Haiti Relief Programs

As of early 2011 we have been able to direct approximately $130,000 to Haiti Relief. These funds have come from Rotary Clubs of District 7090,individual donations, organization donations and the Haiti Relief Community Dinner held January 26th, 2010 in conjunction with St. John's Church. We thank you for your support of our efforts to help those in need in Haiti.

By the end of April the District 7090, personal donations, community donations and other fund raising has meant that we have been able to direct over $125,000 to the Haiti Relief Effort through Hopital Albert Schweitzer.

October 22 2010 Update

As you will have heard on the news there has been a serious outbreak of cholera in the Artibonite Valley of Haiti. This is the area in which the Haiti Water for Life Program has been busy drilling wells. The news reports say that the outbreak is being traced to the water in the Artibonite river which is used by many of the people. We received the following report from Dawn Johnson one of our key partners in the area.

"From: Dawn Johnson Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 10:27 AM To: Roy Sheldrick ; Julie Truelove Subject: update on the Artibonite area

Dear Roy and Julie:

I thought I’d give you a very brief update on a current situation in the Artibonite Valley you may or may not be aware of. The whole Artibonite Valley from Mirebalais downstream is affected by an outbreak of a particularly bad diarrhea. There have been deaths, particularly in the coastal plain. HAS currently has about 21 hospitalized cases, more are expected to come in. The pathogen has not been identified but the Ministry of Health and CDC are working on that. We have sufficient supplies to treat patients for right now, though we are calling in extra staff time. We are in contact with the network of area health care providers and in-country medical supply sources to make sure we will have supplies. I am attempting to contact the health clinic at Pont Sonde to verify their status. We have sent samples into a Port au Prince lab which we hope can identify the causal agent. It appears to be waterborne but that is not confirmed. St. Marc has had several dozen deaths already as has the area around L’Estere. L’Estere is on the national highway to the north of Pont Sonde, while St. Marc is on the same road to the south.

Pont Sonde is right in the center of the worst hit area. The 17-well project is certainly going to be a tremendous help right now to the beneficiaries! Renold Estime informs me that all 6 final wells are finished, we just need the photo for the last one.

I will pass on confirmed information tomorrow, or you can follow on the HAS website where announcements will be posted.

Thanks again IMMENSELY for your help in getting these wells done – now is the kind of situation where they really save lives.

Mlle. Dawn Johnson Technical Coordinator, ICS Hôpital Albert Schweitzer"

As you can see from Dawn's e-mail all of the efforts to help over the years are helping in this new crisis. We can only hope that the medical supplies and the hospitals and clinics can keep up with the demand...Haiti's challenges continue.

If you would like to keep up to date with activities in the Artibonite you can read the HAS blog at:

http://hashaiti.blogspot.com

Thank you to all who have supported the people of Haiti through the Haiti Relief Fund and Haiti Water For Life!