Visitors Bless Three Communities with Health Care

Susan (standing left) and Dr Eric Anderson.

We are thankful to have the opportunity to host low cost medical clinics when medical professionals visit HAFF. Dr. Eric Anderson and his wife Susan (a school nurse) have been regularly visiting HAFF for several years. This March HAFF was able to host two and half days of clinics with the Andersons help.

Mme Telius (left) and Mme Emmanuel (right).

First, a clinic was held at a church in Guasimal, about an hour’s drive northwest of HAFF. The closest hospital and doctor for this clinic is 6 miles away and most people would have to make the trip on foot. HAFF clinic nurse, Mme Telius Berson and pharmacist, Mme Emmanuel St. Louis also came to facilitate the clinic.

Hosting pastor leading singing before clinic in Guasimal.

The pastor of the hosting church did a great job organizing everything, hanging several sheets inside the church so there were two private rooms. The patients came from two churches, one of which is on the other side of a river impassable to vehicles. Each of the 85 patients were very thankful for the service and medicine HAFF and the Andersons provided them.




Waiting to see the doctor in Bohoc.

The following day and a half, the Andersons worked at the HAFF clinic in Bohoc seeing a total of 127 patients. Many people in the community had been hoping to see a doctor at HAFF because they lacked the finances to go to anywhere else and some because they have chronic, difficult conditions to treat. Local staff appreciated the Andersons' input on several specialized cases in which patients lack the resources to go to a hospital. Dr. Eric helped some community members with chronic back and knee pain, giving them injections which the Haitians report keep them pain-free for a few months.



Susan Anderson checking blood pressure in Guasimal.

  Typically, patients to the HAFF clinic pay nothing for consultation with the nurse, and only pay HAFF's cost of their medicine. For this Bohoc clinic with the Andersons, the patients were charged a flat fee of 25 Haitian Gourdes (about $0.58 US), which was a huge blessing for many as they received their medication free of charge. These clinics make such a difference in the lives of the Haitians here that it makes the added work of hosting them well worthwhile for the HAFF staff. With the continued friendship of American partners we hope to host even more clinics in the years to come.