At Beraca Medical Center (CMB), on Wednesday,11/28/2018, (the day after the #GivingTuesday, the movement whose objective is to "devote a day to generosity and solidarity by celebrating the gift in all its forms: money, time, kindness, blood and voice.") we had the opportunity to help a family through the CMB Poor Fund. In fact, the child required an operation but his mother did not have the necessary resources.
This family, made up only of the child, Darwins, and his pregnant mother entered the hospital on Monday. The little Darwins had swallowed a coin of five Haitian gourdes (2.5cm in diameter). Fortunately, he did not choke on it but the item got stuck in his esophagus, so he could not eat or drink anymore; everything came out. With his mother, they hence had to take the road for several miles from Baudin (at the gates of Port-de-Paix) to La Pointe. The coin was removed by our surgeon at OR. Darwins was feeling very bad before his operation, but on the day of his remission it was a smiling child that we met, and he was already much better.
However, from the moment of admission until after the operation, the mother of this small family who was widening assured the staff of the hospital that she was going to receive money, but as time passed, no money to be found. And unfortunately, access to healthcare is something we have to pay for.
Speaking a little more with this woman, we learned that she was all alone. She has no husband and the father of the children does not care about them. She herself does not work and doesn't really have a family: "it's the little one, me and Jesus". Later she told us that she was staying with her parents, but it was not very clear. What was certain is that she was in a very precarious situation. The little money she received was not a regular source and came out of small jobs, such as petty trading, washing clothes, domestic help; just enough to survive. She was supposed to receive money from a job on Thursday, but the promise has not been kept.
As for Darwins, he is over 3 years old so he is old enough to go to school, but once again his mother does not have enough money to send him there.
Each day we receive someone who can’t pay for care. So how can we deal with this situation? It is totally unthinkable to deny care to someone who needs it urgently. We are committed to taking care of all those who pass through our doors, even if they do not have enough resources.
It is exactly for cases like this that our hospital holds a special fund to provide health care to the poorest of northwestern Haiti. No need to say that it greatly impacts the financial stability of our medical center.
That's why today we encourage you to consider helping us take care of those in need by giving to CMB Poor Fund - once or on a regular basis. For more information on how to donate, you can visit www.cmbhaiti.org/give.
For now, we can say that one more family had the opportunity to benefit from this program. Judging from the kid’s smile, they are grateful for this chance and happy to be able to go home, with a safe and sound little Darwins.