Rotarians provide medical help for La Gonave, Haiti
By Ryan Hyland
A
team of Rotarians from New York, USA, and the Rotary Club of Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, brought much-needed medical treatment to villagers on the island of La Gonave in February, and also installed
18 solar panels to power the remote village's medical clinic and
water pump.
 The
four-day mission, organized by George Solomon, past governor of
District 7260 (New York),
was funded in part by a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant. The team
included Rotarian and volunteer solar engineers, plumbers, nurses,
and a physician.
“Everybody is bringing their expertise to make this project a
success. That’s what Rotary is about…putting the right people in the
right places,” said Solomon during the mission, which was his eighth
visit to the impoverished region since 2007. “Accomplishing our
goals here brings immediate and long-term aid to people who
desperately need it.”
After Haiti’s
January 2010 earthquake, La Gonave experienced an influx of people
seeking refuge from the devastation in the capital city of
Port-au-Prince. More than 30,000 refugees
joined La Gonave’s 100,000 residents, straining already limited
resources.
Christopher Castro, a solar engineer and member of the Rotary Club
of Brentwood, New York, said that in addition to installing solar
panels, the mission provided vocational training in the use of
renewable energy.
"Solar energy is clean, renewable, and free," Castro said. By
switching from a diesel fuel generator to solar energy, villagers
will be able to save money and help the environment, he added.
Medical mission brings emergency care
On
the first day of the mission, a mother arrived with her 12-year-old
son, who was bleeding profusely from his face, hours after the
clinic had closed. Nonetheless, two Rotarian nurses and a volunteer
doctor treated the boy, but lacking anesthetic and other resources,
they were unable to stitch up his severely damaged upper lip. So the
doctor, a Haitian American, used superglue packed by a visitor to
hold the lip together. The next day, the boy’s lip was already
mending nicely.
“Can
you imagine if we weren’t here today? He would have had scarring for
life,” said District Governor Arnold Quaranta Jr. “This clinic
served as many as 70 people a day, most of them here before the
clinic opened.”
Using its 11 bags of medicine and supplies, the medical team treated
high blood pressure, stomach problems, and skin infections, among
other ailments.
Quaranta noted that the mission reflected the 2010-11 RI Theme,
Building Communities – Bridging Continents.
“People are seeing Rotarians rebuilding their community,” he said.
“With Haitians' help, we are bringing two countries together to make
this island a better place for the younger generation.”
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