HPIC at Work

The Northwest Haiti Christian Mission receives hundreds of earthquake survivors

The town of St-Louis du Nord in the northwest region of Haiti did not crumble when the earthquake struck the country on January 12, but the aftermath of the quake will be felt for a long time to come.

The population in the area served by the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission - a community health partner of HPIC - has ballooned from 7,000 to more than 20,000 as people flee the area surrounding Port-au-Prince.

Rev. Tina Simpson-Leslie of NWHCM says, "Our staff is overwhelmed with the wounded pouring in. So many are fighting gangrene, and so many limbs are being lost. We can treat and heal their wounds but their emotions and their minds are still so hurt."

On Saturday, January 23, HPIC president Glen Shepherd travelled to Haiti on a humanitarian flight of Air Canada, with medicine in the cargo hold destined for the NWHCM. The shipment consisted of over $67,000 worth of antibiotics, analgesics, vitamins and other medicines, all donated by Canadian pharmaceutical companies.

This was not the first time medicine from HPIC would be used to treat earthquake victims. In the hours following the earthquake, staff from the mission had carried medicine and supplies from their most recent HPIC shipment to the disaster zone to provide emergency medical care. As this latest shipment is unpacked and put to use, thousands more people will receive the treatment they so desperately need.

Regular medical aid shipments will continue for the NWHCM, as they persevere in treating this impoverished and battered population in the months to come. Simpson-Leslie is unequivocal in her gratitude. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart," she says. "God bless you all."