ADRA-UK News Update

Sixteen days after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) continues to provide life-saving medical assistance, treating 1,000 patients every day.

On Tuesday, January 26, ADRA and partner GlobalMedic installed an inflatable field hospital on the campus of the Haitian Adventist University in the neighborhood of Carrefour. The hospital, which measures 22 feet by 42 feet, will benefit more than 20,000 earthquake survivors living in a camp for displaced persons outside of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

The inflatable hospital is currently being used as a primary care center for injured survivors, and can assist an estimated 1,000 patients a day. Local aid groups have also received training on how to install, operate and maintain the hospital, to ensure that it can remain operational for as long as needed.

“Since ADRA first began its response hours after this disaster, one of our primary concerns has been access to medical care,” said John Torres, Senior Public Relations Manager and a member of ADRA’s emergency response team on the ground in Haiti. “These inflatable hospitals is an effective way to bring life-saving care to the people where they are.”

In addition to the medical care ADRA continues to provide basic elements for survival. In the last week, ADRA has distributed more than 351,000 pounds (159 tons) of rice, beans, oil, and salt inside the camp in Carrefour and among other displaced populations in Port-au-Prince.

We need your gifts now. Please donate to help!

For donations by telephone call 0870-49 55 808 (only during office hours).

Source: ADRA International

In the hot sun, Luciane and her children wait in the queue outside of ADRA’s inflatable hospital which provides primary care for families living in the displaced persons camp in Carrefour, Haiti. Photo Credit: Michelle L. Oetman, ADRA International)

Feature article written by Michelle L. Oetman, Communications Coordinator for ADRA International, currently on the ground in Haiti.

It’s happened to me before. And I’m pretty sure it’s happened to you. And boy, oh boy, do we HATE it. Waiting at the doctor’s office.

Recently, after much waiting, I was finally with the doctor when his mobile rang. He answered it, stepped out of the room, and didn’t return…for 45 minutes! That wait seemed undeniably intolerable and indecent…until today.

Today, I stood in a line for a clinic with Luciane. While waiting, she held her 7-month-old son in her arms, as a mother normally would. Her 5-year-old daughter, cloaked by her mom’s skirt, clung playfully to the purse over her little shoulder. Both children have had a fever for three days. And for three days, Luciane’s had the heavy weight of worry, feeling she had nowhere to turn for care.

But did you catch what’s abnormal? It’s a longer list. I said we “stood.” In a “line.” Primary care could not be found. The 25-meter, or 82-foot, line of people separating us from the entrance was duplicated behind and beside us. No doctor’s visit of mine has ever been like this.

Luciane is one of nearly 15,000 people who have sought refuge on the grounds of Haitian Adventist University in Carrefour. Earthquake survivors, who have lost or are very frightened to enter their heavily cemented homes, immediately flooded the open space of the university grounds, setting up makeshift homes of tarps and blankets. Without delay, ADRA began arriving with food and within hours had installed systems to provide clean drinking water. Luciane’s been here since day one.

However, since the earthquake, those in immediate critical condition absorbed all the medical care and facilities available, leaving a gap for primary care needs. So this week, in partnership with GlobalMedic, ADRA installed an inflatable field hospital in the camp to provide just that. Our clinic is meeting a dire need. Ever since the clinic opened, there’s been a line of hopeful patients stringing from the entrance. Today that line included Luciane and me.

Despite the turquoise Mickey Mouse umbrella she held up to it, the sun burnt mercilessly on us. Her wait would be counted in hours, not minutes. I found the heat unbearable and the long line in front of us discouraging, but gratefully, medical help is finally here. Calmly and patiently, Luciane waits.

Standing with her in the hot sun, I was reminded of my recent doctor’s visit and the stark contrast to her visit today. I had driven to the office. My wait was only 45 minutes, in a comfortable chair and in air-conditioning! It no longer seemed worth mentioning, much less complaining about.

But the weight on Luciane’s shoulders is so much more. “My heart is broken,” she told me, giving imagery to the personal impact of the last two weeks. Her home is destroyed, biting insects make sleep a nightly struggle, and she fears running out of food and diapers for her children. She, herself, had not eaten today.

Her four-bedroom home, that once stood two kilometers from here, no longer stands at all. “Home” has become a dry patch of grass with a makeshift tarp to provide protection. “I miss all the things from home,” she admitted. But a new home may be a long time coming. So she waits.

Added to that, her husband has lost his job. The building where he worked is pancaked, like most of the town. It will be a long time before things are rebuilt. And so he waits.

Here in this camp, with only days separating them from their earthquake horror, hope seems hard to find.

But for many families like Luciane’s, hope will be found because many ADRA supporters, when confronted with the devastating news of the Haiti Earthquake, didn’t wait. They responded with compassion right away and help was on the way—immediately!

Families like Luciane’s are benefitting daily from those who shared generous gifts with ADRA for Haiti. To you, we extend a big thank you for lessening the heavy weight of loss that the Haitians carry.

But as I tour through Port-au-Prince, bearing much the look of a bombed city, it’s easy to see that much, much more remains to be done to rebuild the people and town of Port-au-Prince.

You can help. To strengthen and encourage the people of Haiti, won’t you give a gift today? Please, don’t wait.

We need your gifts now. Please donate to help!

For donations by telephone call 0870-49 55 808 (only during office hours).

Source: ADRA International

While aid has started to flow into areas of Port-au-Prince, tensions among survivors seeking food, water, and basic necessities continue to be a serious issue among displaced populations, reported the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).

“It’s been difficult finding food. People push you to get something to eat,” said Michele, a young woman who is eight months pregnant and currently living in a camp for internally displaced persons in Carrefour, a neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. In the last days, she has depended on camp neighbors to get food for her during distributions.

ADRA expects that increased access to food will help ease tensions. On January 25, ADRA provided nearly 100,000 pounds (45 tons) of rice, beans, oil, and salt for approximately 15,000 displaced survivors living on the campus of the Haitian Adventist University in southwest Port-au-Prince.

“ADRA’s food distribution can mean the difference between life and death for thousands who have been so severely affected by this disaster,” said Julio Muñoz, a member of ADRA’s emergency response team in Haiti.

The distribution was implemented with the security support of local police and Brazilian United Nations peacekeepers. This is the latest of several food distributions that ADRA has completed since a powerful quake hit Haiti on January 12.

This follows others distributions, including one on January 23 in which ADRA provided food, water, clothing, and medical supplies for 3,300 individuals throughout 11 sites in the disaster-affected area. More than 1,000 of these beneficiaries were children living at local orphanages in the Carrefour neighborhood. The affected children received basic food items, including bread, bananas, rice, crackers and milk, as well as diapers and more than 8,000 bottles of Pedialyte®, which replaces the fluids and electrolytes lost due to diarrhea or vomiting.

ADRA also distributed more than 12,000 pounds (5,488 kilos) of pinto beans, approximately 760 gallons (2,880 liters) of oil, and more than 1,100 pounds (500 kilos) of salt donated by the World Food Programme (WFP), and 20,000 6-ounce (200 milliliters) packs of nutritional drinks provided by the Spanish International Cooperation Agency (AECID), which will feed an estimated 2,000 children at two local schools for a week.

“In the capital city, millions remain in need of the most basic necessities,” reported Muñoz. “ADRA is committed to the people of Haiti, and will continue to respond to their needs.”

We need your gifts now. Please donate to help!

For donations by telephone call 0870-49 55 808 (only during office hours).

Source: ADRA International

A crowd gathers in Carrefour in front of Joseph (left) and Walix’s (right) motorbike-powered water purification unit. Happy to be providing clean drinking water for their community members, Walix pats the logo on his chest and says, “Now I wear ADRA on my heart.” ADRA has 20 motorbike drivers buzzing throughout the area. (Photo Credit: ADRA International)

Feature article written by Michelle L. Oetman, Communications Coordinator for ADRA International currently on the ground in Haiti.

At first glance, they look like just four bikers flying by, then pulling to the roadside.

As their two motorbikes come to a stop, the pair on each bike quickly set down a large yellow box and erect a table between the two bikes. A small crowd hurriedly gathers around them. As you get closer, you see why.

Truth is, these bikers are integral to providing vital clean water to communities and displaced person camps throughout earthquake ravaged Port-au-Prince.

The yellow box they carry, quickly unpacks into an ingenious water purification system, called a Trekker, specially powered, amazingly, by a motorbike. The Trekkers, portable yellow briefcases filled with a pump and tubes, can serve water to 330 people in an eight-hour day.

Beginning Friday, January 22, ADRA hired and dispersed 20 motorbike drivers around the city to areas where water is available, but undrinkable. Once they’re set up, they begin dispersing purified water into containers brought by those living nearby. The motorbike drivers, who’ve named their team “Les Aigles” (The Eagles) – because they’re light and can fly by jammed traffic or crumbled roads – also hand out water purification tablets during their day-long shift. In return, drivers are given food, a small salary, and reimbursement for their fuel. Because of the project’s low cost and the possibility of wide distribution throughout the earthquake-affected areas, ADRA expects to expand the project to 30 trekkers.

Walix, father of four young girls, was anxious for food and eager to be part of the ADRA Eagles team. The top of his house caved in during the recent earthquake forcing he and his family to sleep on the streets. They have other scars, too. A wall of their home fell on his sister, who lives with him, one child sustained injuries to her head, and another to her leg. But all have survived, which Walix thanks God for.

Ironically, Walix doesn’t even have water at home for his family, yet he’s committed to driving around and providing water for his fellow Haitians.

He’d never heard of ADRA before this earthquake, but now, when asked what ADRA means to him, he replied, “Do you see where ADRA is?” pointing to the bib he and his team wear. “ADRA is on my heart.”

His partner at the water site, Joseph, shares a similar story. He, his wife and three small children are now living on the ground close to their completely flattened home. His family has all survived, but his brother suffered a broken arm when one of the walls of his home fell. He decided to be an ADRA Eagle because he had heard that “ADRA always helps the poor people. I saw people here in a difficult situation,” he continued. “They have no water. They needed help!” And he enjoys being that help. “The people are so happy to get water. They say ‘thank you’ and ‘the water tastes very good!’”

The technology for the Trekker’s unique water purification systems is provided by GlobalMedic, ADRA’s partner organization in providing water supplies throughout Port-au-Prince in response to the recent earthquake. GlobalMedic team members also trained the Eagles and scout the locations for Trekker placement each day.

Now, more than a week after the initial earthquake, Haitians are still desperate for many basic needs. Your support for Haiti does things like hiring Eagles like Joseph and Walix, who, in turn, are flying around their city providing clean drinking water to the thirsty people of Port-au-Prince.

We need your gifts now. Please donate to help!

For donations by telephone call 0870-49 55 808 (only during office hours).

Source: ADRA International

A shortage of medical attention, medicines, and supplies remains a major challenge in earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince, eleven days after more than 111,000 died and thousands others were injured in one of the worst catastrophes in modern times, reported the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).

According to ADRA staff coordinating the agency’s response in the Haitian capital, medical facilities are still in need of medical supplies, specifically surgical tools, such as sterilization equipment, bone saws, and disposable medical supplies that include gloves, bandages, and masks.

“In the last several days the facilities have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of injured survivors,” said an ADRA staff member in Haiti.

On Tuesday, January 19, ADRA conducted a medical supply assessment of the 71-bed Adventist Hospital of Haiti located in the Carrefour neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, and sent a request to Orlando-based Florida Hospital for a shipment to replenish critically low supplies.

“Florida Hospital was devastated to hear of the earthquake in Haiti and horrified to see the images that came out of that country,” said Lars Houmann, Florida Hospital president and chief executive officer. “As is our nature as caregivers, many in our organization were eager to spring into action.”

In less than two days, Florida Hospital, working with ADRA, airlifted $71,000 worth of medical supplies aboard a chartered Boeing 727 aircraft that landed in Port-au-Prince Thursday morning, January 21. The supplies, which will be delivered in the next two days with the support of U.N. personnel, include 23 palettes containing 10,000 bags of IV solution, IV lines, antibiotics, analgesics, masks, gloves, surgical instruments, orthopedic surgical supplies, bandages, soap, personal hygiene items, and other supplies. This donation will support the Adventist Hospital of Haiti where thousands of people have flocked for treatment since the disaster.

Click here to see a video.

These medical supplies could not have come at a more crucial time,” said John Torres, who has been working as the liaison between the Adventist Hospital of Haiti and ADRA’s emergency response team in Port-au-Prince. “Medical supplies are being used as quickly as they arrive.”

Gustavo Vilorio, a Mexican surgeon who has been performing more than 20 surgeries a day since he arrived in Port-au-Prince last Monday, also added that the supplies provided by Florida Hospital will satisfy some of the “most pressing” surgical needs of the affected population.

Florida Hospital, which operates a group of private hospitals in central Florida and is nationally recognized for its institutes of cancer, cardiology, diabetes, orthopedics, and neuroscience, will be working with ADRA to facilitate further shipments of supplies to Haiti.

Thursday’s airlift also carried 40 pallets donated by Harvest Time International, based in Sanford, Florida, aid that included tarps, heavy plastic sheeting, water, hygiene items, generators, baby and medical supplies.

ADRA is also partnering with Florida Emergency Physicians, an independently owned group that provides emergency medical care for patients of Florida Hospital in the Greater Orlando area, who contributed $25,000 to support ADRA’s ongoing response efforts in Haiti.

“We are thankful for the great support of Florida Hospital, Harvest Time International and Florida Emergency Physicians as we continue our relief efforts in Haiti,” said Charles Sandefur, president of ADRA International who arrived in Port-au-Prince this week. “We look forward to continuing these partnerships, as they are a critical part of our work to provide hope and healing to thousands of people in Haiti who have been touched by this disaster.”

We need your gifts now. Please donate to help!

For donations by telephone call 0870-49 55 808 (only during office hours).

Source: ADRA International

The Government of Haiti (GoH) has declared a countrywide state of emergency and one month of mourning. The GoH is working to stabilize the situation in the country and requested that banks, including at least 30 in Port-au-Prince, reopen on January 19, allowing businesses to distribute employees’ salaries and restart operations.

On January 18, the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) distributed emergency food items to approximately 100,000 people inside and outside Port-au-Prince, bringing the total number of food aid beneficiaries since the earthquake to 200,000 people. Within the week, WFP aims to distribute 10 million ready-to-eat meals through four humanitarian hubs and at approximately 30 additional locations across Haiti.

The GoH is prioritizing a rapid return to economic activities through the establishment of food- and cash-for-work programs, including efforts to re-establish power and remove debris from roads, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The ADRA compound is relatively safe, the walls and fences are up and is protected by guards. Some further coordination on improving security is needed.. All ADRA Haiti staff and foreign staff are well and have not encountered any issues thus far other than working around the clock. The population is calm and interventions have been smooth for the most part. The ADRA office is now running on a generator, which has helped the staff work without blackouts. Communication is still limited; there is only one internet point to be shared with all staff and partners, which decreases efficiency.

To make a contribution to ADRA-UK’s Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, click here.

For donations by telephone call 0870-49 55 808 (only during office hours).

1. ADRA’s Current Response

• ADRA received several boxes of food on January 19 from the Dominican Republic church members.

• USAID Dominican Republic visited our facility when it delivered two trucks of bottled water on Sunday and were very impressed with our operation. On January 19, they sent six large trucks (each 12-16 metres long) of supplies, which included water bottles, food, medicine and fuel. We received 18 drums of fuel on January 19, each drum contains 200 litres. We are now able to run the generator and provide energy to the office. ADRA has also shared fuel with the Adventist Hospital so they can continue operating.

• ADRA Dominican Republic has assisted ADRA Haiti by facilitating the rental of four vehicles that have arrived to help our operations.

• ADRA visited the Adventist Hospital on January 19 and prepared a Medical Supply Assessment, which has been sent to Florida Hospital. Supplies are limited and need to be replenished. Some of the medical supplies received thus far do not apply to the current situation. Specific items are needed to perform emergency procedures.

• Approximately 14 new doctors arrived on January 19 with ACTS (Active Community Teams Serving), many of whom are from Loma Linda Hospital. These volunteer doctors are living on the Hospital grounds.

• ADRA implemented another water distribution, which served 15,000 beneficiaries who received enough water for four days. Some 67,000 litres of water were distributed. Part of the distribution happened when the six trucks from USAID arrived and approximately 650 people entered the compound. The situation was hectic but was managed by the ADRA network staff.

• Global Medic installed three new water points.

• The French Fire Fighters & Rescue Team arrived on January 19 and has been assigned by the United Nations to assist the efforts at the Adventist Hospital.

• USAID has provided the gift to ADRA Haiti of an expensive Water Purification System on a trailer that is used for hospital settings.

• The Spanish Government has donated a few items, two tents, a few tarps and jerry cans which were distributed on January 20.

• ADRA Portugal has sent a shipment of goods, which are scheduled to arrive on January 24.

2. ADRA’s Plan of Action

ADRA will continue doing Needs Assessment and camp planning at the Adventist University compound. The plan is to have data for proposal development.

ADRA has organized groups of volunteers to distribute water bottles, food, clothing, and the remaining medical supplies.

Global Medic, one of ADRA’s partners on this response, will work on the installation of the USAID Water Purification System and plans to train ADRA volunteers to operate the system. ADRA will need a vehicle with a hitch to transport this trailer.

3. Coordination Activities

ADRA is actively participating in the following clusters: Food, Shelter and NFI, and Logistics. We have also been meeting with counterparts to coordinate and share resources.

ADRA has visited the USAID Mission at the American Embassy and established contact. They were aware of some of our activities and are thankful we are responding.

ADRA is currently working with representatives from the following organizations: Global Medic, Johanniter International, NAPS (National Association for the Prevention of Starvation), JB Center (Local Adventist Volunteers), ADRA Spain, IRD (International Relief and Development), Grupo GARSA (Grupo Adventista de Rescate y Salvamiento – Colombia Search and Rescue), and ADRA Germany.

Source: ADRA Canada