Since Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti on October 4 our clinic has remained closed. The damage to the clinic was significant but fortunately is repairable. The road to the clinic was not passable for several days until fallen trees and other debris could be cleared. Dr. Wolf, Cherlie and our clinic staff are on site today working to make essential repairs to the clinic and other buildings and doing clean up in hopes of re-opening and seeing patients late next week.
The clinic itself suffered mostly flooding damage. The pharmacy suffered flooding damage and has a number of broken window frames and some broken doors. A significant amount of medications were also lost. Piping from the well and water cistern was damaged, but fortunately that has already been temporarily repaired and we have safe clean drinking water again in the clinic. The 2nd floor residence was spared any serious damage and only requires basic clean up.
We have heard that many Haitians in the communities surrounding the clinic lost their lives during the hurricane and many of those that survived suffered serious injury. Because so many live in very remote areas, they likely haven’t received any medical attention. We are working diligently in hopes of reopening the clinic very soon and seeing these patients who have been without access to any healthcare since the storm hit.
