In this article from the Irish Times, Gena Heraty reflects on being cut off from church by covid, as well as her drive to “mother” the people in her care, as well as the violence and rough justice of life in Haiti.
We haven’t closed out our Christmas appeal, so you can still help to overcome the problems that Gena and the residents face.
Today I want to tell you a little bit about the wonderful men and women that work as carers in Kay Christine. But first let me just give you a little insight into the Kay Christine family.
The Kay Christine family comprises 31 residents – 12 girls and 19 boys. The youngest is almost 11 and the oldest is 44.
The average age in the family is 27, so you see why I have to stop calling them kids! Of those 31 residents, 8 are in wheel chairs and are totally dependent- in other words they require carers to take care of all their basic needs. Another 9 are able to walk – some with limitations – but need full assistance with toileting and bathing. Of that 9, all have been taught to feed themselves but some need help with drinking.
The other 14 are able to take care of their basic needs by themselves, but a few need supervision. A total of 10 are non-verbal, 10 more have some limited language, are able to make themselves understood most of the time, but the average non Kay Christine member, would have great difficulty to understand them. 11 can speak clearly and 8 of those 11 can hold a conversation.
Now back to the carers. We have two different sets of carers- those that live in and those that come and go every day. Both groups work 7 days on and 7 days off. When Covid came we had to re-think things, and came up with this current schedule, which, thankfully, everyone loves!
Those that come and go every day start in the morning at 6am and finish at 6pm with some breaks during the day.
They come in the morning and and their main responsibility is the care of the more disabled dependent residents that sleep in one big dorm downstairs. They get everyone up, bathed, dressed and fed and then take care of house chores – making beds, cleaning, folding clothes, etc. During the day we have a total of 6 scheduled diaper/toileting changes(this includes the getting up and going to bed changes) and many unscheduled ones too depending on individual needs.
The team handles all those changes and all meals during the day right up until bed time. All those that need assistance are ready for bed by 6pm though they may not necessarily go to bed until 7. In Haiti, we all go to bed early and are up early, so this schedule works well for our family.
At 6pm we have 2 night ladies that come and they look after the more dependent residents during the night and they also get everything ready for morning bathing and breakfast. They work 6pm to 6am and have a 5 on 5 off schedule.
While they are not nurses, they have been trained to take very good care of everyone and they are adept at taking temperatures, changing the positions of those that cannot turn by themselves and making sure that everyone is comfortable and safe during the night. Many of our more dependent family members have issues with breathing, so we need to be very careful with them and how we position them.
We are very proud that we never have pressure sores in Kay Christine, and our staff are very aware of all the little gestures our non verbal residents make when they need to be changed or when they need to be turned. We have a nurse on site all the time. Whenever we have an issue the night staff come and get us – the nurse, the supervisor and myself – who sleep upstairs.
Our mobile people also sleep upstairs- we have 2 boys bedrooms and 2 girls bedrooms. In each of the boys room there is a male carer. These men live in for their week on and they take care of the boys/men in each room- three boys in each room plus one carer. The girls upstairs do not need a carer with them, though the nurse does sleep in one of the girls room.
Right beside Kay Christine there is another 2-story house. Downstairs in that house we have one carer and 6 our more able-bodied boys. They are pretty independent but do need guidance with most of the daily activities. Finally we have 2 people (1 man and 1 woman) that each have their own living space and own individual carer, as they can be very difficult and aggressive at times.
So there you have it! The day is full on and as you can imagine, with all the different personalities, one needs to have a lot of patience- especially when the bigger personalities have disputes among themselves.
Challenges getting to work
Remember I told you the day carers come in at 6am. Well you should know that some of them leave their homes before 5 and walk for at least an hour up the mountain to get to us. Some others can take a motor taxi but more recently with the fuel crisis they also had to walk for well over an hour. No matter the weather, these ladies show up. They are truly fantastic. The staff that live in are equally fantastic. Some of them live in areas that are not at all safe so they frequently have to negotiate burning tyres and gun battles when they are coming and going to our home. Our staff have been with us for years. We joke among ourselves that we have grown up together, as most of them have been with us for over 15 years, and quite a few for over 20 years. What a blessing!
So, is it any wonder we want to honor our staff this Christmas? Without them, there would never be this great Kay Christine Family!
Support our Christmas appeal and you’ll give a gift to each of our carers and make your contribution to the Special Needs funding for 2022. Thank you!
Gena Heraty, Director, NPH Haiti Special Needs
Jean Max is a young radiologist, who studied medicine with financial support from NPH.
He was determined to help his country but he wanted to be well prepared to do so, and therefore chose to study at one of the few universities still standing in Port au Prince after the 2010 earthquake.
He’s been working for some years now at St. Damien Paediatric Hospital, providing assessments and diagnoses, especially in the area of maternity and gynaecology. He gets satisfaction from helping to improve lives in his country.
Jean Max has experienced first hand the suffering of many Haitians since the earthquake of 14 August, and the initial anguish of not knowing whether those of his family living in the South-West had were still alive, in the areas around Les Cayes and at Perenie in the countryside.
The first news he received was that his aunt and uncle had lost their home and their lifetime belongings. Jean Max then heard that an uncle had died during the earthquake.
Some days later he decided to go to Perenie with a cousin and an uncle, to provide support to his family. However, they were unable to get there because of a gang controlling road access to Les Cayes, near Martissant. “They prevented us from getting through to the area affected, where my family lives, which was a real disaster for us”, says Jean Max.
After talking by phone they received photos showing that his family had lost everything: their home, garden, animals and personal belongings.
They need shelter from the tropical storms, bedding, a new home and everything to put their life back together. Emotionally they have suffered the loss of a loved one, and they will have to manage that loss as best they can during this humanitarian disaster.
Jean Max’s family live in the countryside, in the Perenie area, isolated from international aid, which is arriving chiefly at the large cities such as Jeremies and Les Cayes.
They hope that NPH Haiti can help them to overcome their tragic personal situation. NPH Haiti is evaluating the situation of dozens of families in similar circumstances to Jean Max’s family to see how they can deliver aid as swiftly as possible in such adverse conditions.
More than 1.5 million earthquake victims are experiencing similar dramatic situations and they are waiting for our support.
It’s tough to get aid to the victims of the earthquake for various reasons: roads cut and collapsed bridges make it very tough to get through to the areas affected.
Gangs all around the capital, Port de Prince, and in the areas worst affected, Jeremies y Les Cayes, add an extra layer of difficulty. Additionally, Storm Grace hit the South-West immediately after the earthquake.
In spite of all these difficulties, your donations from NPH Ireland are getting through, via our local organization, NPH Haiti, and also the related organization, St. Luke Foundation for Haiti.
We have managed to get through by road and sea to the worst-affected areas in the South-West. NPH is providing medical care to the sick and injured and is delivering water, food, shelter and psychological support.
At the same time we are preparing an aid plan for the victims in the medium and long term (reconstruction of homes, planting crops and reviving the countryside as a means of sustainable support for those affected). NPH has been offering care to those we have encountered on route, as well as those in the worst-affected areas.
The Haitians are accustomed to suffering and to keeping their spirits up, but they really need our help in the face of this new humanitarian disaster.
Our organizations in Haiti (NPH Haiti and the St. Luke Foundation) are staffed by trained local staff, with a very high commitment to their country and its communities. They speak the local languages, French and creole, which is essential for doing their work and showing their compassion with those in need.
NPH has the necessary experience on the ground: 35 years developing education, health and nutrition programmes, as well as our involvement in humanitarian emergencies. We help to improve the lives of more than 100,000 Haitians every year.
Donations received from our supporters are managed directly by NPH Haiti and the St. Luke Foundation for Haiti, allowing us to ensure their efficient and effective use in improving and saving lives.
We are grateful for your support. Don’t forget Haiti.
And, please, keep the donations coming.
If you’ve been following life at the NPH Haiti Special Needs programmes for a while, the name Darlene Milord will be familiar.
Darlene grew up at NPH. She has hemiplegia, a neurological condition that affects strength and control in the right side of her body. She lives at NPH Special Needs in Haiti.
That didn’t stop her winning a gold medal for equestrianism at the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
We thought you might like to hear about Darlene’s life as an equestrian in her own words.
I feel great when I horse-ride. Riding has given me confidence and the possibility to do more than I ever dreamed. I have new friends from many countries. When the school children at Kay Ste Germaine Special Needs School go riding, I teach them skills such as how to speak to the horses and touch them and how to sit and hold the reins correctly.
Thanks to my training in horse-riding at Centre Equestre Chateaublond in Haiti, I have travelled to Denmark, Abu Dhabi, and to Florida many times to compete at the West Palm Beach Special Olympics event.
In 2009 I received the FEI Award for Rider Against All Odds. At the West Palm Beach Special Olympics annual event, I have won many ribbons over the years, this event helped me to prepare for competing at the Special Olympics World Games.
I felt so proud when I won my first Gold medal at the Games. Everyone was congratulating me and I was so happy too for those who travelled to see me compete, and for my coach.
I would like to see many more Haitians with special needs competing at the games in Orlando. For myself, I hope to win more gold medals and inspire more Haitian girls to try sport and to do their best.
As a classroom assistant I participate in the physical education lessons with my students, I walk and do exercises in the evenings, and I go horse-riding once per week. I like to dance, which helps to keep me fit too.
I am the voice of the athletes, I try to encourage them to do their best, and I appear on TV and Radio to speak about Special Olympics and the importance of participation and accessibility.
We hope you enjoyed Darlene’s story of accomplishment in the face of adversity.
You can support the NPH Haiti Special Needs Programmes and make a loved one happy at the same time. Order some of our handcrafted greetings cards and you’ll keep the smiles on our residents’ faces.
Happy International Women’s Day Everyone!
8 March is International Women’s Day. We’re a long way from a gender-equal world, but we’d like to offer you something positive to mark the occasion.
Please enjoy and share our short slideshow of the wonderful women and girls at NPH Haiti Special Needs.
Find out more at the International Women’s Day website.
If you don’t know about NPH Haiti Special Needs, here’s the full, amazing story.
We’re committed to gender equality throughout NPH, so a donation to NPH is a contribution to a more gender-equal future. All contributions are put to good use and are gratefully received by your NPH family.
Gender Equality is No. 5 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
Despite having been mugged at gunpoint for the sake of US$1 – the cost of getting to and from work – Rose* will not be deterred from coming to work at Kay Ste Germaine.
She and a group of other mothers brave the perils of Haiti’s streets to make cards and jewelry for sale to benefit the NPH Haiti Special Needs programmes.
All of them have a story to tell of their ties to NPH. This is Rose’s.
In late 2017, Rose’s son Jean* contracted Guillain Barre Syndrome, which can result in total paralysis. For Rose, who had already lost her husband in the 2010 earthquake, this was a heavy blow.
He required an MRI and a long hospital stay. The medication for this disease is not available in Haiti. Fortunately a U.S. group coming into the country that week, they brought a dose of it with them.
Obviously all of this would be so far out of reach of this family were they not involved with NPH’s programme. While he was in hospital and declining rapidly, family members encouraged Rose to take him to see a witch doctor in the community. Had he done so, he would not have received the medication he needed and would not have survived.
Thankfully after Gena had intervened, Rose did not take Jean out of the NPH hospital and he remained in the ICU receiving treatment. He survived but lost all strength from his neck down. He began attending our outpatient clinic immediately after his discharge from hospital. After some 18 months of therapy he was walking unaided. Since recovering he has become a father.
Rose said she felt the only reason the muggers did not shoot her was because she told them she was the carer of her disabled son. She loves her work – which is why she continues to come despite the dangers. She knows how lucky her son is to have been involved with our programmes and access medical care and physiotherapy.
Rose and the other ladies do some amazing handicrafts to support Special Needs, including cards like the one above.
With the pandemic and restrictions on travel out of Haiti, NPH can’t spoil you with overnight deliveries like some companies. But we do have a delivery of cards already in Dublin, so drop us a line and we’ll happily put your name down for when they are available.
*Privacy note
Names, marked with an asterisk, have been changed to protect privacy.
So many of you joined in our Christmas fundraiser. You rallied round our invitation to decorate the Special Needs Christmas tree and gave a big, desperately needed boost to our funds.
Here’s Gena giving a short update on all the fun had at Kay Christine, thanks in large measure to your support.
An effort made for the happiness of others lifts us above ourselves
We have a special need for your support. Buy a decoration now! Go to our appeal.
This quote comes from an American woman called Lydia Maria Child. Child ranks among the most influential of 19th-century American women writers. She was renowned in her day as a tireless crusader for truth and justice and a champion of excluded groups in American society—especially Native Americans, slaves, and women.
I think this quote is very apt as I am about to appeal to all of you to make a big effort to help us in Haiti?.
Now believe me, I am very aware that life is not easy anywhere right now. The global pandemic has shaken the world to its core and continues to do so. All of you reading this have been affected one way or another during this time and most of you are probably totally fatigued by all the changes to your normal living. We all wonder when it might end, and I suppose everyone is also wondering how Christmas will be this year.
Here in Haiti we have been lucky in that for some reason, compared to other countries, we have not been hit badly by Covid 19. In our Special Needs Programs, we are back offering services. Our young students are coming to school – we had 70 yesterday. Our therapy patients – children and adults are coming for therapy. In our home Kay Christine, our residents are continuing their individual learning programs. So tis busy, busy.
So back to my quote from Lydia Child. As Christmas approaches we are hoping to entice you to make an extra special effort to help us out and we are going to make it fun for you to do so?.
First, let me tell you why I am making this appeal. Right now, we are in an awful situation because apart from all the usual challenges we face, we have two major problems with funding right now. One is directly related to the pandemic as our fundraisers in Europe and the US struggle to bring in funds. The other is due to political issues in Haiti. As you know, we do not receive any money from the Haitian Government. Therefore, we are dependent on overseas funding and our budgets are set in US dollars. This time last year, one US dollar gave you about 96 Haitian gourdes (local currency). Today it will get you 62 gds. You can see our problem. Throughout the year, we had huge inflation and the dollar went up to almost 120 gds. Cost of living was sky high and life impossible for most people. Then all of a sudden, with no explanation, the government injected money into the economy and the next thing the dollar dropped in value daily.
If this had translated into lower prices all round many would be delighted. But sadly, very few things have come down. We have huge shortfalls in our budgets. Our children’s hospital – the only children’s hospital in Haiti – is cutting services. The adult hospital – run by The St. Luke Foundation – is cutting services. These two hospitals save so many lives. They are providing invaluable services to the most vulnerable people in Haiti. Our special needs population depend on those hospitals. Our therapy children come via the children’s hospital. Our stroke patients come via the adult hospital. The residents in Kay Christine, where I live, are cared for in the adult hospital when they have health issues. Most of them came through the children’s hospital when they were small. Indeed most were abandoned in the children’s hospital. I get a sick feeling in my tummy when I consider the impact when services close in those hospitals. In fact, Sunday last, I rushed one of my girls to the adult hospital, as she became suddenly unwell. As she was being treated, I was shocked at how busy the emergency area was. Non-stop trauma cases. If that hospital was not there?? I would be in big trouble and so too would all those people that came that day. And those that come every day.
What will happen if we cannot keep our Special Needs programs going?
So here is where you come in?. We know most people will decorate their houses for Christmas. Here our Kay Christmas family love to see the decorations go up. So here is how we hope you can help us. We have a nice big tree- made by a local welder. Our Special Needs family are going to make decorations for this tree- they have started already- from plastic bottles, cardboard etc. They are going to have great fun making them and want you to symbolically buy one of these decorations. When you donate for a decoration, we will put your decoration on the tree, as as we do so we will say a prayer for you. You can buy a small one or a bigger one. No donation is too small. I repeat no donation is too small. If you have kids, ask them to buy one – have them buy one for a euro or a dollar. We will be putting updates on our web page and our Facebook page so you will see the progress as we make the decorations. We have lots of arts and crafts materials here and lots of plastic waiting to be transformed. We will have lots of smiles and lots of fun. We are offering you the chance to have fun too. Join us. We are not asking you to go hungry. We are not asking you to go into debt. We are asking you to help save lives. Literally. We are asking you to look beyond yourselves and to help us save our programs. Tell your friends. The more people helping, the better for us. Lots of small donations means lots of small lives will be saved. Lots of big donations means that lots of small and big lives will be saved.
All of us here in Haiti have survived so many disasters: hurricanes, the earthquake, torrential flooding, violent political unrest, violent attacks, burning tyres, physical and verbal abuse – you name it, we have faced it. Right now things are very critical for us. The country is more unsafe now than ever, with armed gangs and bandits all over the place. Kidnappings are happening all the time and NO ONE feels safe. We have not had electricity in months, so we are totally reliant on our diesel generators. We run them sparingly. We are committed to what we are doing. We are made of strong stuff. We are people of hope and we do not give up easily. You have kept us going and kept us strong all these years. Please, please, help us get through this latest crisis.
We are determined. We know you will help us.
Mesi Davans- thanks in advance?
Gena
