Saving Mothers in Dame-Marie

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS TO FUND A HAITIAN OB-GYN AND ANESTHESIOLOGIST at Hôpital de la Communaute Dame-Marienne, Dame-Marie, Haiti

Young mothers in Haiti have a 1 in 80 chance of dying due to childbirth. This can be related to

• The lack of prenatal care, home delivery with little or no skilled providers except the village shaman or untrained midwife

• The lack of a working operating room with an OB-GYN/surgeon and anesthesiologist at a health facility

And for every mother that dies, 7 more are seriously injured and suffer lifelong pain, societal shame, and inability to work from physical damages.


Medical Aid to Haiti (MATH) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with the mission of helping Haitians heal Haitians by developing services in the medically under-served village of Dame-Marie on the westernmost tip of Haiti and 5 villages around Port-au-Prince. www.medicalaidtohaiti.org)

Over the past 4 years, the Dame-Marie team, led by Dr. Michael R. Bourque, a renowned obstetrician and surgeon, and Kathy Aries, Labor & Delivery RN, at St. Francis Hospital & Medical Center (Hartford, CT), has accomplished the following for the community of 40,000 in Dame-Marie --

• Re-opened the operating room at the Hôpital de la Communaute Dame-Marienne (Community Hospital of Dame-Marie) and restored it to working order with most of the equipment donated by Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center (Hartford, CT) now the flagship hospital of Trinity Health – New England;

• Assembled surgical teams that traveled to Dame-Marie four (4) times a year and, for one week each trip, performed surgeries that would not have been available to the villagers of this very poor area; and

• Facilitated the development of surgical, medical, obstetrics / gynecology, pediatrics, dental, optometry and other key specialty skills through the involvement of Haitian medical personnel from other parts of Haiti on these teams.

Recently, a 6-month grant funded a Haitian OB-GYN and anesthesiologist on-site at the hospital for 3 of 4 weeks per month.  This funding allowed a healthy outcome for over 304 mothers and children by assisting deliveries and / or performing C-Sections.

THE FUNDING FROM THIS GRANT, HOWEVER, HAS COME TO AN END.

MATH is asking for your support to continue the funding so vital to maintaining an OB-GYN/surgeon and anesthesiologist on-site in Dame-Marie and providing much-needed obstetrical services.

The cost for both an OB/GYN and anesthesiologist to be onsite is $1,000 per week, for a total of $52,000 per year.  This sounds like a lot of money, but this equates to only $2.97 per hour for these two Haitian professionals who reside in the hospital and are available 24/7.

Additional information on maternal mortality in Haiti can be found at: 
1)    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4867827/
2)    http://www.unfpa.org/news/slashing-haiti%E2%80%99s-maternal-and-infant-death-rates-one-delivery-time#sthash.NqN9ovOk.dpuf

Making a donation is easy!  

You will receive a tax-deductible email or letter. 

Copyright © Medical Aid to Haiti.  All rights reserved.