The woman is laying on a stretcher in a medical tent in Haiti. A reporter asks a doctor what procedure needs to be done and he replies that an initial foot amputation is now infected and they must amputate more of the leg. When the reporter asks a second doctor if patients like this woman will receive prosthetics, he replies noncommittally. Maybe. If they survive, maybe. First we save their lives. It's a realistic answer for those who survive with a disability in Haiti, but there is a way to help.
As a person with a disability, I know how difficult it is to have any quality of life without the necessary medical equipment to be mobile. Yet I also know that people who live in poverty around the world often wind up living on the floor or in bed, immobile, because they don't have a wheelchair or a prosthetic leg.
Knowing how many amputations are being performed in Haiti due to crush injuries, as well as the fact that 38% of the population is under the age of 15, we can anticipate a great need for medical equipment for survivors of the earthquake that will be ongoing.
Please keep in mind the mission of Portlight Strategies, Inc. who will serve the specific needs of people in Haiti with disabilities. They work with a community of Catholic nuns who will be opening shelters in Port Au Prince. They need both donations and staff.
Any funds we raise will be used to defray shipping costs of medical and clinical equipment...and for the purchase of food and other shelter supplies...Haiti is our neighbor...and Haitians are certainly forgotten people...people with disabilities in Haiti are frequently barely seen as human...
Anyone interested in going to Haiti to help staff one or more shelters for Haitians with disabilities please email us..at paul@portlight.org
2 comments:
This is very true. Most non-industrialized nations use out-dated equipment, like the depo wheelchairs. Thanks for sharing this organization. I will keep them in mind.
Thanks, Megan.
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