Dear Friends,
The Healing Art Missions team in Haiti is thankful for the continued support of our U.S.-based partners as we continue to provide needed healthcare in Haitian communities. Last year was particularly difficult as we faced numerous challenges due to the gang fighting, risk of kidnapping, political instability, supply shortages, food scarcity, and cholera. Unfortunately, these difficulties continue to plague Haiti, however, Healing Art Missions is part of the solution and, together, we are making a positive difference for many people.
As you know, late last year we had to leave our clinic in Dumay due to the dangerous conditions. Although this was very difficult and terrible news, it has actually offered Healing Art Missions the opportunity to put down roots in the Nippes Department, which is a safer, more stable community and will be better for our operations in the long run.
The local government in the Nippes Department has welcomed the Healing Art Missions team with enthusiasm and we are currently supporting a local hospital, Ste. Thérèse de Mirogoâne, which would struggle to remain open and to provide many needed services without our help. Since August of 2021, we have been providing 100% of orthopedic surgery and consultations, and during the recent lock down, due to the fuel and political crisis, we provided 100% of anesthesiologist care and 100% of anesthesiology drugs as well. Additionally, we are supporting more than two-thirds of the surgical activity in the Nippes region and each month I travel to Port-Salut in Cayes to perform surgery on children, which would not be possible without Healing Art Missions surgical missions there.
It is our great hope to build a clinic in this region in the coming year. There is a tremendous gap in basic healthcare that Healing Art Missions could fill for the people in the area.
Our intervention in the south regions aligns with the 2015 Lancet Commission vision of “universal access to safe and affordable surgical and anesthetic care when needed, as surgery is an indivisible and indispensable part of healthcare to prevent that easily treatable conditions do not become diseases with high mortality rates and to protect the underserved from the impoverishment or catastrophic expense of full direct payment for surgical and anesthesia care’’. The Lancet Published: April 28, 2015.
As an old Haitian adage says, ‘it is in difficult times that we recognize true friends’ while many big NGOs have closed their doors and left the country, Healing Art Missions as a strong small NGO has survived and adapted and continues to be held up as the gold standard for NGOs in Haiti by the Haitian authorities and by the medical community. With your continued support we will be able to make a positive difference in the lives of many Haitians in the coming year.
Once again on behalf of Haitian people and Healing Art Missions family, thank you for your crucial support and I wish you a blessed 2023—
Dr Jean Fritz Jacques, MD, MBA, CEO Medical Director, HAM