Welcome

There has been quite a bit occurring on the ground in the weeks since the earthquake.  Even before the earthquake, there was really almost no coordinated national plan for treatment and management of persons with disabilities; the only comprehensive care that patients with disabilities received, were through aid organizations.  Haiti has no programs in their university or hospital system for training of physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, audiologists, rehabilitation medicine, or rehabilitation nursing.  There were no inpatient rehabilitation units in the country.

Haiti State Secretary for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (SEIPH), Handicap International (HI) and Christian Blind Mission (CBM) have been designated by the UN as taking the lead on coordination of rehabilitation.  They have had steady streams of volunteers in the country since the earthquake, and we have directed many potential volunteers there.  Our own organization has essentially had our volunteers with Handicap International continuously since the quake.

A committee has been struck to develop a National Plan for rehabilitation and is under the leadership of the Haiti State Secretary for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and the work right now is on the

urgent/immediate phase. One aspect is certainly health, and for this aspect, the Ministry of Health is strongly involved. Membership on this committee was restricted to those organizations with LOCAL representation of at least ONE year of work in Haiti before the earthquake. In addition, there is a committee of local-based organizations with primary focus on community, rehabilitation, rights of disabled, etc. Finally, there are regular meetings of the Disability Cluster (UN) to try and keep those in the field abreast of what each is doing, and facilitate collaboration.  These meetings are open to those on the ground.

Throughout the country centres have been or are being established to provide inpatient care for spinal cord injured patients and additional rehab services are being established through various partnerships among NGOs. In Jacmel, a partnership with those both new and familiar with health delivery has been formed, and our group from Team Canada was involved to begin the first outpatient assessments there last week.

All of the Healing Hands Haitian staff who were able to work, have been hired to work.  The Prosthetic & Orthotic clinic set up by HI with Healing Hands equipment and staff, has been operational now for a few weeks, and essentially is being run with local staff and a few expatriates.