For a long time now, we have been pushing for overnight space to observe & care for children with critical needs – a space that allows families and our healthcare staff to better treat children suffering from malnutrition. Thanks to our donors’ generous support, we were able to open the space last month!
A Long Awaited Clinic Win
For two decades, Light from Light has supported the Lespwa Timoun clinic’s work with malnourished children. Last month, a dream was fulfilled. Our dedicated staff opened an overnight space for children to stay while recuperating.
Caring for malnourished children is challenging. It not only requires medical expertise, but it means entering into the lives of families that are profoundly struggling. Many of our patients come from hours away, deep in the mountains surrounding Croix-des-Bouquets. Despite our best efforts, the children of these parents would often come for a single visit and then never return, unable to face the long trek. Some of this was due to the danger on the roads from roaming gangs, but also the logistics and expense of weekly 10-hour round trips were prohibitive.
After nearly a year of planning, the clinic has opened a space for children to stay in the first weeks of their treatment. The children will live in the space with a parent until they are stabilized and able to return to their home and begin outpatient treatment.
Over the years, we have unfortunately had child deaths in these first vulnerable weeks of treatment. In severe acute malnutrition, the immune system is so weakened that children frequently fall ill from pneumonia, sepsis, and profound diarrhea. Fortunately, the new recovery space is attached to the clinic. This means that we can intervene the moment these diseases begin. I am confident that this will mean more lives saved from the ravages of malnutrition.
We at Light from Light are grateful for supporters across the U.S., and we are especially grateful for the ingenuity of the staff of Lespwa Timoun on the ground in Haiti. They have created solutions to get around challenge after challenge in the chaos of Haiti. We know this translates into more and more lives changed and rehabilitated.
