Project Focus: Expanded Hospital in Haiti
By Mark Fulton, Global Strategy Missionary to Haiti
Editor’s Note: The Church of God hospital in Haiti is among the four projects featured during Global Strategy’s 2018 impactX2 year-end campaign. Global Strategy missionaries Mark and Kathy Fulton work alongside a team of Haitian medical professionals and the local church in this ministry.
The community leaders of the area around Saintard, Haiti, have for years been asking for healthcare access and especially 24/7 emergency services. Through the Haitian Church of God leadership and with the partnership of many individuals and churches around the world, Kathy and I have been privileged to be a part of the development of a small hospital in Saintard. The Hospital of the Church of God originally opened its doors in 2005 as a small clinic with three employees. Today, the health center is open around the clock, employing over 50 Haitian medical professionals, who provide a wide spectrum of care from prosthetic fabrication to surgery to eye care to radiology, and many things in between. At the hospital, each patient’s care is subsidized so that they receive the care that they need. In an area with no insurance or subsidies, the lack of aid for each patient can make healthcare unattainable. Since the hospital opened its doors, more than 175,000 patients have been seen, all of whom have been prayed with and for, and continue to receive care for today and hope for tomorrow in Christ.
As this year draws to a close, the hospital is looking back at the immense blessings of 2018. Since service at the hospital was expanded to 24/7 in January of this year, more than 300 babies have been born within the hospital walls, more than 2,000 people have been aided in the emergency department, and more than 20,000 patients have been helped in the outpatient clinic! In addition, the prosthetic lab has provided means for amputees to walk, the dental area has alleviated pain and provided the ability to function, the eye clinic has provided sight, and the surgery area has provided many lifesaving and life changing procedures. God is good!
We also face enormous challenges ahead, as each patient who enters the facility faces many physical, financial, and spiritual hardships. If we are to continue to provide the spiritual and physical impact on each patient, we need to rely on financial assistance to purchase medicines and medical supplies, to pay the totally indigenous staff, and to supply the basic necessities needed to manage the facility. We are blessed to partner with Global Strategy and the impactX2 initiative to continue to make a difference in people’s lives for Christ in Saintard, Haiti.
To watch a video about the hospital, click here.
To learn more about the hospital and it ministry in Haiti or to make a contribution, click here.
To learn more about Global Strategy’s 2018 impactX2 campaign, click here.