Mission Trip - March 2021
Click on the arrow to look at pictures of the trip
March 2021 Mission Team
This dedicated team traveled to Gandou during March to hold a delayed medical trip. The team worked with our Haitian physicians, dentists, nurses, health workers, and translators to hold a successful medical and dental clinic. During the week, the team saw 937 patients in the medical clinic and 268 patients in the dental clinic. The physicians also saw most of the children in our malnourished program and several patients in our referral program. They also met with the local midwives and provided them with much needed supplies.
In addition to medical care, our team worked on several of our other programs as well. Team members met with families in our Family Empowerment program to assess their needs and see how we can empower them to improve their situations. We also met with individuals in the Micro Loan and Goat Programs. We had the opportunity to visit some of the recently rebuilt or repaired homes in the community as well.
In addition to supporting the medical and dental clinics, our maintenance team worked on the water supply to the Gandou area. There is a capped spring that feeds a small concrete reservoir near the parish center. The line from the spring to the reservoir was damaged and the reservoir was unusable. Our team worked with local men to dig up and repair the line. Fr. Voltaire recently sent an update of the reservoir that it is now full. The team also assessed the school roof to see what needs done to install gutters and downspouts that would allow the school to collect rain water. Currently the students are carrying water to the school each day.
Although we have four nurses and six health workers employed year-round to provide a basic medical clinic and run our malnutrition, hypertension, and referral programs, there is still no physician serving our community. We are currently talking to Haitian physicians about the possibility of working full-time in our clinic.
Back Rows: Peterson, Mark Nethercutt, Guito, Harry McCullough, Beverly Meyer, James Dickey, Melissa Lecher, Walfis, Joe Rennekamp, Rigaud, Joseph
Third Row: Joseph, Stephanie Gunselman, Fr. Voltaire, Jamila Gray, Hannah Commarford, Linda Weiss, Dan Weiss
Second Row: Lordena, Saint Germain, Dorothy Wilkes, Frantzo, Jouissaint
Front Row: Patrick, Dr. Teriya Richmond, Cliforde, Juien