Haiti Rehabilitation Centre

Disability rehabilitation isn't just about treating the physical conditions. Patients face a totally different life with huge new challenges. In Haiti, these challenges are enournous with many having to face them with no support.

It is well known amoung those who work in disability rehabilitation, that after sustaining a high spinal cord Injury, including impairment of the upper limbs, work is usually limited office/computer work as other physical labor is no longer possible. In Haiti, this puts our patients into an even more difficult situation, as this kind of work is mostly limited to people who have a good level of education.

During their time at our rehabilitation unit, we teach patients basic IT skills, in order for them to then later use these in any kind of business when they move back home.

Last week we had a volunteer group from the US visit us for two days. One of them was an IT specialist that took two days to teach one of our tetraplegic patients how to use a laptop. Basic Microsoft Office skills and some music programs were his priority. When he returns home, he wants to use the laptop he’s been given to build up a copy and printing business.

One of his greatest passions has always been music, a very big part of Haitian culture. He loves to sing and now knows how to compose songs on his new laptop. Who knows, maybe one day he’ll be one of Haiti’s great artists?

Your support allows us to deliver the level of rehabiliation where patients eventually go home with new life ahead of them. Thank you.

Links:

• HHA disability care work

Partnership working in Haiti is critical to development and improvement in health care provision. We have always tried to work with both local and international partners and we've seen amazing success through this approach. However when working in disability rehabilitation some situations highlight the fact that rehab care has only been practiced in Haiti for a few years and expert knowledge in this field is scarce.

A recent example of this is when Eddy, a long term paraplegic patient at our rehab unit, broke his leg while trying to exercise. We took Eddy to Milot, another hospital in the north, to see their orthopaedic team and have an x-ray (something not yet possible at our hospital). Paraplegic patients can't be treated with the same techniques as able bodied people due to the significant risk of developing new pressure sores when in a cast. But Eddy returned to our unit with in a full leg cast from hip to toe - not a suitable solution for him.

This was not due to laziness of negligence, but a symptom of the lack of knowledge about this type of specialist care in Haiti. It highlights how important the unit you have supported is to disabled people all over Haiti who come to our hospital to receive expert treatment and rehabilitation. It is also vital that specialist knowledge continues to be shared across all local partners to improve the standard of care across the country.

After further consultation on Eddy's case, the decision was made to remove the cast and treat his leg using a different type of brace. His healing will be monitored with a follow-up x-ray and our staff will provide some training for the medical team at Milot so they are better equipped to handle similar cases in the future. Partnership working in action!

Thank you for supporting our project.

Links:

• HHA disability care work