Haitian Hospital Isolated by Hurricane Matthew (Update–October 8, 2016)

 

Hopital Lumiere–Bonne Fin, Haiti (October 8, 2016)

I posted here about Hopital Lumiere, the Haitian hospital isolated by the hurricane in the mountains of southern Haiti. This is a hospital that has served southern Haiti since the late 70’s. Many patients lives have been saved at Hopital Lumiere and its outpatient clinics over the years.

I received this paraphrased text (with some direct quotes) and photos from employees of the hospital just now (October 8, 2016)—

“We do not have any food providers for the community or the patients. You can see the despair on their faces. The hospital employees and patients are hungry.”

“The patient with the mangled extremity above was with his father in a church during the hurricane. The church collapsed and his father was killed. Only a few people in the church survived. He was operated at 2 AM this morning. The patient said before surgery that his stomach hurt more from hunger than did his injured leg. This patient had not eaten or drank since October 4 (four days ago).  After surgery the surgeon “opened his fanny pack at 5 AM and gave the patient a small morsel of bread wrapped in a napkin. Before I could tell the patient not to eat the napkin, the napkin was swallowed too.”

“We are dealing with septic patients, paraplegic and quadriplegic, and open limb crushed injuries.”

“If no one comes to the rescue…”

Hopital Lumiere–Employee’s home in Bonne Fin. (October 7, 2016)

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org