our Coalition – together we’re transforming lives in Haiti!

9/23/21

On Monday, Abby, Carson and Clark packed up 300 lbs of physical therapy and wound care supplies that are now on their way to Haiti!  Many thanks to Dr. Michele Wiley and Shenandoah University who donated supplies and storage space. And thanks to you generous donors too! Earthquake relief funds you’ve sent will cover the costs to getting everything to Haiti. Once the shipment arrives, the supplies will be put to good use in treating patients at both the CCH PT/Rehab Clinic and the Rehab Clinic in Les Cayes (where we’ve been partnering as part of earthquake response). And we’re not done yet! Another 400 lbs of PT supplies that have been collected by Confluent Health and its partners are shipping to Haiti soon! Those supplies will also be shared with the PT Clinic in Les Cayes as they continue to treat earthquake victims. 

According to World Physiotherapy, there are only 100 practicing physiotherapists in Haiti. That’s 0.09 specialized professionals per 10,000 Haitians. As you can imagine, the need and demand for rehabilitation services far outweighs the availability of care. At CCH we’re committed to doing what we can to serve patients in our Jacmel clinic and share resources with other providers in Haiti.

9/14/21

One month ago today, a 7.2 earthquake devastated southwest Haiti.  CCH staff in Haiti continue responding to earthquake needs, in addition to our regular healthcare and education programming.  Last week we sent another team to Les Cayes where Physical Therapy staff served earthquake victims, and Community Development staff canvassed earthquake damaged towns to assess needs.  Back in Jacmel at the CCH headquarters, our program suite construction was completed so staff can move in and begin using this wonderful new space.  Schools are experiencing some delays to the start of the school year, but CCH teacher and nurse trainings continue so they’re ready to go ASAP.

EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE

CCH sent another team of Physical Therapy and Community Development staff to earthquake damaged areas around Les Cayes last week. CCH physical therapy (PT) clinic staff supported the Fondation Tous Ensemble Rehabilitation Center – the only PT Rehab Clinic serving that region.  That clinic was overrun with patients before the earthquake, serving 50-60 patients per day. Now they have 2-3 times that on a given day. They also have reports of patients far out into the countryside that need help. When CCH met with the clinic’s director and asked what their greatest needs were, she said “extra hands and supplies.” We offered both last week. Our CCH physical therapist and one PT tech worked in their clinic and in a mobile clinic that reached into more remote areas affected by the earthquake.  Nurses from CCH were also supporting these clinics cleaning wounds and offering primary care services.  One PT patient sticks in our minds and offers a welcome ray of hope and joy.  Ivika is an 80 year old lady with plenty of spunk but limited mobility.  She attended one of the mobile clinics last week and was overjoyed to receive a walker.  Click here to view her reaction video.

Our Community Development team was busy visiting remote towns around Les Cayes.  These are places that haven’t seen any aid yet because they don’t have good road access and in some cases are only accessible by hiking for hours.  The Community Development team was administering a survey to local residents to identify what people’s greatest needs are.  Haiti Response Coalition (HRC) developed the survey tool, and it’s pretty neat because it really digs deeper with open-ended questions to get at the root of people’s needs.  For example, a father might say he needs food for his family, but there’s actually food available in his town and what he really needs is money to buy it because he lost his livlihood in the earthquake.  Eventually community needs will be matched with available resources from organizations within the HRC.  This approach should result in a more targeted and less redundant distribution of materials.

OFFICE SPACE

We are thrilled to announce that construction is complete and the CCH Program Suite is ready for occupancy!  This is the 4th quadrant of the CCH building in Jacmel that also houses the Primary Care Clinic, Jim Wilmot Surgical Center, and PT Rehab Clinic.  The space was recently renovated as office space for CCH’s program & administrative staff plus a large flexible meeting space.  This meeting room will have teleconference capabilities and be used for CCH and our partners to hold trainings.  

In the future we plan to add a Teacher Resource Library with computers, books, and classroom materials that teachers & principals can utilize.

Mesi to Wilmot Sanz design firm who designed the layout and other generous donors who made this possible!

BACK TO SCHOOL

Schools were scheduled to begin nation-wide on Sept. 6.  However, with the disruptions from the earthquake in the southwest, the Ministry of Education in Haiti has delayed that national start date for 2-4 weeks depending on schools’ infrastructure needs.  

A few of CCH’s partner schools are having a “soft opening” this week inviting students who are able to come in for extra enrichment time. (Some EMEVO students returned this week – pictured here.) Most partner schools will begin on Sept. 20. But in Haiti, children tend to trickle in to school throughout September and October.
CCH lunches will be served at those partner schools that participate in the nutrition program as soon as they are open, filling hungry bellies and encouraging school attendance.

Last week our school nurses got some additional training from school principals in teaching techniques and classroom management.  We’re delighted that the school nurse program we piloted in the spring is continuing at this fall. Nurses will be stationed a few days each week at 3 CCH partner schools.  They’ll treat urgent health needs and teach healthcare lessons for students.

Thanks for everything you do to support this life-transforming work in Haiti!

8/27/21

The last two weeks in Haiti have been a scramble to save lives and provide basic needs (food, water, shelter, and medical care) to earthquake victims.  Currently the death toll for the August 14th earthquake stands at 2,200 people and about 20,000 more are injured. 

Aid has reached the main cities affected, but many small towns still haven’t received medical care or other necessities. The earthquake and tropical storm created mudslides that have blocked already difficult mountain roads.  With your support, CCH is still on the ground helping earthquake victims.

Last week CCH medical staff ran the emergency room for a badly damaged hospital in Les Cayes.  This week we’re looking into the next phase of disaster recovery.  CCH Clinic Coordinator, Lourdemie Eugene, and CCH Community Development Liaison, Nazaire Leveillé, are back in southwest Haiti this week – fanning out from Les Cayes to reach smaller communities in need.    Lourdemie is connecting with medical centers, delivering medicines and supplies.  Nazaire is meeting with local pastors and community leaders to assess infrastructure damages and community needs. 

CCH is testing a new survey tool developed by the Haiti Response Coalition. The survey will help determine what and where the greatest needs are, and this information will be shared with a large network of organizations.  Then, the needs can be matched with available resources.  

The 2010 earthquake demonstrated a tremendous outpouring of support for Haiti, but also revealed some bottlenecks and duplicative efforts in the overall disaster response.  CCH (and many other partners), are determined to do better this time.  One way that we’re pursuing excellence is by signing the Haiti Response Coalition’s “Pledge for New Minimum Standards in Haiti.” 

Thank you for your continued prayers and support that bless so many in Haiti!

8/21/21

Good Morning Everyone:

I wanted to send a brief message to update you on what you made possible in this last week since the earthquake. We feel your love and prayers and are overwhelmed by your generous outpouring of support. Thank you for trusting CCH to steward your gifts in these times of tremendous need in Haiti.  

The CCH Team from Jacmel was the first to arrive and provide support at Hospital Ofatma in Les Cayes. CCH Physican Dr. Sindy Riche and a small team of CCH nurses ran the hospital’s emergency room all last week, as there was only one other doctor available to serve the hospital. As more and more families arrived from the countryside with injured men, women and children, they gratefully welcomed the arrival of a small team of Canadian nurses on Wednesday, followed by two Haitian physicians from Port Au Prince on Thursday. 

Dr. Riche reflected: “We saved lives every day. There are men and women who would not be here if we were not able to go there and treat them.” One patient had to be resuscitated multiple times during a dicey, 4-hour period Tuesday afternoon. She was ultimately air-lifted to Port Au Prince, where because of a significant influx of patients all at the same time, Dr. Riche was forced to advocate for her care, multiple times, over the telephone. She is now stable and recovering. 

“God sent us to save her – and so many others,”Dr. Riche shared, her emotions still raw.     

Your reach hasn’t stopped at Ofatma, however. The CCH Team was able to provide medicine and supplies to a total of five hospitals in Les Cayes. We were prepared to give supplies to a sixth hospital, Hospital General in Les Cayes, but they let us know that they had what they needed for the time being and encouraged us to share those supplies elsewhere. Delivery of the supplies gave our team ample opportunity to talk with community leaders, including pastors of local churches. These conversations are informing what we do next.  

“There is signficant need for emergency food distribution,” says Dave Pierre, CCH In-Country Director. “Especially for communities in the countryside. People were hungry before the earthquake. It’s even worse now.” 

The CCH Team has returned safely to Jacmel for the weekend, to regroup, plan for next steps and collect additional supplies. We will return to Les Cayes early this coming week to provide continued medical support with Ofatma (and possibly other clinics) and begin distributing food kits in outlying communities.

We also anticipate moblizing additional people to help support broader assessment efforts in and outside of Les Cayes – assessments that will help identify places where aid is needed but has not yet reached.  We’ll share more updates soon. We want you to know what you are supporting, and we invite you to continue praying for these efforts and sharing information about them with others. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions.  

With continued thanks, 

Clark

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8/17/21

Thank you so much to everyone who has reached out, prayed, and donated to help CCH with earthquake relief in the last couple of days!  We feel your love and support. We are stronger together, Coalition!

I’m in close contact with Dave Pierre, CCH In-Country Director, as he coordinates CCH’s response efforts on the ground in Haiti. He’s working closely with CCH Clinic Coordinator Lourdemie Eugene (who was finishing up a week of vacation in Les Cayes – one of the hardest hit areas of the country – when the earthquake struck!) to connect with partners in the affected areas, deliver medical supplies and pharmaceuticals and support ongoing patient care. At two of the three hospitals where much of our support is currently focused, patients are being treated outdoors or in temporary structures due to building damage.    He tells me that many people across Haiti remained afraid to sleep in their homes Saturday night after the earthquake struck. Many stayed up all night or slept outside as aftershocks continued throughout the night. Thankfully the aftershocks petered out on Sunday – just in time for people to try and wrap their heads around the news that Tropical Storm Grace was bearing down on the island nation. More on that in a moment.

 Fortuitously present and thankfully unharmed, Lourdemie was able to visit multiple hospitals in Les Cayes just hours after the earthquake. On Sunday she returned to Jacmel, having a solid understanding of priority needs, and began strategizing a response plan with CCH leadership.  

Here’s what you’ve helped make happen in the last 48+ hours:

• As early as Saturday night, CCH Staff had pulled together loads of much-needed medical supplies and pharmaceuticals from CCH’s depot and pharmacy, from other partners in Jacmel and local vendors. The original plan was to send the supplies to Les Cayes via air on Sunday morning, but our partner MAF had to divert the flights.
• Recognizing that overland delivery was our best option, additional supplies were added throughout the day on Sunday, and everything was packed into CCH’s Big Blue Truck and other vehicles.
• On Monday morning, a small team from CCH departed for Les Cayes to distribute the supplies and help provide much-needed, hands-on support at three hospitals there. The team consists of: CCH Physician Dr. Sindy Richie; CCH Nurses Betty Paul, Ketty Parfait, Dieucile Adonis and Miss Ambroise; together with Dave and Lourdemie. Another local nurse from Les Cayes, Lovely Bed, also joined the team – eager to help. We invite you to pray for them by name!

• Travel was slowed on Monday by the arrival of Tropical Storm Grace, which started to dump rain on the island mid-morning. CCH’s Clinic in Jacmel closed early afternoon so that staff could travel home safely before the worst of the storm arrived. But the Big Blue Truck kept going. 
• The CCH Team ran into a roadblock just before Les Cayes, where distraught and frustrated men threatened to take control of the truck and its supplies, but Dave was able to maneuver away from the blockade and wait a safe distance away until police support arrived and cleared the road. The crew was able to restart their journey two hours later and soon arrived in Les Cayes. 
• Supplies were sorted and delivered, amidst the rain. The crew set up tents where they’d planned to stay for the night, but soon the rain made that plan unrealistic. A woman they’d met and was helping to sort supplies offered for them to stay in her home. 

• I texted with Dave this morning and again late this afternoon. Although they awoke to wind and drizzle and the hope that the storm has passed, the rain started again later this morning. Communications have been more difficult as the day progressed.
• There has been significant flooding in southern Haiti, with sporadic landslides – including in Jacmel and in areas severely impacted by the earthquake. We’ve been staying in communication with the team back in Jacmel as they’ve surveyed damage there. The CCH Clinics opened this morning, though there was very little movement in the streets as people assessed their homes and tried their best to begin cleaning up after the night’s downpours. 
• Back in Les Cayes, Dr. Richie and the nurses have been seeing patients all day at one of the hospitals there. More patients continue to arrive as they travel in from the countryside. You can see them here working in one of the tents that was erected outside. 

• Dave and Lourdemie have been delivering additional supplies to other hospitals and clinics in Les Cayes, checking in and learning from community members and other partners as they travel through the stricken areas. The team has even managed to get supplies to some clinics further out – beyond Les Cayes. Although the roads are currently not passable by truck, family members of patients there came and met the team out in the countryside and picked up supplies, carrying them back to their loved ones by foot!

The mood in Haiti right now is “all hands on deck”. CCH is also very active in the Haiti Response Coalition (HRC), a platform that connects the activities and insights of multiple NGOs and networks throughout Haiti. We’re working hard with other HRC members to connect needs to existing resources, to advocate for aid accountability and to promote disaster relief and response efforts that ensure that human rights and dignity are protected during these difficult times. Just today, HRC released this Google Form that invites organizations working in Haiti on earthquake relief to share insight on their current needs and/or resources they have available that could be shared. If you know folks who may be interested to complete the form, please share it with them!    

We are thrilled and so very encouraged to see such strong emphasis on implementing cohesive and deliberate strategies that prioritize Haitian leadership and the mobilization of resources that are already in country. Although CCH is not a relief organization, we take seriously our responsibility and commitment to promote collaborative efforts that equip and empower Haitians to be the changemakers that Haiti needs and deserves.    

Over the next couple of days, we expect to learn more from the CCH Team in Les Cayes. We’ll look to them to recommend where our energy and resources can be most helpful. One additional avenue of response that we’re already exploring is what support a partner Physical Therapy Clinic in Les Cayes may need at this time. We know from experience that many of the traumatic injuries that are suffered during an earthquake require rehabilitative care as people recover. Our partner in Les Cayes runs the only PT Clinic there. I suspect we’ll be able to walk alongside them in important ways in the days to come. We also recognize that needs in the most affected areas are not limited to healthcare. Many schools and churches were also destroyed in the earthquake. As the team assesses priority needs and different ways to partner, we’ll look for ways we can walk together most impactfully. 

What can you do?  

Several of you began donating to CCH’s earthquake response before we even asked for your help! THANK YOU. Right now, your donations are being used to purchase and transport medical supplies, medicines and staff for our relief efforts in Les Cayes. We will funnel earthquake support to the most affected areas and will keep you updated as additional initiatives take shape in our continued collaborative response. You know that we are committed to stewarding your gifts for greatest impact in these times of tremendous need.   

Several healthcare professionals in the US have reached out asking if they can come to Haiti to volunteer with CCH and help with earthquake relief. At this time, we are helping to mobilize Haitian medical professionals and other personnel to assess the situation and treat patients. We are collaborating with hospitals and other partners on the ground to devise a cohesive strategy for aid across the region. That strategy may well involve US volunteers at some point, but we don’t know yet. We’ll alert you if we do decide to mobilize team(s) of US medical volunteers to help. 

Please keep Haiti in your prayers. This feels like a dark time right now. In Haiti. In Afghanistan. In our own personal struggles. But we pray to a good God.  A God who hears and loves and redeems.  “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” – John 1:5.

In solidarity and love,   Clark

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8/14/21

By now you’ve probably heard about the 7.2 earthquake that hit southwestern Haiti this morning.  I wanted to give you an update on what we’re seeing on the ground in Haiti, and how CCH is responding.  We are in communication with Haiti leadership, and we participated in a call with other NGO partners this afternoon.
We’re still gathering and processing information, but here’s what we know:

• Jeremie and Les Cayes (and surrounding areas) are in bad shape.
• Jacmel (where CCH operates in the southeast) did not sustain significant damage, but experienced multiple aftershocks today.  It’s been nerve-wracking for our staff who experienced the 7.0 earthquake in 2010.
• CCH’s Clinic Coordinator, Lourdemie Eugene, was finishing up her vacation in Les Cayes this morning when the earthquake struck.  Praise God, Lourdemie is okay!  She spent the day visiting 3 hospitals in that area.  Two hospitals are unable to treat patients indoors because the buildings were so badly damaged.  One hospital has a severe shortage of doctors and nurses.
• CCH is donating medical supplies to these hospitals that will be flown to Les Cayes tomorrow via Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).  We’re working closely with these partners to see what more we can do together.

As you can imagine, this is devastating for a country already saddled with political strife and a COVID resurgence. Not to mention the psychological/emotional trauma for everyone who lived through the 2010 earthquake.

Please keep Haiti in your prayers. We will share more information as we the situation develops.