Connecticut Medical Teams Departing to Haiti, Donations Urgently Needed

On November 5^th and 12^th, Medical Aid to Haiti (MATH) will send two volunteer teams of Connecticut doctors, nurses, and pharmacists to join the Hurricane Matthew relief effort in Haiti. Out of necessity, the focus of these trips must shift to emergency care from the original mission of elective surgical services. MATH’s Project Director in Port-au-Prince, a native Haitian, Dr. Wilkens Gilbert, reports, “The population is currently facing an outbreak of cholera and infectious diseases amid famine”. MATH is seeking monetary donations to ensure these medical teams are provisioned to meet the increased need for emergency supplies including IV fluids and antibiotics to treat cholera and bacterial gastroenteritis. Your gift helps MATH maximize the effectiveness of these crucial medical missions. Donations may be made at www.medicalaidtohaiti.org/donate or checks may be sent to MATH, 80 South Main Street, West Hartford, CT 06107.

Assessing the current disaster in his nation and reporting to his concerned MATH partners in Connecticut this week, Doctor Gilbert’s words are poignant and compelling: “I will never sink into fatalism but in recent days there is a question that haunts my mind: Why? Why the misfortunes [in Haiti] raged so? Instability, earthquake, cholera and now hurricane that has the effect of an atomic bomb! Why? On the other hand, I also wonder why you love us so much? Why stand stubbornly to help us? Why you never make the slightest sign of discouragement in my suffering people? I have no answers but a response: Thank you!”

MATH is a Connecticut-based non-profit staffed by volunteers with the mission of “Helping Haitians heal Haitians”. Our funding supports a Haitian-staffed fixed and mobile medical clinic operation in greater Port-au-Prince as well as surgical services in remote Dame-Marie, Haiti. Together these projects serve nearly 15,000 patient visits annually. Multiple times per year MATH sends Connecticut-based medical teams to work side-by-side educating, training, and collaborating with our Haitian medical partners. Learn more at www.medicalaidtohaiti.org.