Dear friends,
As I’m sure you’ve read, in much of Haiti, the current violence and instability is some of the worst we’ve seen in four decades. Officials speculate that up to 90% of Port-au-Prince is controlled by gangs, and after a spree of police killings earlier this year, indiscriminate violence and kidnappings are now also a daily threat in the more rural Artibonite department where we provide care.
As the Executive Director of Zanmi Lasante (as PIH is known in Haiti), I am responsible for my team. The expert caregivers and support staff on our team have dedicated their time and effort to making health care available as a human right in Haiti. Almost every single one of them are Haitian themselves. This is our fight.
We have had to adjust hours and schedules, relocate staff and patients, and restrict some of our facilities to only basic triage. Many of our team have gone months without seeing their families, sleeping at our facilities to reduce travel risks. At some sites conversations between patient and doctor are frequently interrupted by gunfire.
In moments of hardship and uncertainty, we can be tempted to focus only on the threats, to shrink ourselves and our ambitions out of fear. That hasn’t happened for me for one simple reason: The actions of my team and their patients, actions which are simply overwhelming in their bravery, professionalism, and sheer grit.
Our team has found ways of keeping health care available to the millions of people who rely on us across Haiti. I cannot share the details of many of these operations without bringing even greater risk to our team and patients. But I can share a story of hope, and trust you to know it represents a small slice of the daily valor and tender caregiving that defines Zanmi Lasante.
The story exists in a single photo. Last Thursday, our team performed a C-section at University Hospital in Mirebalais after a mother arrived experiencing complications in her pregnancy. She traveled through chaos to seek our care, and in doing so, she probably saved her child's life as well as her own.
