What’s new at medi for help? Plenty! Our relief project will be actively going public, because medi for help is now really taking shape – not least thanks to the energetic support of the entire project team. The aim of this? To generate donations, because it is only with the support of third parties that medi for help will be able to continue to send material aid to Haiti and provide active help locally to encourage the Haitian people to help themselves.

But, first of all, back to the beginning of our story. Since the earthquake in January 2010, over 1,000 Haitians have been fitted with lower limb prostheses. So a lot has already been done, but there’s no time for a breather yet. because what many don’t know is that the amputations are not only the result of the earthquake tragedy: Haiti is now the poorest country in the western hemisphere and accordingly has a great many wounds to heal, including, for example, a very poor transportation infrastructure – a situation that regularly leads to serious accidents. These accidents are the reason why many Haitians – including countless children – have to have arms or legs amputated. The level of need for prosthetic care in this country thus remains permanently very high, even without the occurrence of natural catastrophes. This is one more reason for medi for help to provide aid on a long-term basis.

The original plan was to hand over the prosthesis workshop in Deschapelles to a hospital as soon as all of the necessary processes were functioning smoothly, but this is now no longer a conceivable solution. The fact is that there have been regular outbreaks of cholera in Haiti ever since the earthquake occurred. This situation naturally places an enormous burden of costs on the Haitian healthcare system and has also pushed the country’s clinics to their limits. The workshop will therefore have to finance itself for the foreseeable future, so that generating donations is quite simply essential.

The first platform that became available for the promotion of our initiative was a press conference at Medica PreView 2011 in Hamburg. Medica PreView is an event that takes place as a runup to the health fair Medica in Düsseldorf and serves as a prior information source for journalists. Companies have the opportunity to introduce new products to a small, exclusive circle, allowing them to benefit from the high level of press attention directly on site.

medi for help took advantage of this opportunity to present the project officially for the first time. The results include numerous publications in the specialist press and a really positive echo regarding our project.

It is certainly already well known that medi for help regularly sends volunteer helpers (orthopaedic technicians) to Haiti where they make and fit prostheses to help the people to learn to walk again, whereby a major focus is on training and educating the local workshop staff. The work carried out by all these people is truly wonderful and many volunteers record their experiences in online diaries. “It is really a joy to see people taking their first steps and how their initial uncertainty suddenly turns to pride and joy. Particularly when children are concerned, this is an unbelievable experience. And after two weeks, one says goodbye with a sense of having really accomplished something”, said R. Sommerman after his return.

medi regularly invites the volunteers to Bayreuth after their return from Haiti, in order to thank them personally. In July and October of 2011, we were able to honour a total of 8 volunteer helpers for their services with a certificate of thanks.

This lively online blog has also been up and running since September of last year. It provides lots of information on Haiti and our project and, most notably, collects together the volunteers’ diaries so that any interested readers can learn all about their experiences.

So the aid programme will continue. But how exactly? Once again this year, medi for help will send products to Haiti, as well as volunteers recruited in Germany and other countries to help on the ground in Haiti. The first orthoses are planned for 2012, which means the supply of medical devices will expand beyond modular prosthesis components.

By approximately 2014, the workshop in Haiti will hopefully be operating on a very independent basis, so that although we will still be providing products, the trained staff will take care of everything else. The search for someone to fill the post of Workshop Manager on a long-term basis in Haiti is currently in full swing.

So then, merci Haiti for the wonderful smiles you give us again and again for our help. We won’t stop helping you!