Since 1999, Healing Art Missions has helped support the people of Haiti. Our focus is to provide partnership and funding to rural communities that lack access to basic resources, such as healthcare, education, employment, and clean drinking water. The lack of these resources creates the condition of structural poverty. We aspire to support Haitians by helping connect them with access to these fundamental human rights.
OUR STORY
Healing Art Mission (HAM) founder, Dr. Tracee Laing, first came to Haiti as part of a medical mission in 1997. While visiting the community of Dumay, she learned the community needed and wanted a medical clinic to address their ongoing and long-term health needs. In 1998, Healing Art Missions was founded in an effort to create a community-based healthcare system to rural Dumay. Since the clinic was founded, there have been additional fundamental needs addressed by HAM such as the support of an elementary school program on the north coast, access to clean water programs, and health outreach programs.
our name
HAM founder, Dr. Tracee Laing, graduated from Ohio State University with a dual major in pre-med and fine art. So when she went to Haiti in 1997 she saw not only the tremendous medical needs of the people, but also the beautiful handcrafted art the Haitians created. Realizing the suitcases she and her teams used to transport the medications needed for their medical missions would be empty at the end of the trip, she had an idea: purchase Haitian art from the artists to bring back to Ohio. In Granville, she organized a silent auction of Haitian art in which she raised awareness and funds for her work in Haiti. With the funds raised from this event, Dr. Laing purchased medications for her next mission to Haiti, and came upon the name for the non-profit organization she would create to support her work, Healing Art Missions.
impact
HAM works with rural partner communities in Haiti to provide access to healthcare, education, and clean water where previously there was none. As a result, these communities experience measurable improvements in their overall health and vitality.
In 2022, HAM:
Educated 337 students pre-k to grade 9
Provided literacy courses to 33 adults
Offered 754 orthopedic consultations and completed 50 orthopedic surgeries
Conducted 377 surgical consultations and 250 general surgeries
Treated 119 wound care patients
Facilitated 216 mid-wife assisted deliveries and 596 prenatal consultations
ham leadership in haiti
Jean Fritz Jacques, M.D.
Haitian Medical Director
Dr. Jacques was born in Petit Goave, about 45 miles southwest of Dumay. He was educated at Faculté de Médecine at L'université d'État d'Haïti (UEH) in Port-au-Prince. His medical specialty is general surgery and he is one of only 100 general surgeons in Haiti. He is a hernia repair expert and a member of the organization Hernia Repair for the Underserved. Dr. Jacques became the medical director of Healing Art Missions in 2010 and was instrumental in facilitating HAM’s response to the devastating earthquake that racked Haiti and the cholera outbreak that followed. Jacques leads all medical efforts in Haiti, including coordinating the medical teams, managing the supply chain, and overseeing business operations. He is a highly respected physician whose expertise is sought out by medical leaders in Haitian hospitals and the Haitian government. Dr. Jacques has also been an invited surgical guest at many U.S.-based hospitals. He lives in Port-au-Prince with his family.
Jean Herard Charles
Haitian Operations Manager
Jean Herard Charles, referred to as Charles, was born in Port-de-Paix on the north coast of Haiti, where he still lives today with his wife Angeline and their children Jeffenson, Sentrina, Kevenson and Sophia. He did his early schooling in Port-de-Paix, but lived in Florida in his late teens and early 20’s where he learned English and attended Junior College before returning to Haiti. Charles began working for HAM in 2002 as a translator and was then trained as an eye technician. Charles quickly came to run the eye clinic, a job he held until its closure in 2022. In 2008 Charles started a primary school in Baudin-Gros Sable, his neighborhood in Port-de-Paix, because of the lack of an affordable school in the area. Beginning in 2009, HAM began contributing financial support of the Charles Salomon Primary School. In 2017, Charles was elected mayor of the Baudin-Gros Sable area of Port-De-Paix.
ham leadership in the usa
Connie Skingel
Executive Director
Connie Skingel joined Healing Art Missions as the organization’s first Executive Director in 2022. She is responsible for all U.S.-based business operations and fundraising. Connie started her career in healthcare as a medical assistant, but shifted into the nonprofit sector in 2004. Before joining the team at HAM, she worked at the Center for Inquiry, Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin College, and the Veale Foundation. Having worked with international partners in Kenya in a previous role, Connie came to HAM with a deep passion for supporting international communities and building strong community networks. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from Hiram College, a Master of Arts Degree in Communication and Leadership from Gonzaga University, and doctoral coursework in Global Leadership at Indiana Tech. Connie lives with her husband and children in Cleveland, Ohio.
Tracee Laing, M.D.
Founder and Medical Director
Dr. Tracee Laing grew up in Michigan and Ohio, and received her BFA from OSU in 1982. In 1988, with 2 young children at home, she began OSU College of Medicine. After graduation, she then went on to a Family Practice Residency at Mount Carmel Medical Center, completing her medical education in 1995, at which time she started her own Family Practice in Granville, Ohio. In 1997, patients invited her to serve in Haiti as a medical volunteer. She accepted, and the following year, Dr. Laing began the process of incorporating the non-profit organization, Healing Art Missions, in order to raise money for her projects in Haiti. In 2000, she partnered with the Bethel Church of Haiti to open a full-time primary care clinic in Dumay, Haiti. After thirteen years of juggling a full-time medical practice and running Healing Art Missions, spending every vacation traveling to Haiti, Dr. Laing retired from her practice in 2010 so that she could devote her full attention to volunteering. Besides serving as the founding director of Healing Art Missions, she is also a board member and volunteer for the Community Health Clinic in Newark, Ohio.
Paul B. Hammond
Director of Operations
After 30 years of managing professional theater companies, and raising 3 children in California, Paul chose to downsize his life and turn his attention to performing humanitarian work as a full-time volunteer. He performed disaster response work in the U.S. and internationally for various groups between 2006 and 2009, traveling from Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina to Bangladesh after Cyclone Sidor. In 2008 Paul went to Haiti after a series of hurricanes swept through Haiti, living in Port-au-Prince and working with several aid organizations There he was introduced to Dr. Laing and Healing Art Missions and soon began assisting with HAM’s operations in Dumay. Realizing that his values and work ethic were completely in sync with those of Dr. Laing and Healing Art Missions, in 2009 he joined Dr. Laing in both running of the organization full time and as her life partner.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tracee Laing, MD (Founding Director) - See bio above.
Paul B Hammond - See bio above.
Keith Hare - A senior software consultant living and working in Granville, Ohio has been on the HAM board since 2009.
Leslie Mihalov, MD - A retired emergency pediatrician and Director of Medical Operations at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She joined the HAM Board in 2002.
Connie Ray, Pharm D - A pharmacist living and working in the Columbus, Ohio area and has been on the HAM board since 2003.
Jack Blanks - Began his career in international relief and development serving in the Peace Corps. Since then he's served as Director and Executive Director for multiple international relief and development organizations including Project HOPE, and Seva Foundation. Jack is retired from full-time work, spending his time volunteering and consulting for international development programs. Jack currently lives in Sacramento, California.
Jeff Hammond - Jeff is based out of California and is a documentary film maker and photographer working with foundations, non-profits and academic institutions. Jeff and his wife Doriana own West Cliff Creative, a Multi-Media Production Company. Lisa R. Thuer-Winkelfoos - Lisa is the Director of Development at the Women’s Sports Foundation and a yoga instructor. She lives in Lakewood, Ohio. Dena Williams Rapley - Dena is a Relationship Manager at FutureGood Studio. She lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan.