| July 2003
Mombin Crochu, Haiti
Dear Friends in Christ,
In this letter we’d like to share with you an exciting
new development in the mission of Covenant Hospital by acquainting
you with two Haitian friends and colleagues. Both play key roles
in the Community Health Program for Mombin Crochu.
Madame Odigene Pierre is 42 years old. She grew up in Guabary,
a sun-dappled gathering of houses and farms about three miles
east of Mombin town where she still lives on a subsistence farm
with her husband and their children. Although their children number
eight, the eldest three live most of the year in Cap Haitien to
attend secondary school. She herself completed primary school
in her mid-teens. As a young adult she went to a vocational school
for three years to learn the craft of dress- and suit-making.
Although she still uses her prized foot-powered treadle sewing
machine to make clothes for her family, she says that most of
a tailor’s trade these days is in altering or repairing
the low-cost second-hand clothing that comes from the United States.
Mme Odigene got involved in the health program, she says, because
people always seemed to come to her for advice about their family’s
health, and she found she enjoyed that. Two years ago she was
chosen by her community for formal training to become an “agent
d’sante,” a community health worker. Underwritten
by a health training grant from the PC(USA)’s International
Health Ministries Office, Mme Odigene and several others trained
intensively each day for four months in a program designed and
supervised by Hospital St. Croix, big sister hospital to Covenant
and also part of the Episcopal/Presbyterian health mission partnership
in Haiti.
Training completed and certificate in hand, she returned to continue
working informally in her district, serving as a health helper
and assisting the hospital to conduct intermittent mobile clinics.
She organized citizens in the Guabary area to construct shelter
of wood and corrugated metal in which to conduct vaccination clinics
and education. Mme Odigene has worked with Covenant Hospital since
we began to plan a more structured program, sharing her knowledge
of what will and will not work to meet the special health needs
of the people of the countryside. She will do the jobs for which
she was trained, counting on the supervision and the resources
of the hospital and its staff. She will continue as a health information
resource for her zone, with special personal interests in nutrition
and high levels of immunization in the population. She will also
do the other jobs common to the agents, including regular home
visitations and health education meetings, and she will refer
persons with significant illness to the diagnostic and treatment
capabilities of the hospital. Gracious and soft-spoken, she approaches
her part of the Community Health Program with enthusiasm to be
of service to her friends and neighbors.
Now meet Joe Milien, 52. Rugged, with a broad and ready smile,
Joe grew up on the family land in the neighborhood of Kanga, which
is about an hour and a half walk from Mombin Crochu over three
mountain ranges. He has five children, the oldest of which now
help him raise vegetables and livestock: goats, cows, and a few
horses. Joe’s interest in health issues started when as
a youth he came to understand the importance of good water sources
for his family and his animals. He has been an advocate for improved
access to clean water for the region. He got on-the-job training
from a mission clinic run by the Mennonites before the hospital
was built in Mombin Crochu. He gave health advice and helped local
midwives. Later he, too, completed formal training and was certificated
as an Agent d’Sante. Although Joe’s particular interests
are in pre-natal education and family planning, he likes all the
work of the community health worker. We have dubbed him the “grey-head”
in tribute to his leadership capabilities. He relates particularly
well to the hospital staff who will supervise all the work of
the agents. Joe will be a key worker in the mandatory ongoing
training programs provided the agents at Covenant Hospital.
Health development experts all seem to agree on one thing: Preventive
medical care yields the most positive long-term results for resource
and effort expended. The Community Health Program here is aimed
directly at that maxim. Its goals are to optimize preventive benefits
of vaccination, sanitation, pre-natal care, nutrition screening,
family planning, and health education through the work of trained
in-residence community members. Early illness identification and
referral by these same agents will increase the effectiveness
of curative medical efforts for the people as well. Ongoing education
and supervision by Covenant Hospital staff will provide quality
assurance for the program.
We are excited and optimistic as this preventive medicine program
makes its start. If you or your church or organization would like
to invest in the future of health for the Haitian people, we invite
you to participate in the Community Health Program.
We give thanks to God each day for the prayers and encouragement
that we feel from you, our friends in Jesus Christ. God’s
richest blessings to each of you.
In His Spirit of Grace and Peace,
Paul and Joan McLain
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
250
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