Here we go again!

NOVA Hope for Haiti is sending our 11th medical mission to Haiti tomorrow. In partnership with the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River, NJ, we are sending a team of 26 doctors, nurses, translators and support volunteers to open an emergency care clinic for 7 days in Cavaillon, Haiti.

The bins are packed with supplies, the texts, emails, and phone calls are flying between team members in New York, New Jersey, Miami and Port au Prince. The team is exited. The vehicles are rented, the medicines are in Port au Prince (athough some are stills stuck in customs, yet again... par for the course!) and the Aldy Hotel is waiting for our arrival.

Tomorrow we will fly to Port au Prince, retrieve our supplies in the madhouse that is the new temporary airport, fight our way through an army of redcaps, to load up our truck, and board our busses for the 5 hour drive to Aquin.

Then on Sunday, we will get a nice early start. For those team members who want to go to Church we will try to make it to Mass in Cavaillon, and then we'll be off to the community center behind Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church which we will tranform into a top notch clinic. Sheets will hang to create examination rooms, the stage will serve as the pharmacy, chairs will be staged for waiting patients, our paperwork will be organized at check in, and we will be ready to open our doors for the hundreds of waiting patients who will inevitably appear Monday morning. We hope to see about 1,500 patients again this coming week.

The days will be hot and long, but the comradery in the evenings refreshes our tireless volunteers and helps them get ready for the next hot day of great work.

To all of our donors who make these missions possible: you are part of this team, you are providing medical care where there is none, and I thank you.

And to all friends of NOVA Hope for Haiti, please keep our team in your prayers as we travel to Haiti this week, and the people of Haiti also, who continue to struggle against incredibly poverty.

Thank you,

-Joe

NOVA building project moving ahead

Last week, Charles Kordula and Joseph Nuzzi flew to Haiti for a two day meeting with Sam Moschelli, an architect from Shelter2Home to finalize updated designs for buildings that will comprise NOVA's health center in Cavaillon, Haiti. The meetings went extremely well. Mr. Moschelli surveyed the property, took some more measurements and met with us for hours to discuss in detail the purpose and design of each of the proposed buildings. He went immediately to work, and before our second day of meetings on Friday he already had preliminary drawings done and a suggested layout for the property.



Shelter2Home is now drawing up the buildings that we discussed, and providing us with final building costs for the four buildings that will make up the complex. This is a very exciting time for NOVA. The images attached are initial drawings that were drawn up a few years ago, and while they will change somewhat, they give an idea of what the future holds for NOVA in Cavaillon.



What are the four buildings? What will they be used for?

NOVA's building project reflects our mission and our goal to increase the health care we provide in the region. Below are the buildings in the order in which we will construct them:

1) Multipurpose building - This will be a two story open structure. The first floor will contain our pharmacy which will be large enough to store medicines, house a refrigerator for medicines needing refrigeration, and ample working room; a half bath and a large open space which can be sub-divided with temporary, movable dividers and used as our preliminary clinic and to host our medical missions. The second floor will have two full baths, and a large open space which can also be divided for temporary clinic space, can be used to host a small number of volunteers until our volunteer housing is built, and can be used for health education classes for adults and teens. The open floor plan of this building is flexible and makes it ideal as a first building that can be used at different times for different purposes. In the future, when the clinic proper is built, this will function as our education center and overflow clinic when large volunteer medical teams are in Cavaillon.

2) The Staff and Volunteer Residence - NOVA plans on hiring a small staff of Haitian medical professionals to provide medical care all year and supplement this care with more frequent volunteer medical missions from the US. This building will be a residence for both permanent staff and temporary volunteers. It will house up to 30 people comfortably with a full bath in each room. Volunteers will be 2 to 3 people to a room, while staff will each have their own room. This building will immensely change our volunteer missions to Haiti by eliminating a two hour daily commute for upwards of 26 volunteers and enable us to spend more time in the evenings in Cavaillon building relationships with the people in town. It will make logistics much easier and therefore enable us to more easily host volunteers interested in working with us in Haiti.

3) Dining Pavilion - Essentially this is part of the Staff and Volunteer Residence. The residence will not contain a kitchen. This pavilion will contain an ample kitchen big enough to cook for a large volunteer team, a pantry and a storage room. It will also consist of a very large covered patio open on 3 sides which will function as a dining area. The warm climate in Haiti gives us the ability to build this as an open area without having to enclose it. This large patio will also give volunteers a place to relax after a long, hard day's work, and will give us another place to host meetings, provide health education, etc. The dining pavilion and the residence must be built at the same time since both are needed to host staff and volunteers.

4) The NOVA clinic - This final building to be built is a full blown, proper clinic, which a reception area, a nursing station, a small pharmacy, exam rooms, and X-Ray room, etc. Here is where our permanent staff will ultimately work. This clinic will eventually be open all year and supplemented by volunteers from the states. This will be the last building built because the multipurpose building, while not ideal, will give us flexibility and allow us to begin providing ongoing care while we raise the funds for the whole complex.


Once complete, NOVA's complex will allow us to provide care to children and adults in Haiti who have absolutely no access to medical care. It will allow us to easily, safely and comfortable host volunteers from the US more frequently than our bi-annual missions, and it will allow us to develop more fully the educational component which has become all the more vital in Haiti since the outbreak of cholera in Haiti.

Building this complex will mean a quantum leap in the depth and reach of the care NOVA can provide and it will make a profound difference in the quality of life for whole communities in the south of Haiti.

It is an exiting time for NOVA, but we need your help. We are waiting for the final prices on these buildings but we expect the whole project to cost somewhere between $600,000 and $700,000.00. We have already raised the money to build the first building and we will begin construction sometime in March.

We need your help to build the rest. Please consider donating toward the building project. Together we can make a long-lasting and significant difference in the lives of people who live difficult lives which are compounded by their lack of any medical care. If you can, please help us make this dream a reality.

One year anniversary of the earthquake

As the board of directors continues to plan for the construction of our permanent medical facility in Cavaillon, Haiti, and as the Medical Mission team of volunteers plans our next medical mission in March 2011, we also remember with great sadness the tragic losses caused by the earthquake one year ago today. The news is full of what hasn't been done yet in Haiti: rubble still remains where it fell in many places, buildings have yet to be rebuilt, tent camps stretch for miles with no plan to move to more permanent shelter. But at NOVA we remain hopeful and committed to a brighter future in Haiti. The buildings will be rebuilt, roads will be improved, schools will be opened, and the sick will be cared for.


But the lives that were lost cannot be recovered. The lost we remember and commend to God who alone can overcome the destruction of death.

It's tempting on a day like today to want to throw in the towel and declare Haiti a lost cause. But it took great strength and resilience to just survive these past 12 months and the people of Haiti have again displayed that fortitude. Yet they still need our help. At NOVA we are not giving up and we are not throwing in the towel. Haiti has a long and proud history and we remain committed to our mission to help our friends in Haiti with much needed medical care. We thank our volunteers, our financial supporters and our friends for all of the encouragement and support you have given over the last 7 years. We thank you for not giving up either.

Happy Holidays from NOVA Hope for Haiti

Dear friends of NOVA Hope for Haiti,

This past year was a tough year for our friends in Haiti. Almost a year ago, a devestating earthquake claimed over a quarter of a million lives in Port au Prince, Jacmel, Leogane and other towns in the area. The capital is in ruins and is having a difficult time recovering and will for a long time to come. Then the recent outbreak of Cholera added another unwelcome menace that is claiming the lives thousands of people, especially children and the elderly. The bad news is rampant.

But there is also good news. NOVA sent it's 10th volunteer medical mission and the largest volunteer team of doctors and nurses to date. We treated well over 1,000 patients and are right now planning another medical mission in March 2011. We also brought one of our patients, four year old Danson, to the US for heart surgery to fix a fatal congenetal heart defect. The surgery went well and he is on his way to healing and health.

The building project continues to move foward and the Board of Directors is very hopeful to see much work come to fruition in 2011.

So as we bid 2010 farewell, with all of it's sadness, loss, and struggles, we also look forward to 2011 with hope that together we can make the future a little brighter.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of NOVA Hope for Haiti, I wish you all very Happy Holidays filled with joy, love and peace.

Sincerely,

Joseph Nuzzi
Vice-President
NOVA Hope for Haiti

Good news and bad news

NOVA Hope for Haiti and the Church of the Presentation were scheduled to hold their 11th medical mission to Haiti this week. Our team was scheduled to fly to Port-au-Prince on Saturday, November 6th, but do to the flooding caused by hurricane Tomas and the torrential rain it brought we needed to cancel this trip. The road between Port-au-Prince and Cavaillon, highway 2, was flooded out and impassible making it impossible for the team to get to our destination. Since we didn't know how quickly travel would become possible, we decided it was best to postpone this trip. The team is sad about having to cancel, especially since people sacrifice vacation time, and their own money for travel expenses to go, but we always put the safety and welfare of the team of volunteers first. We will definitely reschedule this trip soon.

(in photo: the river in Leogane, Haiti, that burst its banks and flooded the city during the torrential rains that Tomas brought)



That's the bad news, now for some good news...

Jean Danson is having his heart surgery right now (Monday morning, November 8, 2010) at St. Joseph's hospital in Paterson, NJ. We are praying for the little guy and the surgeons that everything go well. It's a miracle that this little guy has even gotten this far to have a chance to get this surgery that will hopefully save his life.

Meet Jean Danson!

During NOVA's April 2010 medical mission to Haiti, our volunteer medical team examined a little 4 year old boy, Jean-Danson Etienne. Danson's mom said that he was becoming listless and often had little energy. A simple stethoscope revealed a significant heart murmur that our medical team became worried about. There was nothing more we could do for him, but there was definitely something wrong with the little guy's heart. The doctor's suspected a serious heart condition but only further tests available in Port au Prince, 5 hours away, would tell us for sure.

As with most of our patients, Danson's family is very poor and don't have the means to go to the capital for medical care. So, NOVA arranged with Solanges Toussaint, our volunteer and board member who lives in Port au Prince, to have the necessary tests done. That' was all we could do at that point and Danson and his mom just had to go home.

They did make the trip to Port au Prince and NOVA paid for the tests to be done. The news wasn't good. The tests showed that Danson has a congenital heart defect which will soon kill him. The surgery he needs in order to live is available in the US but just doesn’t exist in Haiti. Danson’s parents did their best to save their son’s life but there simply was no way for him to make it unless he came to the US for surgery.

It took months for NOVA to help his mom get him a passport and a medical visa. Solanges had to do a lot of running around the capital, and she hosted the family when they were in the city. Stateside, the team scrambled to find a hospital and a surgeon who would donate their services for Danson. NOVA wound up partnering with Gift of Life in New Jersey who made the hospital arrangements and we brought the child and Solanges up to the US for surgery.

Danson and Solanges arrived this week and his surgery is scheduled for next week! We are hoping and praying that everything goes well for him, and we are confident that it will. There he is in the picture after arriving in New Jersey, smiling and excited after his first plane ride.

I'd like to thank everyone who worked hard to bring Danson here and who will continue to work hard to make sure his heart is healthy and strong, and to our donors without whom we could do none of this.

Welcome to the US Danson!

NOVA Hope for Haiti’s 10th Medical Mission a great success!

On Saturday, April 17th 27 NOVA Hope for Haiti launched its 10th Medical mission to Cavaillon, Haiti. The 27 member team consisted of doctors, nurses, translators and other volunteers. Since 2002, these medical teams have been providing urgently needed medical care in a community that has none, and since the earthquake this past January the need has grown. Our missions are completely volunteer run. Volunteers pay for their own airfare and the medicine, medical supplies and ground expenses are funded by the Church of the Presentation in Upper Saddle River, NJ and by private donors. This trip was also sponsored in part by St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City.

The team flew from JFK to Port au Prince on Saturday the 17th carrying supplies for the week. We met up with Solanges, a NOVA volunteer and member of the Board of Directors who lives in Port au Prince. Solanges had a truck and a bus waiting to carry us, our supplies and the medicine which was shipped to Haiti in advance of our arrival. Then we made the four hour journey from Port au Prince to Aquin where the team stayed. Immediately upon leaving the airport we began passing tent cities where earthquake refugees have been living over the past three months. The tent cities didn’t end for over an hour of driving.

On Sunday the team set up shop in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. We couldn’t use the community room which we normally use which is owned by the Church of our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Catholic parish in Cavaillon. It is currently being used as a temporary school, because the Catholic school was damaged. It took almost all day Sunday to set up makeshift examining rooms, set up the fully stocked pharmacy and get the clinic ready for patients.

Then on Monday we opened the doors and the patients flooded in: Moms and Dads with kids in tow, elderly for whom life in the rugged Haitian mountainside country is hard, teens and adults in need of care… the whole community for miles and miles around came for medical attention. Patients were checked in and triaged, and then they were sent to wait to see a doctor. Once the doctor saw the patient, usually with the help of a Creole speaking translator, they waited while their prescription was filled. It was first world care, provided with love, compassion and concern. And because of their hard work and dedication, in the 95+ degree heat and humidity, NOVA’s volunteers were able to see and treat over 1200 patients between Monday and Friday.

Evenings were spent relaxing. Sometimes meetings were held to go over the work of the day and to improve our work. But mostly the team spent time getting to know one another better. The volunteers, many of whom were strangers to each other at the beginning of the week, formed strong bonds of friendship by the end of the mission. Hard but great work, a spirit of giving and generosity, and a sheer love for humanity brought us all together. The half day rest we took on Thursday at the pristine, white sand, untouched beach also helped refresh and recharge the team.


Sadly on Saturday we had to break down the clinic. Some of the younger team members who still had energy wanted to stay longer, but it was time to return home. While we were able to see an impressive number of patients, many were also turned away. The need far outpaces what we can do, but we do what we can nonetheless.

With the clinic dismantled, it was time on Sunday to return to Port au Prince and catch a flight to New York. We arrived early and took a brief tour of the devastated capital. There was stunned silence on our bus as we drove past the destroyed Presidential Palace and the National Cathedral. The ruins and the rubble are on every block. We witnessed piles of rubble everywhere; a grim reminder of the great loss of life suffered in Haiti, and the long, hard road that the people of Haiti have yet to walk to rebuild. They will continue to need the world’s help for a long time to come.

During this week, members of the Board of Directors of NOVA Hope for Haiti who were in Cavaillon met to continue work on our long term project of building and staffing a permanent clinic and medical care center in town. We met with builders and with potential medical staff. We hope to see NOVA’s first permanent clinic come to fruition in the next six to twelve months.
Thank you to all of our volunteers, to the Board of Directors, and especially to our donors and supporters, without whom none of this work would be possible.

-Joseph Nuzzi
Vice-President
NOVA Hope for Haiti