Ste Croix Community Health Center

La Gônave, Haiti

Holy Cross Community Health Center is an outpatient clinic presently housed in the Church of Ste. Croix in Nouvelle Citè on the island of La Gônave, Haiti. La Gônave, 60 miles long and 20 miles wide, is situated in the Bay of Haiti, about 16 miles by water from the mainland. There are more than 100,000 people living on La Gônave, with one 20-bed hospital in the in the port village of Anse-à-Galets. The Holy Cross Community Health Center is about an hour's drive into the hills. It is staffed by a doctor, two nurses, a pharmacist and a lab technician and is directed by the local Episcopal priest, Père Fritz Valdema. This center is a joint project between the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti.

Significant problems and challenges addressed by the clinic include: infant malnutrition, dehydration from disease, malaria, tuberculosis, and high blood pressure. Children represent about half of the more than 35,000 people served by the clinic and its 18 community health workers and 8 midwives. Oral rehydration solution provided in outlying communities has had a positive effect as have educational programs such as family planning, nutrition, sanitation practices and STD awareness, in terms of both treatment and prevention.

The Health Center comprises a room divided into two areas by a partition, a small lab, a records room, pharmacy and an outside waiting area. Patients requiring extensive laboratory work or X-rays are referred to the Wesleyan Hospital, located an hour's drive away in Anse-à-Galets. Surgical cases are referred to either Port-au-Prince or Hôpital Ste. Croix, Leogone, both requiring transportation by boat and car.

A radio system permits communication between the clinic and Père Valdema's house in Anse-à-Galets, as well as with the Bishop's office in Port-au-Prince and Hôpital Ste. Croix, Leogone. Construction is beginning on a 6,000 sq. ft. building to house the clinic in Nouvelle Citè. In addition, a program of agricultural and community development has begun, including training up to 50 women students at a sewing center at the Episcopal Compound in Anse-à-Galets.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) assists this project through the Extra Commitment Opportunities funds Acct. #862619. The Medical Benevolence Foundation also raises funds for this primary health care clinic. Visiting groups of doctors, dentists and other can be housed and fed at the Episcopal Compound in Anse-à-Galets.