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On January 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake with a catastrophic magnitude of 7.0 Mw struck Haiti. It's epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital.
By January 24th, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded.
- 3,000,000 people were affected by the quake
- 316,000 people had died
- 300,000 had been injured and
- 1,000,000 were made homeless.
- 250,000 residences & 30,000 commercial buildings collapsed or were severely damaged.
HOPe tried desperately to get in touch with our Haitian contacts to insure their safety and well being. Communications were down for weeks. Money was useless. But our team on the ground held strong and offered a bastion of safety and sanity to the Haitians.
When the dust settled, the Board of Directors of the Alma Mater Hospital in Gros Morne requested a donation to house medical specialist & volunteers to deal with the extra need in the area.
You responded generously and HOPe Charity was able to donate $20,000 to the residence.
As the only 24-hour facility for a community of 135,000 residents (25,000 in the town and the rest in rural areas) it was urgent that occasional, as well as residential, specialists be able to stay at the hospital. This hospital is also in a very strategic location. In both 2004 and 2008, when hurricanes totally destroyed the State Hospital in Gonaives, this hospital received many patients who fled the floods of Gonaives and sought refuge in Gros Morne. After the January 12th earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and points south of it, approximately 23,000 people came to live with family in the Gros Morne area. Once again, Alma Mater hospital was called upon to supply more specialized services.
Following is an excerpt from the Haiti Mission Newsletter which can be read, in its entirety online at http://www.rjm-us.org/pdfs/WinterHaitiMissionNewsletter.pdf
"Since purchased as a property with an unfinished house back in April 2008 through a special donation by Dave Smith's Haiti Fund, Sr. Jackie has been begging donations to help to expand, finish, and furnish a house for visiting medical teams to Alma Mater Hospital. With donations from the Knights of Malta, Light of the World, HOPE, and a couple of private donors the dream became a reality when the first medical team (actually a surgical team) from Light of the World came to work at Alma Mater for a week, housed in the guest house as pictured in the photo. Located just a short walk from the hospital it is in an ideal location. With spacious porches and living rooms the house was able to be stretched to accommodate a recent group of 16 and 4 translators from Global Health. Thanks to the decorative and purchasing help of two former volunteers: Brittany Galvin and Jenny Askew and the involvement of early arriving summer volunteer Christy Anderson and countless local helpers, the house is bright, comfortable and a valuable asset to the expansion of services at Alma Mater. This is just one of Jackie's dreams. Next comes a rebuilding of the hospital's outpatient department and then the inpatient department and physicians' and nurses' residences..... Jackie and the other members of the Board of Directors of Alma Mater want to see the hospital as the biggest and best small-sized hospital in Haiti. Do keep the hospital and their dreams in prayer!"
