Everything is Possible--June 2016

Yolanda (Photo by Karen Bultje–March, 2016)

Haiti’s problems seem insurmountable but they are not. The will has to be there to solve them.

I examined Yolanda for the first time in September 2015 and posted about her here.  Yolanda was a nine year old sweet little girl who was living in a hot and dusty refugee camp on the Haitian-Dominican border. Her family had been threatened while living and working in the Dominican Republic so they left for the border along with 60,000 other people of Haitian descent.

Yolanda has Hirschsprung’s disease which is a condition that affects the large intestine (colon) and causes problems with passing stool. She was born with this problem (congenital) and had underwent an emergent colostomy in the Dominican Republic several months before. However, the colostomy needed to be reconnected.

We were able to move Yolanda and her mother from the refugee camp to Port-au-Prince where they lived with a friend of ours, Karen Bultje.

Karen arranged surgery for Yolanda with Dr. Henri Ford and his team when they visited Haiti in March. Dr. Ford had made history last year as leader of an international team which successfully separated conjoined twins in Mirebalais, Haiti.

Dr. Ford showed that with proper preparation complex surgeries can be done in Haiti even when the common person has no access to a clean glass of water. Can’t the basics of society including education, public health, passable roads, sustainable electricity, elections and a functioning government also be accomplished in Haiti? I believe they can.

Yolanda has now recovered and she and her family are now living in a village in Haiti away from the refugee camp. Many families like Yolanda’s have been moved from these terrible camps.

Good things can and do happen in Haiti. Talented and focused Haitians with a supportive international team have just proven this with Yolanda. We just have to have the will, preparation, and perseverance to accomplish the goal.

Yolanda (Photo by John Carroll–September 17, 2015)

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org

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5 replies on “Everything is Possible”

David E Volk

says:

June 1, 2016 at 1:11 pm

Thank you for the great update.

REPLY

Len

says:

June 1, 2016 at 8:34 pm

I had the privilege to meet Yolanda and her mother. I am a friend of Karen Bultjes and spend time there every year. Thank you for the work you do and for sharing.

God Bless.

REPLY

John Carroll, MD

says:

June 1, 2016 at 9:45 pm

Dear David and Len,

Thank you both for your comments and for caring.

john