Introducing Our New US Executive Director, Connie Skingel

Given nearly a quarter-century of clinic development and change, HAM’s USA based management and fund raising duties have also grown exponentially, even as our “staff” has remained primarily volunteer. Thus we are very excited to announce a milestone in our planning for a more sustainable future: we have hired an Executive Director to run U.S. operations and funding development. Friends and supporters of HAM and the Haitian populations, I am extremely pleased to introduce HAM’s new Executive Director, Connie Skingel!

Connie has an extensive nonprofit background and a personal passion for our mission. She will work from her home office in Cleveland, Ohio, which will allow Paul Hammond and me to transition from day to day business management into a governance role. Connie asked me to share with all of you that she is “truly grateful for the opportunity to work alongside the people of Haiti and is amazed by the generous spirit of the HAM community.” I hope you will take a moment to reach out to Connie to welcome her. She can be reached at connie@healingartmissions.org.

Staff Highlight - Merlus Blondyne

I’m Merlus Blondyne. I am 26 years old and from Cap Haitian, the second largest city in the country. I live in the plains. I am married and have only a daughter who is now nine months old. I studied Computer of Science at INUKA UNIVERSITY in the capital city.

I am very happy to be the Executive Assistant of Healing Art Missions, an organization which brings medical aid to the underprivileged population of Dumay, and to give my contribution by managing patient data, coordination of activities, and also managing the patient appointments at the center. My goal as the Executive Assistant is to make smart decisions to keep the Center running smoothly.

I chose my profession to be able to create useful tools for my community and work to improve the productivity of companies in the field of health and scientific research because nowadays computers are essential and omnipresent in our lives. I am happy to be part of the HAM team.

NY Times: Investigating Haiti’s ‘Double Debt’

We urge you to read this recent NY Times Series which provides great insight into the role Haiti’s history played in the ongoing economic and political crisis.

An Important Collaboration

Socio-political violence continues to challenge the life of anyone currently living in Haiti, making it difficult to even ship important medical supplies into Haiti and putting the Haitian people at greater risk daily. With fewer outside Non-Governmental Organizations that have worked in Haiti for decades and continue their commitment to remain working in-country, depend more than ever before on collaborating and working together and share what limited resources are available.

Healing Art Missions’ (HAM) would like to thank Father Rick Frechette, who runs two hospitals in the Port-au-Prince area, St. Damien’s Hospital pediatric hospital, and Saint Luc Family Hospital, for supporting HAM by offering needed equipment and professional assistance during this difficult time.  Dr. Tracee Laing, HAM’s Founder, first met Fr. Rick, following the 2004 coup overthrowing then president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.  It had become too dangerous for Dr. Tracee to bring teams with her on her four annual visits to Haiti, so she had time to join Fr. Rick’s team, serving in Cité Soleil (one of the most notorious slums in Haiti), and volunteering at Sisters of Charity hospitals in the PaP area.

Fr. Rick Frechette, D.O. and Dr. Paul Farmer, are the two leaders in Haiti who most influenced Dr. Tracee as Healing Art Missions was being established and finding its way over 20 years ago.

Father Rick was born in the U.S. in 1953 and graduated from Assumption College in Massachusetts with degrees in math and philosophy. He continued his studies at St. John’s University in New York studying theology as a seminarian and was ordained a priest in 1979. Following a few years as a parish priest in Baltimore, Fr. Rick became a Passionist priest in 1979 with his goal to minister to the spiritual health of humanity. In 1983 he began working in Mexico,  joining Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH), Spanish for Our Little Brothers and Sisters, an organization committed to creating life changing opportunities to disadvantaged, vulnerable, and disabled children and youth living in extreme conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean. While working with NPH in Mexico and Honduras, Fr. Rick realized that in order to actually make a difference, “to minister to the children’s physical needs,” he would need a medical degree, which he received in 1998 from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine.

For over 30 years now, Fr. Rick has overseen NPH Haiti’s St. Damien 240-bed pediatric hospital, which provides long-term care to critically ill children and outpatient services to children and adults each year. Additionally, he has managed the operations of the NPH residential homes, schools and various community service programs

Fr. Rick has stepped up to help HAM over the years, including accompanying Dr. Tracee in 2007 to HAM’s Dumay clinic after the kidnapping, in Dumay, of Pastor Nathan Dieudonne, who at the time managed the clinic. The kidnappers were still in the area and threatened to kidnap leaders associated with the clinic. NPH played a key role in the response to the devastating 2010 earthquake in PaP.  Dr. Tracee and Dr. Leslie Mihalov, E.R. pediatrician, long-term HAM medical volunteer and member of HAM’s Board of Directors, volunteered at St. Damien’s Hospital, and worked with teams, coordinated by NPH, serving tent camps housing survivors of the earthquake.

In April, Dr. Jacques, HAM’s Haitian CEO and Medical Director, happened upon Fr. Rick at a collective meeting regarding humanitarian efforts underway in Haiti.  Fr. Rick inquired about how Tracee and the HAM Clinic were doing. Jacques told Father Rick about the two regions where Ham is focusing medical services, currently the area’s most adversely impacted by the gang situation in Haiti: the Centre de Sante de Dumay in the Croix-des-Bouquets region, and the Surgery Outreach in the Nippes region.

Following their initial meeting, Fr. Rick visited HAM’s Dumay clinic and continued his dialogue with DR. Jacques. The result of that visit netted HAM’s Dumay clinic a temporary anaesthesia machine, while the St. Damien Hospitals technicians try to find replacement parts for HAM’s broken machine, a portable X-ray machine that will help with the multitude of gunshot victims Dr. Jacques treats weekly, and eight hospital beds. Additionally, Fr. Rick will work with Dr. Jacques to advocate with the Haitian police and the gangs, to provide a humanitarian corridor so medical staff, medical suppliers, and patients can safely access both the Dumay clinic and the hospitals in Nippes.

Haïtien Flag Day, L'Union fait la Force

Each year on May 18th, the Haitian people celebrate an important national holiday, Haitian Flag Day, the anniversary of the date of the Haitian flag's adoption in 1803. The country’s motto, L'Union fait la Force (translated as, “with Unity there is Strength”), dates back to the creation of the National Plan and is said to be the cornerstone of Haitian beliefs. The country-wide celebration of Flag Day is a demonstration of the great pride Haitians hold of their heritage as the only country where slave freedom was taken by force, and marks the only successful slave revolt in modern times.

To honor this important milestone in Haiti’s independence, in the northern city of Port-de-Paix the students of Charles Solomon School actively participate in the Flag Day Parade each year. Costumes the color of the Haitian flag are created, along with lively dance routines which students from Pre-K through 9th Grade practice for weeks to perform in the parade. The Charles Solomon School is primarily funded by Healing Art Missions’ (HAM) as part of our commitment to provide resources and funding to communities that lack access to basic resources, such as healthcare, education, employment, and clean drinking water. Haitians have great pride in their country, and participation in the annual parade provides students an active way to connect with their history and show their love of country. Lead every year by the school’s founder and the eye technician at HAM’s Dumay Clinic, Jean Herard Charles, over 350 of the school’s students participate in the parade in costume performing dances and songs to honor their hard-won freedom.

The first Haitian flag was created during the Arcahaie Congress, Dessalines, on May 18, 1803. By removing the white band from the French flag, which was used in Haiti during the French rule, and thereby creates the first Haitian flag, symbol of the alliance of blacks and mulattos in their fight for freedom.

HAM adds Sonographer to Dumay Clinic Staff

While Healing Art Missions purchased an ultrasound machine several years ago to provide sonographic imaging to assist with diagnostic exams for both surgeries and expecting mothers, many of our doctors and nurses have not been trained on the use of an ultrasound machine or how exactly to read and interpret the imaging. With the expansion of HAM’s surgical capabilities and Safe Birthing Program in recent years, we determined it was time to bring on a Radiologist/Sonographer to help us optimize the use of our Ultrasound machine and most effectively read the images.

Dr. Edgar Denoit and a clinic resident, examine a soon to be mother.

We would like to introduce you to the newest doctor to join our team, Edgar C. Denoit. Dr. Denoit is originally from Mole Saint Nicolas, in northwest Haiti, but is now living in Port-au-Prince and is single. He graduated from medical school as a general practitioner about five years ago, then three years ago he attended imaging school and became a Sonographer. Since Dr. Denoit was a child he has always wanted to help people and he feels medicine was the best career choice for him, one that offers the opportunity to use his time and abilities to help other people. He is excited for the opportunity to work with HAM, as he says, “because we share this common value of helping the most vulnerable and the neediest people.” He will work at the Dumay Clinic two days per week.

During the first quarter of 2022, the Ultrasound program has performed 87 obstetric exams and 22 non-obstetric exams.

Dr Edgar Denoit interpreting images while a patient is being examined by a resident at the clinic.

 HAM is delighted to welcome Dr. Denoit as one of the newest members of HAM’s medical team.

Introducing Dumay Clinic's New Nurse Midwives

Healing Art Missions’ (HAM) commitment to providing primary health care in the rural community of Dumay took a major step forward in 2017 when we sent two nurses from the Dumay community to train for one year with Midwives for Haiti in the Central Plateau city of Hinche.

Ange-Carmelle Jean, Nurse Midwife, with a new arrival.

Gerilus Eltude, Nurse Midwife, covers 24 hour shifts at the Safe Birthing Center.

The two local nurses that we enrolled in the program in Hinche, Marie Fleur and Joel, graduated in 2018, returning to Dumay to start HAM’s Safe Birthing Program. The program offers comprehensive prenatal and postnatal care open 5 days a week, while OB/Delivery and rehydration services are available 24/7. In April, 2019 we hired an OB/GYN doctor from Croix-des Bouquets to help care for high risk patients and manage surgical care for both the obstetrical and gynaecological needs of our patients. As the program became established, we quickly realized the space at the existing Dumay Clinic building was not adequate to meet the needs of its growing number of patients. We have recently completed construction of an entire new building adjacent to the Dumay Clinic building, our new Safe Birthing Center where we have individual exam and birthing rooms, as well as sleeping quarters for the midwives while they cover 24-hour shifts. To meet the demands of providing 24/7 OB/Delivery and rehydration services, we needed to hire an additional two midwives. Last year, in 2021, the Safe Birthing Program had 1,471 patient visits with 62 healthy births and 158 pre and post-natal visits. In the first quarter of 2022, there have been 288 patient visits and 18 deliveries.

We’d now like to introduce you to our two new Nurse/Midwives.

Ange-Carmelle Jean was born in Jacmel on the south coast of Haiti, but now resides in Port au Prince. She is married, and does not yet have children. Ange-Carmelle says she chose her career because she wants to contribute to reducing the rate of maternal and infant mortality in her country.

Gerilus Eltude is originally from Cap Haitian in the north coast of Haiti. She currently lives in Tabarre, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, with her parents and sisters, of which she is the eldest. Gerilus is single and has no children. She says she has chosen this field of work to be able to help others and to follow her heart.

HAM is excited to welcome these two new Nurse/Midwives onto our team.

HAM’s Pilot Project Adds Partners

In our recent February Newsletter we wrote about Healing Art Missions’ (HAM) new Pilot Project to provide much needed ongoing access to surgical care in the area most affected by last August’s earthquake, the Nippes Department. In advancing this program, which is providing orthopedic and general surgical teams to Sainte Therese Hospital in the city of Miragoane twice a month, Dr. Jacques, HAM’s medical director, has engaged two organizations as partners.

Hernia Help – Hernia Repair for the Underserved (HH), is a group that HAM has worked with for several years, as Dr. Jacques is a hernia repair specialist who has run many trainings and workshops with the group. In late February, St. Boniface Hospital (SBH) in Fond des Blancs, reached out to HH looking for a hernia specialist to perform very complicated surgeries of which the resident surgeons were not sufficiently trained to perform. St. Boniface Hospital, operated by Health Equity International, is a major private hospital located remotely in the Sud Department, south of Nippes Department, which is, as they state on their web page, “dedicated to providing essential health services to the people of southern Haiti, especially the most vulnerable.” In coordination with HH, Dr. Jacques flew to SBH in March to operate on patients suffering from abdominal eventration on six patients and to train the local surgeons on site. While there, Dr. Jacques spoke with the hospital management about HAM’s pilot program to provide surgeons to Sainte Therese Hospital in Nippes, a hospital lacking a well-trained nurse anesthetist. An agreement was reached whereby SBH would receive a nurse anesthetist from Sainte Therese Hospital for continued training in local sedation, and spinal anesthesia. Having a well-trained and effective nurse anesthetist in residency at Sainte Therese Hospital will greatly increase the productivity and efficiency of the surgeons sent to Nippes in HAM’s pilot Program.

We thank HH for their ongoing partnership with HAM, and welcome our newest partner, SBH. HAM strongly believes that such partnerships expand the reach and abilities of the individual organizations, providing a network of knowledge, experience, resources and support. 

What’s Happening at the Charles Salomon Primary School?

The Charles Salomon Primary School (CSPS) was started in 2008 by HAM translator and eye technician, Jean Herard Charles, in the neighborhood of Baudin-Gros Sable in the city of Port-de-Paix on the north coast of Haiti. Healing Art Missions is the major funder for the school. You can read about the history of CSPS at this link. As of today, with a teaching and administrative staff of 35, there are 368 students attending Pre-K through 9th grade, and an additional 57 adults in the Adult Literacy program.

With the ongoing socio-political turmoil and violence in Haiti, Charles and the staff of the school have worked hard to create a safe space amongst the chaos for the students. Fortunately, Port-de-Paix has been mostly free of the gang activity that’s taking place in urban areas and on roadways. The school has been able to remain open and operating most days since the school year started in September. On May 17th, CSPS will celebrate Haitian Haiti Flag Day, where all the students in the school will participate in the annual parade wearing t-shirts designed and printed by the school’s English teacher. Also in May, the school’s soccer team will begin playing in competition. In June, 25 ninth-grade students will take their final exams, the government proficiency tests leading to graduation, and 28 students will graduate from kindergarten, entering grade school.

The goal of the Adult Literacy Program is to get the 57 adult students reading at the sixth-grade level. As such, classes are divided into four grade levels. This program began in 2014 when a group of parents of children going to CSPS requested a literacy program themselves as they were unable to help their children with homework and their studies.

HAM is proud of Charles and all the staff of CSPS who have worked so hard to create a sense of normalcy for the neighborhood children attending the school. Well done!

CONGRATULATIONS to Head-Nurse Guerdy!

CONGRATULATIONS to Mai Marie Guerdy, Centre de Sante de Dumay’s Head Nurse, on her Wedding Day, March 26, 2022! We wish you great happiness in your marriage.