|
Healthcare |
 |
Dr.
Jeremiah and daughter Marilyn Lowney stand outside of The Haitian Health
Foundation Clinic in Jérémie, Haiti.
This fully equipped 27,000 square foot outpatient clinic and
residence was paid for with private donations from generous benefactors. HHF serves 350-400 people per day. |
|
A volunteer
effort of health professionals begun in 1982 has grown into an
outpatient health care facility supported by a nondenominational
foundation called the Haitian Health Foundation (HHF). In 1985,
after working for four years in Port au Prince, HHF moved its
outreach to Jérémie, Haiti, at the suggestion of Mother Teresa of
Calcutta, in order to bring health care, hope, and opportunity to
this especially poor and remote area. |
|
Jérémie is
located in the western end of Haiti, where people depend on
subsistence farming, charcoal production, and other menial jobs for
their living (average income: $90–$300 per year). The area is very
isolated, and, even under the most favorable conditions, all means
of communication with and supply from urban centers is difficult,
and services scant. Living conditions in this area are
scandalous—children are frequently sent to live with relatives to
avoid crushing more people into the tiny shacks. Often, families
will sleep in “shifts,” as they share one small bed. It is common to
see children rooting with animals through the garbage for scraps of
food. |
|
HHF has created
a stable and loving preventive and curative health and development
program in the poorest area of the poorest country in the Western
Hemisphere. Our mission is to improve the health and the well being
of the poor, the sick, and the infirm of Jérémie and to break the
bonds of poverty which tie so many Haitians to a life of great
deprivation. |
|
While cynics
decry the impotence of individuals to change the world, HHF
continues to change lives—one person at a time. |
 |
HHF is proud of a 7% overhead, with 93% of funds
collected going directly to services for the poor. The Haitian Health
Foundation has been awarded Charity Navigator's top 4-Star Rating.
|
|