Update from the Field
Monday, February 22, 2010
It has been a very busy week for the ground operations in Haiti. A team of 11 doctors and nurses along with SHINE/CDRS staff arrived in Haiti on Feb 12th after missing multiple connections and having a car break down on them. The doctors and nurses serve the patients that visit the Bojeaux Parc medical facility. Team members are also deployed with the US 82nd Airborne to provide mobile health services at various camps. The medical volunteers are also continuing with food distribution activities.
There were a couple of quite days in between over the 3 day period of National Remembrance marking the one month anniversary of the quake from Jan 11-13th. On Jan 14th, over 1,100 patients were attended to. This is an indication that the facility and the medical outreach services continue to fill a gaping hole in the health sector in the Northeastern areas of Port-au-Prince.
For pictures from the project, click here.
Donations can be made:
- online through our secure online donation form (CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!)
- by mail (2 Berkeley St., Suite 210, Toronto, ON M5A 4J5),
- by phone (Toll Free: 1-866-497-IDRF [4373])
- or by texting FOOD or IDRF to 20222 to donate $5.00 to IDRF Haiti Relief Efforts
To learn more about this project, please click here.
Photo compliments CDRS
SHINE/CDRS –Haiti Update from the Field
Monday, February 9, 2010
As part of IDRF’s current relief efforts via our partner in Haiti (CDRS/SHINE), a hospital located Bojeaux Parc is up and running. The doctors stationed there see approximately 300 patients daily and provide medical aid for a range of primary ailments as well as post operative care. Although the overall security situation in Haiti is stable, there are various areas in and around Port-au-Prince which can be hazardous to travel through due to unrest and high levels of tension. As a result, the teams move from place to place strictly as a convoy - watching out for each other.
As one team of doctors left, two new teams have arrived to work at the clinic. On February 11th, an additional team will arrive in Haiti. Fresh teams of doctors are scheduled right into the first week of March. SHINE/CDRS has also been contacted by several individuals who want to return for a repeat deployment, since they had a very positive experience the first time around.
Donations can be made:
- online through our secure online donation form (CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!)
- by mail (2 Berkeley St., Suite 210, Toronto, ON M5A 4J5),
- by phone (Toll Free: 1-866-497-IDRF [4373])
- or by texting FOOD or IDRF to 20222 to donate $5.00 to IDRF Haiti Relief Efforts
To learn more about this project, please click here.
Photo compliments CDRS
Update on Relief Efforts in Haiti
Friday, February 5, 2010
Reports back from IDRF’s disaster response effort via our partner in Haiti (CDRS/SHINE) show that operations are running as smoothly as can be expected in the aftermath of the catastrophe. There are now four vehicles and six employees working around the clock to move food, water, medical supplies and volunteers in and out of the disaster zone.
On Saturday January 30th, 20 bags of rice (110 lb per bag), along with 20,000 bottles of water, some medical supplies and a generator were procured. The generator will be used to power a new clinic. Supplies have been transported 7 hours by road to Haiti from Dominican Republic. We are preparing to distribute food aid to a tent village near Port-au-Price.
SHINE/CDRS is expecting to deploy at least 5 more teams of doctors from the US over the next 5 weeks, and will provide to them the full ground support they need. IDRF funds are being used to procure additional food aid, water and medical supplies. In order that the project can continue using local inputs in the future, local Haitian doctors will be hired to take over the clinics and mobile health units.
One of the big expenses SHINE/CDRS is experiencing is the cost of moving aid supplies and staff to where they are needed.
To date, our partner has successfully:
- Delivered medical care to over 4,000 patients
- Delivered food aid and water to thousands affected by the quake
- Facilitated over 100 medical staff and logistics support volunteers
- Maintained a well-stocked pharmacy
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Secured a compound with professional security staff and around the
clock support with four vehicles and six local employees
We encourage everyone to continue lending their support to this cause. Remember, CIDA’s matching funds are only eligible until February 12, 2010. CIDA –the Canadian International Development Agency –will match dollar-for-dollar donations made by individuals to registered Canadian Charitable organizations, such as IDRF, for a maximum of $50 million dollars. Don’t miss your opportunity to double your donation and to ensure your dollar goes further in helping impoverished people in Haiti. More information about CIDA’s Haiti Relief Fund can be found at www.acdi-cida.gc.ca.
Donations can be made:
- online through our secure online donation form (CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!)
- by mail (2 Berkeley St., Suite 210, Toronto, ON M5A 4J5),
- by phone (Toll Free: 1-866-497-IDRF [4373])
- or by texting FOOD or IDRF to 20222 to donate $5.00 to IDRF Haiti Relief Efforts
To learn more about this project, please click here.
Photo compliments CDRS
How Your Donations Will Help Haiti Earthquake Survivors
January 29, 2010
IDRF has partnered with Comprehensive Disaster Relief Services (CDRS), a project of SHINE USA, working on the ground in Haiti, which provides quick, efficient and compassionate medical and humanitarian relief and disaster recovery operations. As a small but nimble non-profit organization, SHINE/CDRS is able to act swiftly to mobilize volunteers and set up direct relief operations in disaster zones, and has minimal bureaucratic and administrative expenditures.
In Haiti, our partner has set up a staging area at Croix De Bouquets (45 minutes east of Port Au Prince), from which its volunteer doctors, many of whom are Muslims, and its medical teams are providing relief goods and healthcare services to people in the eastern and northern parts of the city, as well as to people who are fleeing eastward and northward away from the city. Its Urgent Care Centers, which are inside secure walled compounds, are serving as outpatient clinics capable of handling minor surgeries. Each centre serves about 120 people a day. Referral lines have been arranged with local field hospitals, so that more serious patients are first stabilized and then transported there. SHINE/CDRS also manages daily mobile health units in vans which drive through affected areas to dispense first aid and continuing care to earthquake survivors, approximately 300-500 daily.
SHINE/CDRS places volunteer doctors, nurses and support staff at each of these facilities and, since the situation continues to be volatile and chaotic, ensures the teams have access to appropriate medical and nutritional supplies and water and are secure.
Our partners are serving any Haitian earthquake survivor that seeks medical attention, regardless of race, religion or gender. In addition, they are working closely with other healthcare agencies on the ground to fill staffing and resource gaps at surrounding field hospitals.
SHINE/CDRS is currently handling around fifty medical volunteers a week, and this is likely to increase to up to 75- one hundred as more medical facilities come online. It is providing volunteer support services - including transport, food, accommodation, communications, and security.
Some of our partner's initial positive results include:
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assistance in the identification and setting up of a multi-agency field hospital at Bojeux Parc, right at the city limits of Port Au Prince, which is now seeing up to 200 patients a day. A fully-fitted air-conditioned operating tent has also been established where volunteer doctors are now able to perform more complicated procedures.
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an active role at the facility, providing ground support, supplies and food/water aid to assist in the running of the hospital, which is also providing post operative and outpatient services.
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facilitating 2-3 mobile health teams a day that go out to poor neighborhoods and provide on-site medical care to earthquake survivors. The more serious patients are transported back to the hospital where they receive further attention. At present, these mobile health units are seeing up to 300 to 500 patients a day.
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Preparing to set up a medical camp at a tent village and hopes to funnel doctors, medical supplies and donations of food and water to the earthquake-affected families seeking shelter in the village.
As the weeks go by, we expect the numbers to fluctuate and the nature of issues and ailments to shift from fractures, infections and dehydration to disease and waterborne illnesses that come as a result of poor nutrition and sanitation. At that point, our teams will focus on primary care, mother and child health and post-operative care. Patients will receive emergency medical care (including diagnostics, small surgery, post operative care, etc.) as well as donated medication, food and water. The more serious patients will continue to be transferred to near-by field hospitals with which referral arrangements have been established.
The need for relief aid continues to be dire, and we encourage you to continue to support IDRF humanitarian efforts for the survivors of the earthquake in Haiti.
Donations can be made:
- online through our secure online donation form (CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!)
- by mail (2 Berkeley St., Suite 210, Toronto, ON M5A 4J5),
- by phone (Toll Free: 1-866-497-IDRF [4373])
- or by texting FOOD or IDRF to 20222 to donate $5.00 to IDRF Haiti Relief Efforts
To learn more about this project, please click here.
Photo compliments CBS News
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck the impoverished country of Haiti on January 12, 2010 shortly before 5:00 p.m. The quake, centered about 15 kilometers southwest of Port-au-Prince (Haiti's capital), has been reported to be the strongest earthquake to hit the poor Caribbean nation in more than 200 years.
Haiti is reportedly one of poorest countries in the Western hemisphere, with approximately 80 percent of its 9 million residents living in poverty.
The quake has collapsed buildings, buried residents under rubble, and has devastated Haiti residence and the international community at large.
The United Nations estimates that approximately 200,000 people have been killed by the quake and another 3 million people have been severely affected.
At this time, IDRF is making initial emergency relief assessments. Relief aid and other assistance will be provided accordingly.
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has announced it will match dollar-for-dollar contributions made between January 12, 2010 and February 12, 2010 to registered Canadian Charitable organizations in response to the January 12 earthquake in Haiti. Amounts raised from fundraising events undertaken to raise money from individuals in response to the earthquake are eligible. This includes fundraisers undertaken by schools, faith-based organizations, clubs, social groups, businesses, incorporated entities, or registered charities.
CIDA will announce at a later date which charities will receive its Haiti matching funds. IDRF is an eligible organization. More information on Haiti earthquake relief fund can be found at www.acdi-cida.gc.ca.
We encourage everyone to lend their support to the impoverished people of Haiti. Your contributions, big or small, will help to provide relief and assistance as well will help set the foundation for long-term rehabilitation and reconstruction in Haiti.
*If donating online, please mark "Haiti Relief" in the comments box.
Sources: CNN; Image compliments: Reuters