Twinning Chair Mike Mercurio asked that the link to pictures of the medical mission, courtesy of Danielle Harris, be posted on the blog...
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 3:19 PM
Subject: Sharing Pictures
Hello everyone.
I created a Walgreens account for all of us to access and share pictures from haiti. Go to the website, click on "photo" and sign in. The login information is below.
I created an album and uploaded all of my pictures for each of you to view and save. To save a picture, right click on the picture, click "save as" and save the image to your computer.
Walgreens
Website: http://www.walgreens.com/
Username: haitimission2012@yahoo.com
Password: marbial2012
Danielle
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Medical Mission Article for Milford Mirror
This is a copy of the article written by Valerie Carlson that was published in the Milford Mirror recently...
HAITI AID: ST. MARY PARISH TO SEND SECOND MEDICAL MISSION TO SISTER PARISH IN MARBIAL
MILFORD, CT – Members of the St. Mary Parish Twinning Committee are leading a second medical mission to their sister parish, Ste. Therese, in Marbial, Haiti from March 3 through 10. This mission has an extra charge beyond what the group accomplished during its first mission two years ago.
In addition to providing general medical and surgical services as in 2010, the plan this year is to also provide inoculations for polio, tuberculosis and tetanus – a disease with high mortality and low immunization rates in remote areas like Marbial. The village is about 11 miles from Jacmel, the nearest city. The trip takes approximately 1½ hours in an all-terrain vehicle along a riverbed only accessible only during the January to March dry season.
Doctor Richard J. Garvey, senior attending general surgeon at Bridgeport Hospital, and Mike Mercurio, chairman of the St. Mary Twinning Committee, have been planning the mission for over a year. The committee’s first medical mission to Ste. Therese Parish, which has a population of approximately 75,000, took place in March 2010, just after the January earthquake that devastated the country. The mission planned for 2011 had to be cancelled due to an outbreak of cholera in the country and concerns about bringing the highly-contagious disease back to Connecticut.
“This will be an expanded mission,” Mercurio said. “In addition to all the services we provided two years ago, Dr. Garvey traveled to Haiti early in February to arrange for Haitian health officials responsible for Jacmel and the surrounding areas to provide our team with up to 1,000 doses of the tetanus and other vaccines. This is an extraordinary accomplishment; our liaison, Domond Bertony, who has been assisting medical missions since 1993, said he never seen inoculations provided in a rural area. This will, without a doubt, save many, many lives.”
The medical mission’s primary focus is on providing immunizations to children less than five years old and to women of child-bearing age (15 to 45 years old). The children are susceptible to the infection because they play on the ground and sleep on packed earth floors where they are likely to encounter tetanus. Many women lose their lives during childbirth due to the rudimentary and unsanitary conditions they face, which may include cutting of the umbilical cord with used razors, a piece of broken glass or scissors.
The medical mission, which has the blessing and support of the new pastor of St. Mary Parish, Rev. Aidan N. Donahue, includes nine women and seven men, six of whom speak Creole and some French – the languages of Haiti. In addition to Dr. Garvey and Mercurio, Joan Calendrillo, Director of St. Mary's Pre-School and a member of St. Agnes Parish, will once again be a member of the medical team.
“Although I have been pastor for just shy of two months, I have been impressed by the scope of the work involved in helping the people of Marbial,” Rev. Donahue said. “I am also impressed by the dedication of the team and the generous support of the people of St. Mary. This very worthy outreach project is an excellent example of faithfulness to Matthew 25, the corporal works of mercy.”
[The medical mission’s planned itinerary and more information can be found on the Twinning Committee’s blog at stmaryhaiti.blopspot.com or the parish website at stmarychurchmilford.org under “Ministries”.]
During the first day at Ste. Therese, which will begin with a 6 a.m. Mass, approximately 10 physicians from the St. Mary Twinning Committee mission will identify candidates for surgery. Over the next five days Dr. Garvey will perform about 30 operations, primarily hernia repair surgery, at Klinik Pa Nous in Jacmel.
As during the 2010 visit, a medical clinic will operate on the grounds of Ste. Therese Parish. The group provided approximately 1,500 individuals with medical care, medications, medical supplies and vitamins in 2010 and is prepared for more this year. To support the tetanus immunization campaign, the mission is bringing 50 “Birth Kits” which include sterilizing wipes, a sterile razor blade to cut the umbilical cord, two pieces of twine to tie it, a sheet for the woman giving birth to lie on, and soap. The kits also include a sheet of paper with pictures showing how to use the items.
The group also will provide reading glasses to the parish. In the agricultural economy of the remote Haitian village, many find it difficult to see small seeds as they sow them. Likewise, numerous parishioners make their own clothing as well as garments to sell at weekly markets and threading needles can be difficult.
“We will have an eyeglass station providing 1,250 pairs of reading glasses of a variety of magnifying strengths,” Mercurio said.
The visit will also offer Mercurio and committee member Joan Calendrillo an opportunity to check the status of a clean water initiative, Gift of Water, that the committee launched in 2010. Gift of Water is a not-for-profit water purification program that has been operating primarily in Haiti for over 15 years. The self-sustaining program relies on a very simple, system using two buckets, chlorine tables, filters and activated carbon. It includes initial set-up, establishment and training of a local Water Committee and a local Community Water Technician.
“During the mission we intend to get a first-hand look at some of the 625 water filtration systems that the parishioners of St. Mary and other donors have so generously provided Ste. Therese over the past 18 months,” Mercurio said. These systems provide safe, clean drinking water for approximately 5,000 individuals in the parish.
The ministry’s longer-term objective is to build a clinic on the grounds of Ste. Therese, which would make basic health care available to this community locally, Mercurio noted.
“Their options now are, in the dry season, to either to walk the 11 miles to the Klink Pas Nous, which can take two or three hours for a healthy person, or to try to arrange for the pastor, Rev. Bertrand Dieuvielle, to transport them,” he said. “Father Bertrand, however, is often traveling for several days to one of 14 other remote chapels in the parish, the largest in that diocese. During the rainy season it’s virtually impossible to get to the clinic in Jacmel.”
The St. Mary Twinning Committee forwards a shipment that includes medical supplies (and will include additional birth kits) once a year, generally in April. The shipment is organized through the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas, based in Nashville , TN.
Those who wish to support the St. Mary Twinning Committee’s efforts may write a check to St. Mary Parish with “Haiti ” in the memo line and mail it St. Mary, 72 Gulf St., Milford , CT 06460-4811 .
HAITI AID: ST. MARY PARISH TO SEND SECOND MEDICAL MISSION TO SISTER PARISH IN MARBIAL
MILFORD, CT – Members of the St. Mary Parish Twinning Committee are leading a second medical mission to their sister parish, Ste. Therese, in Marbial, Haiti from March 3 through 10. This mission has an extra charge beyond what the group accomplished during its first mission two years ago.
In addition to providing general medical and surgical services as in 2010, the plan this year is to also provide inoculations for polio, tuberculosis and tetanus – a disease with high mortality and low immunization rates in remote areas like Marbial. The village is about 11 miles from Jacmel, the nearest city. The trip takes approximately 1½ hours in an all-terrain vehicle along a riverbed only accessible only during the January to March dry season.
Doctor Richard J. Garvey, senior attending general surgeon at Bridgeport Hospital, and Mike Mercurio, chairman of the St. Mary Twinning Committee, have been planning the mission for over a year. The committee’s first medical mission to Ste. Therese Parish, which has a population of approximately 75,000, took place in March 2010, just after the January earthquake that devastated the country. The mission planned for 2011 had to be cancelled due to an outbreak of cholera in the country and concerns about bringing the highly-contagious disease back to Connecticut.
“This will be an expanded mission,” Mercurio said. “In addition to all the services we provided two years ago, Dr. Garvey traveled to Haiti early in February to arrange for Haitian health officials responsible for Jacmel and the surrounding areas to provide our team with up to 1,000 doses of the tetanus and other vaccines. This is an extraordinary accomplishment; our liaison, Domond Bertony, who has been assisting medical missions since 1993, said he never seen inoculations provided in a rural area. This will, without a doubt, save many, many lives.”
The medical mission’s primary focus is on providing immunizations to children less than five years old and to women of child-bearing age (15 to 45 years old). The children are susceptible to the infection because they play on the ground and sleep on packed earth floors where they are likely to encounter tetanus. Many women lose their lives during childbirth due to the rudimentary and unsanitary conditions they face, which may include cutting of the umbilical cord with used razors, a piece of broken glass or scissors.
The medical mission, which has the blessing and support of the new pastor of St. Mary Parish, Rev. Aidan N. Donahue, includes nine women and seven men, six of whom speak Creole and some French – the languages of Haiti. In addition to Dr. Garvey and Mercurio, Joan Calendrillo, Director of St. Mary's Pre-School and a member of St. Agnes Parish, will once again be a member of the medical team.
“Although I have been pastor for just shy of two months, I have been impressed by the scope of the work involved in helping the people of Marbial,” Rev. Donahue said. “I am also impressed by the dedication of the team and the generous support of the people of St. Mary. This very worthy outreach project is an excellent example of faithfulness to Matthew 25, the corporal works of mercy.”
[The medical mission’s planned itinerary and more information can be found on the Twinning Committee’s blog at stmaryhaiti.blopspot.com or the parish website at stmarychurchmilford.org under “Ministries”.]
During the first day at Ste. Therese, which will begin with a 6 a.m. Mass, approximately 10 physicians from the St. Mary Twinning Committee mission will identify candidates for surgery. Over the next five days Dr. Garvey will perform about 30 operations, primarily hernia repair surgery, at Klinik Pa Nous in Jacmel.
As during the 2010 visit, a medical clinic will operate on the grounds of Ste. Therese Parish. The group provided approximately 1,500 individuals with medical care, medications, medical supplies and vitamins in 2010 and is prepared for more this year. To support the tetanus immunization campaign, the mission is bringing 50 “Birth Kits” which include sterilizing wipes, a sterile razor blade to cut the umbilical cord, two pieces of twine to tie it, a sheet for the woman giving birth to lie on, and soap. The kits also include a sheet of paper with pictures showing how to use the items.
The group also will provide reading glasses to the parish. In the agricultural economy of the remote Haitian village, many find it difficult to see small seeds as they sow them. Likewise, numerous parishioners make their own clothing as well as garments to sell at weekly markets and threading needles can be difficult.
“We will have an eyeglass station providing 1,250 pairs of reading glasses of a variety of magnifying strengths,” Mercurio said.
The visit will also offer Mercurio and committee member Joan Calendrillo an opportunity to check the status of a clean water initiative, Gift of Water, that the committee launched in 2010. Gift of Water is a not-for-profit water purification program that has been operating primarily in Haiti for over 15 years. The self-sustaining program relies on a very simple, system using two buckets, chlorine tables, filters and activated carbon. It includes initial set-up, establishment and training of a local Water Committee and a local Community Water Technician.
“During the mission we intend to get a first-hand look at some of the 625 water filtration systems that the parishioners of St. Mary and other donors have so generously provided Ste. Therese over the past 18 months,” Mercurio said. These systems provide safe, clean drinking water for approximately 5,000 individuals in the parish.
The ministry’s longer-term objective is to build a clinic on the grounds of Ste. Therese, which would make basic health care available to this community locally, Mercurio noted.
“Their options now are, in the dry season, to either to walk the 11 miles to the Klink Pas Nous, which can take two or three hours for a healthy person, or to try to arrange for the pastor, Rev. Bertrand Dieuvielle, to transport them,” he said. “Father Bertrand, however, is often traveling for several days to one of 14 other remote chapels in the parish, the largest in that diocese. During the rainy season it’s virtually impossible to get to the clinic in Jacmel.”
The St. Mary Twinning Committee forwards a shipment that includes medical supplies (and will include additional birth kits) once a year, generally in April. The shipment is organized through the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas, based in Nashville , TN.
Those who wish to support the St. Mary Twinning Committee’s efforts may write a check to St. Mary Parish with “Haiti ” in the memo line and mail it St. Mary, 72 Gulf St., Milford , CT 06460-4811 .
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