Haiti Copy

A detailed assessment was performed in Haiti in the fall of 2013. AACC’s work in Haiti is scheduled to begin in 2017.  A brief summary of the needs assessment follows, which includes information on facilities toured.

• a new hospital under construction was toured for which the following recommendations apply:
  1. Write a 3-5 year business plan that shows not only patient care, quality and quantity sustainability plans, and partnerships with hospitals that function well in Haiti, but also financial growth and development.
  2. A long-term financial sustainability plan must be spelled out if additional funding is to be found to complete the entire hospital construction.
  3. An accurate architectural plan of the building is needed to help understand how the hospital is being constructed, the materials needed to complete the hospital, and to showcase the functionality of the hospital
  4. The hospital in Milo could offer a positive potential partnership with ASEBED.
  5. It will be important for ASEBED to keep their organizational structure and accounting transparent to receive delegations from the USA
  6. Is it recommended that ASEBED form a sister-like relationship with the hospital in Milo where knowledge and resources be shared.
  7. Complete construction of the hospital (pricing not included in summary here)
  8. Genuine participation by community members, including youth, is the key.
• a primary school educating 220 children aged 5-10 for which tuition includes one hot meal a day. Each classroom has about 15 children with two sessions of instruction per day. Parents clean the school each Friday. The Director has 3 years of university level education and is interested in further professional development. Teachers can use development in teacher strategies and pedagogy. The greatest need at this time per the Director is that school construction be finished. Additional recommendations were discussed for increasing the quality of education at no cost, including:
  1. Tracking parental attendance at monthly meetings
  2. Tracking parental participation for cooking, cleaning, and volunteer assistance
  3. Offering adult education classes once weekly
  4. Holding a medical clinic once a month including access to vitamins for children 0-5 years of age
  5. Professional development for teachers
  6. Creation of monthly report to be available for potential funders
• a hospital and orphanage both located within a hospital. Several children in the orphanage had disabilities and the facility was lacking in nearly every domain to meet the children’s needs. There was an obvious lack of funds, employees, hygiene, and sufficient medical care. There were few workers, unclean surroundings with children kept in cribs and the overwhelming smell of urine. The amount of aid coming to Haiti is not reaching the most needy and poor.
• a hospital declared the best hospital in Cap Haitian. The best hospital was located in Milo and it was a public hospital.  This hospital was clean, organized, seemed to be adequately funded, offered several programs including WIC, and patients with HIV, TB, and cholera. The hospital had 250 full time employees and another 100 per diem employees (part time). It is highly recommended that a plan be developed of how the new hospital will create partnerships with doctors and other medical personal in the US.
• another public hospital not well funded or organized.  Stores of frequent strikes by the employees were shared and at times the hospital can be closed for weeks on end.  Hospital is divided into a men’s ward and a women’s ward and need to pay or bring for the materials needed for care.
• Several home visits were completed to interview community members one-on-one for great insight into the typical family’s needs and experiences