PARTNER HIGHLIGHT:
Americares
Since June of 2022, Americares has provided vital support for many of the activities provided by our partnership through a program called HHP/CSUG: Strength and Sustainability Project. This support enhances and fortifies our established outreach programs in primary care and maternal-child health, as well as provides durable medical equipment and construction financing for improvements at our community health clinic and birth center.
Louise Lindenmeyr and Dr. Dominique Georges, AmeriCares Haiti Country Director, make a home visit with clinic staff
HHP/CSUG: Strength and Sustainability II continues our collaboration with Americares from July '23 - June '24. This project also provides funds for medications, lab supplies, data collection, and the building of a warehouse. Along with providing more services to more patients, HHP/CSUG: Strength and Sustainability II works to increase the clinic's revenue streams and make our operations more sustainable as we move into the future.
In August '24, Americares awarded a $56,000 grant to HHP to cover expenses for building potable water stations and family latrines in two communities hardest hit by cholera during last year’s hurricane season. Read the full press release below.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 12, 2024
HHP IS AWARDED GRANT FROM AMERICARES
SALISBURY, CT - Hispañola Health Partners (HHP), a Salisbury based non-profit strengthening
healthcare along the Haitian-Dominican border, has been awarded a grant from the Stamford, CT
non-profit giant Americares. The $56,000 grant covers expenses for building potable water
stations and family latrines in two communities hardest hit by cholera during last year’s
hurricane season.
HHP is in its tenth year of partnering with local leaders in Southeastern Haiti and have expanded
their “building from the ground up” initiative in this dramatically underserved region to reach
30,000 people annually. Over that timeframe, HHP has built and opened a clinic staffed by 16
Haitian personnel that provides access to a broad range of healthcare services heretofore
unavailable in the remote region. Since 2022 Americares has helped fund outreach programs and
mobile clinics run by HHP.
Cofounder of Hispañola Health Partners Louise Lindenmeyr explains, “Regardless of the
excellence of your healthcare services, if you lack potable water and reliable sanitation, you are
losing the battle. Last year we had more than 100 cholera cases and over 30 deaths in the region,
all due to storm run-off contaminating the water. This grant helps villagers work together for a
healthier community. All the work is done by hand, from digging the cisterns to making the
cement blocks. Many of the materials come by boat since the areas are too remote to reach by
road. We are grateful to Americares and all our local donors who have vastly improved the health
of the community over the last 10 years.”
Contact: Louise Lindenmeyr
Email: llindenmeyr@gmail.com
Phone 860 248-1813
The beginnings of a rezèvwa, or cistern for water collection.
The rezèvwa a few weeks later.
3/31/24: Progress Report
SERVICES: Outreach activities proceeded as scheduled this quarter. Our numbers were high; 9,814 people received our services. This is compared to 4,767 in the previous quarter. Our mobile clinics and field programs reached many more people this quarter, and a new program providing sex education in secondary schools was added to our list of services. Some of the increase in services may be due to the surge of displaced people moving to our region in response to the violence and lawlessness in the capital.
Responding to a surge in malaria in the region, HHP funded a malaria program in January. Out of 54 tests done on patients with symptoms of the disease, 34 were positive. Education about prevention and treatment reached 351 people in the most vulnerable corners of our region, and 100 mosquito nets were distributed. In February and March we detected eight cases in our mobile clinics.
Typhoid fever continues to be found in our population, with 81 detected cases during our mobile clinics. We are responding to the threat of diarrheal diseases with educating the population about handwashing and other principles of hygiene during the “Programme de Terrain” sessions in schools and the community. Improving hygiene through upgrading water systems in the most vulnerable areas is the goal of a WASH proposal submitted to Americares this month.
Our nutrition program, BPPC, has raised 185 children out of moderately severe malnutrition (upper arm circumference < 12 cm) to healthy status in the past year. Thousands of families have been educated about improving family nutrition with local resources and agricultural assistance has been provided to 40 families to help guide them out of the cycle of food scarcity. With support from HHP and other foundations, BPPC continues to grow and thrive.
Laboratory testing remains a very active part of our clinical services – 1,521 tests were performed in this quarter, totaling 6,942 tests since the beginning of July ’23.
SUSTAINABILITY: Progress is being made in registering the local committee that owns and operates CSUG and its services as an NGO in Haiti, Centre Social de Développement Union de Grand-Gosier (CSDUG). On March 1st papers were submitted to the Ministère de la Planification et de la Coopération Externe that included a mission and objective statement, region of focus, board members and other relevant details. The committee anointed its new status by constructing an office and shaded waiting area in the front courtyard of our clinic where community health services and trainings are offered.
To strengthen CSUG’s fiscal management and independence, in January we began documenting the allotment of funds from their profits to cover monthly expenses. The categories of expenses include: savings, emergency care, clinic salaries, clinic maintenance, building expenses and purchases of medical supplies. Their expenses averaged $1,682/ month and they maintained an average monthly balance of $2,321 as of March 30th.
With funds from both Americares and CSUG, further work has been done on the warehouse behind our clinic and birth center. A nursery was created behind the warehouse on the land CSUG recently purchased. This is used to propagate plants distributed to families in our nutrition program, to help increase their gardens’ yield and profitability.