Health Care
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Bringing Health Care to Remote Communities in Haiti
Health care has been an integral part of our mission since the beginning.
Today, the Bouly clinic provides primary care, prenatal and postnatal services for expectant mothers, and life-saving vaccinations made possible through solar-powered refrigeration.
Our medical outreach began by supporting a community clinic in Boucan-Carré, Haiti, with the long-term goal of expanding access to care in more remote communities. In 2008, we organized our first medical mission to Bouly, a village accessible only by a five-hour hike on a rocky path across the mountains from Boucan-Carré. Our doctors and nurses were the first the little village had ever seen. When a large teaching hospital opened in nearby Mirebalais in 2012, we shifted our efforts to establish health care services in Bouly, where the rate of infant mortality was among the highest in the world.
After years of planning, a permanent medical clinic was completed in 2013. Today, the Bouly clinic is staffed by one physician and two nurses who provide care for approximately 60–80 patients each week. Until 2018, volunteer medical teams from Knoxville traveled to Bouly several times each year, treating an additional 350–400 patients during each mission. Today, the clinic serves as the foundation for several programs that improve community health.
Reliable Vaccine Access in Remote Areas in Haiti
From the beginning, we recognized that expanding access to vaccines for diseases such as typhoid and malaria would have one of the greatest long-term impacts on community health. Delivering vaccines to a remote mountain village, however, presents significant challenges. Vaccines require continuous refrigeration and protection from light, yet electricity was nonexistent in Bouly.
To overcome this barrier, the Haiti Outreach Program raised funds to purchase five solar panels and an energy-efficient vaccine refrigerator in 2019. Installation was delayed because of Haiti’s political instability and security concerns, but in 2022, pilot Joe Hurston, founder of Air Mobile Ministries, transported the equipment to Haiti as part of his ongoing humanitarian work. The clinic’s solar-powered refrigeration system enables the medical staff for the first time to provide vaccines that are saving the lives of babies throughout the surrounding mountains.
Supporting Healthy Mothers and Babies in Haiti
Nearly one-quarter of the clinic’s patients are children under the age of four, and the clinic provides prenatal and postnatal care to approximately 30–50 mothers each month. These numbers highlight one of our highest priorities: improving maternal health and reducing infant mortality in the Bouly region.
Supporting healthy pregnancies gives babies a stronger start in life. Through generous donor support, the clinic provides expectant mothers with essential nutritional supplements and preventive care, including:
- Prenatal vitamins or multivitamins
- Folic acid
- Ferrous sulfate (iron)
- Peanut butter as a nutritious source of protein and calories
- Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid that supports healthy fetal development
- Insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets to help prevent malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases
Together, these services help improve maternal health, support healthy pregnancies, and give newborns a better chance to thrive.
Our clinic is the nicest building in the village, by far.
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