2019 Annual Review: This is what happened
medi for help looks back on an exciting year
Another year in the history of medi for help has gone by and our workshops are still an important contact point for the people of Haiti: they can rely on our professional care with leg prostheses, compression treatment, shoes and orthoses and, once again, gain hope for a better future. We helped over 500 people in Haiti in 2019 under particularly challenging local circumstances.
March 2019
Unrest in Haiti with noticeable consequences for medi for help
A large medi for help team does its best every day to ensure that as many Haitians as possible experience less pain, can walk again, secure their livelihood and look to the future with a smile. Although a trip to Haiti is planned for mid-February 2019 together with participants from medi USA and Össur, the local unrest continues to be problematic in this regard. The security situation is too unstable to travel to the island. Plans are changed at short notice: together with the hospital management of the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles, our partners on the American mainland successfully agree to continue the cooperation and develop a teaching concept.
June 2019
Unstable situation persists – but care figures remain stable
Although the situation is still unstable in Haiti by the middle of the year, our workshop staff do a great job and continue to provide new patients with care. The team working in Haiti can rely on support from Germany at all times: everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that the team stays healthy and is able to continue to work towards its passion: offering people lots of hope and a reason to smile.
October 2019
Genuine improvisational talent… the medi for help team gets creative
The political and social situation in Haiti remains tense and violent unrest is intensifying significantly. Road blockades, some of which are set on fire, cause repeated and considerable disruption to traffic, as well as significant bottlenecks in the supply of water, food and petrol. 1 Our container with aid supplies, which was already organised at the beginning of the year, still cannot dock. The medi for help workshops use the stocks in storage to provide prosthetics and orthotics. Although an increasing number of hospitals and workshops are forced to close due to a lack of materials, personnel or financial resources, the medi for help team proves its true improvisational talent and our workshops continue to provide care for numerous patients. Whether the team working in Haiti or the partners in Germany and the USA, everyone agrees that medi for help will do everything it can to continue to help!
Annual reports
Care, workshop management, developments
The medi for help annual report provides a summary of everything you need to know about current developments, care figures and planning.
Interview with project manager Christoph Schmitz
medi for help continues helping people to help themselves in difficult times
medi for help project manager Christoph Schmitz offers an insight into current events and explains why providing support in Haiti is particularly important now. To the interview.
1 Haiti: Travel and safety instructions. Published online at: www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/aussenpolitik/laender/haiti-node/haitisicherheit/205048 (last accessed on 15.11.2019).