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AmeriCares Medical Director Frank Bia M.D. has an extensive history working in Haiti at the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS). Dr. Bia shares news from HAS Managing Director, Ian Rawson, his colleague in Haiti. AmeriCares delivered a critical shipment of medical aid as part of ongoing Haiti relief efforts.
The Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) is one of the few hospitals accessible to people from Port-au-Prince still standing. Located in a rural village 40 miles north of the Haitian capital, HAS withstood the 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The true test of the hospital’s strength, however, occurred in the days after this disaster. Donate to help survivors of the Haiti Earthquake >
Immediately following the earthquake, HAS experienced an overwhelming influx of patients, as thousands of survivors fled the demolished capital city of in search of food, safety and medical attention in the less affected Haitian countryside.
Equipped to provide care for approximately 100 patients, over 500 people sought treatment at HAS within the first three days. Medical supplies that routinely stock the hospital for a full month were depleted within a few hours. Critically injured patients arrived in crowded pick-up trucks, enduring a more than three-hour drive over unpaved mountain roads.
Many patients have specifically travelled to HAS because of the hospital’s well-established reputation as one of the most reliable and advanced hospitals in the country. Mr. Rawson reports that this is the first time in the hospital’s fifty-year history that it is without enough supplies to serve its patients.
In the aftermath of this disaster, rural and urban hospitals and clinics outside of Port-au-Prince have become critical health centers for serving earthquake survivors.
Hospitals survived the earthquake and remain operational, but they desperately need more help. Many rely on medicines, medical supplies, and other aid donated by AmeriCares to help treat the many men, women and children who seek care each day.
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