Haiti

Starting in 2013, Dr. Bill Purkert started taking the yearly opportunity to participate in a medical/surgical mission with the Community Coalition for Haiti. The destination is Jacmel, a city rebuilding itself since the devastation of the earthquake in 2010. During the week of the short term mission, their particular cohort of physicians, nurses, pharmacist and support staff focuses on that segment of the population with thyroid disease. They worked side by side with the Haitian doctors, nurses and staff in training. They help care for patients with endocrine conditions in the medical clinic, and for those patients requiring thyroid surgery we provide state of the art thyroidectomy performed in one of two operating rooms available in the clinic building.

The rewards to both the people in Jacmel and to the team have been life changing. They have learned more than they have taught and have received more than they have given. Please check out the pictures, and if you’d like to learn more or think you might have a heart to serve in a medical or surgical mission in Haiti contact Dr. Bill Purkert or go directly to the CCH website.

Haiti Trip 2016

I just returned from Haiti on a mixed mission trip.  With only nine people, God was able to minister to so many people, including of course ourselves (see picture).  I was blessed to take my teenage daughter on this trip.  She is forever changed and is now as much in love with the nation and people as I am.  We once again visited a village outside of au Cayes, in the south of Haiti.  We are intentional in returning to the same community, building relationships with the children and parents alike.

We held workshops for the young men in electrical work (see picture), and workshops in volleyball for the children of the village (pictures).  This allows the girls to play and compete with the boys gaining their respect in a male dominant and soccer infatuated country. Multiple workshops were held for the teachers of the school that is run by our hosts.  The workshops covered handling children with disabilities, computer training, health issues, BLS training, and wound management (pictures). Every day that workshops were held, we fed the 80 people attending a large warm meal on the premises (see picture).

The mission was a success in that we got to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a community that currently is in the midst of a national physician strike.  We got to model selfless love and they in turn showed us grace, honor, and respect.  The teachers we trained will train others and begin to change the dependence on outsiders and slowly change the manner in which power and education is distributed in Haiti.  Every person we met was not only eager to learn but bright, capable, and capable of so much more than we were able to offer.

I thank you for allowing me to share my story.

Nargues Weir, MD