medi for help was founded after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti to
provide medical care on site. Since then, we have been looking
toward the future. We want to provide new prospects long-term
– therefore our focus is on sustainable social commitment with
stable partnerships and longstanding cooperation.
Our mission:
To give hope
We want to give people in emergency situations a new perspective and sustainably improve their living situation. One of the pillars of this mission is engagement in global deployment areas where people lack access to medical care. Our support focuses on the therapy for severe diseases of the lymphatic system with organic causes or caused by parasites such as lymphatic filariasis, as well as orthopedic care.
Another pillar of the non-profit aid organization medi for help is supporting local, non-profit initiatives.
How we help
We specifically promote existing skills on site in order to We specifically promote existing skills on-site in order to provide sustainable support and help the affected countries help themselves. The aim of medi for help is to put medical care into the hands of the local, on-location employees for the long-term. To this end, medi for help guides those in charge in setting up an independent organization to promote self-sufficiency and independence among the partners. The focus is on imparting knowledge and practices in patient care, as well as promoting patients’ self-management. In addition to the technical core competencies, medi donates products such as adaptive supports or medical compression products.
These are our values
Provide sustainable support
We specifically and sustainably promote existing skills on site – to help people help themselves.
Long-term partnerships
The cooperation with the Hôpital Albert Schweizer (HAS) has been in existence since 2010.
Collaboration on equal footing
We attach great importance to cooperation with local employees.
The medi for help concept is designed in such a way that the team on site is guided towards becoming an independent organization. One positive example: Haitian Fabiola Jean Pierre has been an orthopedic technician at medi for help since 2016 and has run the workshop in Deschapelles since 2017.
Our strengths
medi’s competencies form the foundation – we use the strengths of our company to offer the best possible support. This includes our product portfolio (including: adaptive compression products, wound care products, orthoses), a strong network and extensive expertise, as well as many years of practical and scientific experience in lymphology and orthopedic.
Formation and outlook
2010
The beginnings: Haiti earthquake of January 2010
One of the worst earthquakes in the history of Haiti, costing more than 200,000 people their lives and injuring over 300,000, some seriously. Soon thereafter, medi for help arrives and has been assisting people with helping themselves ever since.
Long-term, sustainable social commitment is more important than a one-off aid campaign. The foundation of the non-profit medi for help was prosthetics care.
From prosthetics to orthopedics
In 2012, medi for help, together with other partners, set up a prosthetics workshop in the capital Port-au-Prince and handed it over to St. Vincent’s Center for Children with Disabilities. It has since established itself as a location for the care of leg amputees.
Instead, medi for help concentrates on the region surrounding the Hôpital Albert Schweizer (HAS), which focuses on pediatric trauma surgery and the associated orthopedics care. Since 2015, the site relocation has brought about a new focus in patient care – adjustment of orthoses. The switch from prosthetics to orthopedics has been reinforced by the sale of the medi prosthetics division in 2016.
2021
Social commitment in the treatment of lymphatic filariasis
Another great need for on-location patient care was quickly identified: the treatment of lymphatic filariasis, a neglected, poverty-related tropical disease. medi for help supports treatment of the socially disadvantaged on location and makes use of the core competencies of medi as medical aid manufacturer in lymphology.
2021 + Outlook: The family that owns medi decided to expand its social commitment to be able to help even more people caught up in emergencies. The high worldwide demand for patient care with lymphatic filariasis also plays a major role – medi’s expertise and the practical experience it has gained form the basis for this. In addition to those in Haiti, other global projects, for example in India, as well as local initiatives with the aid organization medi for help, will be supported in the future.
Our Annual Reports
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Our local partners
A good partnership is important to us:
Currently, medi for help is working with the Hôpital Albert Schweizer (HAS) hospital in Haiti and the non-profit research organization Institute of Applied Dermatology (IAD) in India.