GHESKIO Marks 2-year Anniversary of the Earthquake in Haiti
In the two years since the 2010 earthquake, GHESKIO has responded to the needs of over 250,000 community members. With GHESKIO’s support, over half of the residents in the tent city have found jobs and returned to their communities to rebuild their homes. GHESKIO now runs a primary school for children living in the tent city and a vocational school for adults, giving them the business training and job skills to find employment. GHESKIO’s field workers tirelessly canvass neighboring communities referring patients to GHESKIO for clinical care and training community leaders in sanitation and cholera prevention. In the midst of rebuilding, GHESKIO’s clinic has provided HIV voluntary counseling and testing to over 250,000 patients, antiretroviral therapy to over 15,000 AIDS patients, and anti-tuberculosis drugs to over 1,000 patients.
In response to the devastating cholera outbreak, GHESKIO also built a permanent Cholera Treatment Center (CTC) on the main campus. WCMC faculty and GHESKIO staff trained over 73,000 health workers and community members in Cholera prevention. Between October 2010 and October 2011, 7,108 patients were admitted to GHESKIO CTCs. 18 deaths were reported – less than 0.5%.
Johnny Castin, 30, lies inside a Cholera Treatment Centre in Port-au-Prince. The gas jockey worked for eight months after the disease's outbreak, removing dead bodies from similar centres in Leogane. "I didn't think I'd ever get this," he says. (photo from Catherine Porter/Toronto Star)
In response to the community’s growing needs, GHESKIO is constructing a new Family Nutrition Center and Primary School on its downtown campus. Construction of a new 35-bed TB hospital will be underway soon. In 2012, GHESKIO will continue to support those remaining in the tent city and assist their efforts to return to safe and habitable communities.
Rendering of the new TB Hospital at GHESKIO
Construction of the new Primary School at GHESKIO
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