Update on Coronavirus

Dear Friends,

This is for your information:

Thanks to a donation from St Alphonsus Hospital (Project Haiti) in Boise, we have been able to renovate a part of the original St Luc hospital, and accommodate it for use as an emergency disaster ward.

At the moment, the emergency is Coronavirus.

We did the work very fast, as the area is a post earthquake structure (10 years old), and bore a heavy cholera burden, and 9 more years of service afterwards. It needed renovation, roof raising, and new bathroom and shower areas, fully tiled.

We can accommodate 40 beds, 4 of which allow for mechanical ventilation.

Even though there are no confirmed cases yet in Haiti, we are already screening outpatients and emergency arrivals for cough, fever, shortness of breath, and triaging them to this center,

We named the center the "Cieslak & Hamilton Wing", in memory of Gary and Bill, whose personal and family involvement with our programs spans decades.

We are working in tandem with St Damien Children's Hospital (NPH). We have staff and patient formation, obligatory hand washing, a moratorium on family visits, and separate staffs for the main hospital and Coronavirus wings, along with appropriate use of the gowns, gloves and masks, of which stocks are very low.

We know that a 40 bed unit is nothing in the face of this unfolding disaster, but doing something to help (rather than nothing) is always worth it. 

Besides, we also join forces with the local health ministry and other hospitals in order to gain strength before this challenge.

We are grateful for so much guidance coming from our affected international partners and friends, especially in Italy and USA.

Here are a few pictures of our center.

We ask for your prayers, and we assure you of ours.

We need and appreciate any support your can give.

Fr Rick Frechette CP DO

March 17, 2020

Port au Prince