Haiti, January 2016:
EMEDEX is proud to announce that it has obtained a grant for two ultrasound machines to be donated to the emergency rooms of the two major public hospitals in Northeast Haiti. We are grateful for the contribution by the DAK Foundation to advance emergency care in the region by the use of bedside ultrasound. EMEDEX is now developing a teaching manual and curriculum to train providers at these hospitals in the use of focused emergency ultrasound.
Haiti, December 2015:
The first phase of the Involved Citizen Project has been a success! EMEDEX has now graduated 22 local Haitian trainers to teach first aid in their communities. These carefully recruited health care advocates hail from across the Northeast region and have demonstrated commitment and enthusiasm to mastering the EMEDEX first aid curriculum, as well as to developing their skills as teachers.
Haiti, January 2015:
Together with our local partners, we have developed objective criteria for our program participants to graduate to the level of EMEDEX trainer. This evaluation will establish when the trainers are ready to teach their communities the first aid skills they have learned, and we can ensure the material is taught effectively and reliably.
Haiti, January 2013:
Successful programs aimed at improving access to emergency health care must be grounded in local knowledge of the local healthcare landscape. To this aim, EMEDEX completed an important assessment of emergency care services and capabilities in the Northeast region in October of 2012. The three public hospitals of the Ministry of Health, as well as five health care centers of the Northeast region were included in the assessment. From this study, several important findings were elucidated. Although all the hospitals had generators and running water, none had potable water. No CT scanners exist in the region. Important emergency equipment is not available to providers in the emergency rooms at several of the facilities. Communication between hospitals is limited and no organized inter-hospital referral network exists. Continue reading “Moving Beyond Assessment of Emergency Care Services”
Haiti, October 2012:
EMEDEX’s most recent visit to Haiti in June of 2012 marked the conclusion of a needs assessment study in Fort Liberte, a city neighbor to Terrier Rouge which houses one of the Northeast region’s referral hospitals. The study evaluated the types of emergencies seen at Fort Liberte Hospital, what prehospital care exists in the area, and what means of transportation patients use to reach the hospital for care.
Approximately 20% of patients have trauma-related complaints, the mean age of patients is 23 years old, and most patients reach the hospital by motorcycle taxi, without having received any prehospital care. These findings have important implications in developing the local prehospital and hospital emergency system. The data from this assessment will help guide the next steps in EMEDEX interventions in the region.
Visit the Journal for Prehospital and Disaster Medicine for the full report.
Haiti, May 2011:
One of the many features missing from daily life in the Northeast of Haiti is a viable medical first response service. If you are sick or injured, you typically flag down a tap-tap–basically a flatbed truck with benches on either side–to take you to a hospital or clinic that might be miles away. Of course, this is predicated on one’s ability to pay.
Continue reading “EMEDEX Hosts Two Day Conference”
Haiti, January 2011:
One Year Later…
EMEDEX reflects today on the year that has past since the earthquake of January 12, 2010. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians suffered in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, and the effects continued for all the months following, up until even today. We acknowledge the incredible resilience of the Haitian people, which inspires us to also keep moving forward in our mission. We have a duty to remember that change is still needed in Haiti, and only through ongoing commitment and partnership can it be achieved.
Over the last year, EMEDEX’s Rescue, Recover, Rebuild initiative sent four successful teams to Haiti. We provided emergency care to patients in Port au Prince soon after the earthquake. We worked alongside local Haitian partners in the Northeast to supplement primary and emergency clinical care in Terrier Rouge. EMEDEX completed a needs assessment of the Northeast regional healthcare resources and served as a link between facilities that had previously not been aware of one another. Our assessment highlighted a need for prehospital and emergency systems development. Community members expressed a desire for disaster preparedness planning and healthcare professionals felt they would benefit from emergency skills training. To address these concerns, EMEDEX conducted a course in first aid and basic life support skills for both community members and healthcare professionals, increasing the potential capacity for local response to future emergencies.
EMEDEX could not have achieved its successes of 2010 without the generous contributions of its supporters. We thank each and every one of you for making it possible to honor our commitment to building sustainable change in emergency medical care in Haiti and other countries around the world. We ask for your continued support toward ongoing rebuilding, training and in keeping our vision alive.
