Helping Haiti--Dr. Rodney Baptiste shares his story, vision and passion for Primary Health Care in Haiti

 

Contact: Cal Schultz     Director of Operations- Haiti

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel: 905.334.9595 cell 905 517 1500
Email: calschultz@empowerglobal.org

CLICK HERE for a .pdf version of this release.

Local Community Responding to
Primary Healthcare Needs in Northern Haiti

Empower Global Inc is a registered Canadian Charitable Organization with professional management and strong governance. Our vision is to provide dignity and hope to the poor in developing countries. Empower Global actively assists with the building of infrastructures, clean water initiatives, healthcare programs and microcredit.

Empower Global Inc has paired with Dr. Rodney Baptiste, a Haitian doctor, to provide health care to Haitians who just simply face an existence without available healthcare.  Dr. Baptiste is a licensed medical doctor with a specialization in primary care.  He was trained in family medicine at the West Indies School of Medicine in the Dominican Republic and graduated top of his class. He has elected to work with the most impoverished peoples in the Western Hemisphere-Haiti.

Never has the need to support Haiti medically been so great.  Following the earthquake in 2010, Cap Haitien received many displaced people who continue to reside both in the city and the surrounding rural areas.   Primary Care in Cap Haitien has become even more restricted after the earthquake because of the challenges of retaining skilled health professionals.

There are shocking challenges about healthcare in Haiti that we as Canadians take for granted here. In Haiti 70 % of the population lives in rural areas, and most have never seen a doctor and those living in the more populated or urban settings have very limited access.  The result of unavailability or access to healthcare means that 1 in 22 mothers will die giving birth to one of their children.  Life expectancy is 59 years for men and 62 years for women; this is low compared to the rest of the Western Hemisphere. The leading causes of child mortality are diarrheal diseases and malnutrition—very preventable diseases.  One of the greatest risks that Haiti faces is that almost half of the population is 18 years or under and less than half of this age group have received any vaccinations. 

Together with Empower Global Inc. and you, Dr. Baptiste will be able to provide health care to over 44,000 Haitians in three years with the Primary Healthcare Program.  This program will provide primary healthcare to people in Cap Haitien and the surrounding rural areas.  Its innovative nature will mean it’s replication in time to more and more areas.

Together, we will be able to provide a three-tiered approach to health care in northern Haiti.

1. The program is anchored by a stationary Healthcare Clinic launching in September 2011.  This clinic will be located in the northern town of Cap Haitien, and will serve approximately 7,600 patients in the first year and be 90% self-sustaining.

 

1. Where currently there is no medical service of any kind (rural) Dr. Baptiste will organise mobile clinics on a weekly basis. This is made possible by the generous donation by local Burlington Business people of rugged ex-military class mobile medical clinic vehicles. One is already in Haiti and another is being readied.  This is an important addition to the project as approximately 75 per cent of Haitians live in rural areas and in extreme poverty and would not be able to make it to the stationary clinic. 

1. Healthcare Education is an integral addition to the program.  Dr. Baptiste will monitor preventative healthcare training on all aspects of primary healthcare to schools, educational institutions, and community groups.  The Cholera epidemic is being fended off largely by educating Haitians in the use of soap and hand washing practices.

 

This Empower Global Health Care program directed by Dr. Baptiste will be able to treat patients who experience a wide range of health concerns including: anaemia, diabetes, hypertension HIV, intestinal infection, typhoid, and throat infections. Most children have never been vaccinated, and most Haitians live with parasites.

Dr Rodney Baptiste will be in Barrie May 9th 2011 at 7:30 pm at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 170 Steel St, Barrie, Ontario to share his story and vision and passion for Primary Healthcare in Haiti.   Please join us for the launch of this initiative and find out how you can make a difference in the lives of so many Haitian people.  

For more information on this program, or to make a donation, please contact Empower Global Inc.  -  Cal Schultz, Director of Haitian Operations, cell 905 517 1500; office 905 334 9595           calschultz@empowerglobal.org

Local contact for this event – Joy Collins, cell 705-220-0587 or joycollins322@gmail.com

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