Direct Relief Provides Emergency Medications for Hurricane Victims

Around 700 people were killed when the Caribbean country was battered by tropical storms Fay and Hanna and hurricanes Gustav and Ike in just a few weeks. 800,000 people were made homeless and the infrastructure of the country destroyed as the storms washed away homes,  roads, bridges, businesses and public buildings.    "The damage caused by the passage of these four successive hurricanes in less than two months has set Haiti back several years,"  Haiti's president René Preval told the U.N. General Assembly in New York at a recent session.The U.N. reports Haiti's government and its (UN) mission there are overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster in a country where many of 9 million people live on less than $2 a day.   Visitation Hospital and its outpatient clinic in Petite Riviere de Nippes took two direct hits from two separate hurricanes and remained standing. Now the people in the service area of Visitation Hospital need its help more than ever. Waterborne illnesses particularly Malaria, Typhoid Fever, and infectious diarrhea are on the rise.    Fortunately Direct Relief International, a California based relief organization, and partner in Visitation Hospital's work, has come forward with a tremendous shipment of emergency medications for the hospital.    Dan Smith program coordinator for Direct Relief approached Visitation Hospital with the offer of an immediate shipment of medicines to help the many sickened by the recent storms passage.    A formulary consisting of mostly antibiotics and anti-infective medications was established and within 2 weeks. Fourteen large boxes packed with medications were sent by air to VHF personnel in Port au Prince.   The Haitian Government waived customs fees and  paperwork as part of the hurricane emergency and the medicines were sent rapidly on  to  Visitation Hospital. They are now being used to relieve some of the suffering caused by the storms in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.    If you would like to help Visitation Hospital Foundation in its efforts to provide health care, medications, and nutrition to the people of Haiti, please donate now.