Malta Moment - SPECIAL EDITION

As you know, the damage and suffering in Haiti is overwhelming. The death toll estimate rises every hour and no one knows how many people have been uprooted and lives unalterably changed – all this in the poorest region of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

We will respond. Just as we did with the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, the members of the Federal Association will work to get food, water, shelter and medical supplies for the poor and suffering in Haiti.

The first step is financial support and today we announce the establishment of the Federal Association’s HAITI – EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND. Our goal is to raise $200,000 in the next thirty days and to send these funds to projects and ministries supporting the poor and suffering people of Haiti. We will likely focus our support to the three programs (described below) where the Federal Association and the Order of Malta is already involved.

Please click here for instructions on how to contribute.

Our ministry to the poor and sick is central to the 900-year old mission of the Order of Malta. The Federal Association has been steadfast in its commitment to that mission. The suffering in Haiti is inestimable and, as modern-day Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta, our responsibility is clear.

We are sure that you are following the news about the devastating 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday, January 12. Communicating directly with anyone in Haiti has been nearly impossible, but we wanted to share with you all that we do know at this point.

• The Federal Association has been working together with Medicines for Humanity (MFH) in Port-Au-Prince since 2002. The Order collaborates with the Daughters of Charity to improve healthcare in Cite Soleil and in 2009 the maternal and infant clinic treated 21,032 children under five years old. The Charity Clinic, operated by the Sisters, also served 10,296 women with pre-natal and post natal care, and parenting classes. Cite Soleil, an impoverished community of over 300,000 people, is in Port- Au-Prince and has been hit very hard by the earthquake.
  
• While details from Haiti are sparse at this point, the Federal Association has learned that the convent of the Daughters of Charity in Cite Soleil has collapsed. We understand that there have been injuries, but, thankfully, no fatalities. The school and compound have sustained relatively little damage and the Daughters are working as best as they can to continue to provide meals to the children even as the school is closed; they are also tending to the injured from the dispensary the have on site. Sr. Betty Scanlon, a Sister of Mercy and MFH Project Director will depart for Haiti on Friday January 15, to meet the Daughters in Cite Soliel, visit the site and assess how best to help.

• Hôpital Sacré Coeur (HSC) is the largest private hospital in the North of Haiti. Located in the town of Milot, near Cap Haitian, the 73 bed hospital has provided uninterrupted service for 23 years. This premier Haitian healthcare facility has been a beacon of hope for the people of Northern Haiti as it creates a healthier Haiti, one dignified life at a time. More information is available at http://crudem.org/
  
• Dr. Richard Perry, a Federal Association and HSC Board member informed the membership that since the hospital is located in the far north of the island the earthquake has done no damage to the hospital. However, he also stressed that HSC supplies are shipped via container through Port-au-Prince. As many news outlets have now reported the major port in the capital city has been severely damaged and most aid will be undeliverable by container to that entry point for the foreseeable future. HSC has used this port as its exclusive venue to import medicines and equipment for the hospital and must now find another means to bring supplies into the country. As access to the capital’s port is closed off HSC will be impacted profoundly and begin to experience: a) a choking of the conduit to fresh medicines / equipment from overseas; b) the dwindling of on-shelf pharmacy stock; and, as in-country shortages increase, c) a stifling HSC’s purchasing flexibility as medicines and supplies on the island become harder to find or disappear altogether.
  
• Dr. Richard Toussaint, KM, and a group of his colleagues in Dallas are working through the details with Dr. Perry to send a medical team into Haiti to work with the trauma patients that are being transported from Port au Prince to HSC. They are hoping to arrive in Haiti on Friday.

• Order of Malta World Wide Relief (OMWWR) is the Order of Malta’s worldwide relief organization. Malteser is preparing the deployment of an expert medical team from Germany and France to support local Malteser teams on the ground. “Our colleagues in Haiti are fully aware that basic medical care and the provision of clean drinking water are matters of top priority now. " For more information about the work already being done by OMWWR in Haiti, please click here - http://www.orderofmalta.org/news/en/517/haiti-malteser-international-responds-to-devastating-earthquake