HAITI'S DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE and Health through Walls' continued commitment and support.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW THRU PAYPAL USING EITHER MASTERCARD, VISA, PAYPAL OR OTHER BANK CARDS
All donations to be used solely for HtW's Haiti Prison Fund
Since 2001, Health through Walls has worked consistently in Haiti's national prison. For the past six months -- in response to the gross overcrowding at Haiti's national prison and the sharp increase in disease and mortality -- Health through Walls has been conducting a large scale health program primarily to identify and treat infectious and contagious disease, through medical exams and screenings of all 4,300 prisoners, create medical files for each, train prison health care workers, provide supplies, perform HIV testing and xrays, and set up Telemedicine.
See slideshow of our work and of damage to the national prison following earthquake:
Health through Walls HAITI 2009-2010 Slideshow
Read what John P. May, MD, Health through Walls' Medical Director & President had to say following the devastating earthquake (see below)
Essay: Prison Break with PHOTOS, New York Times
Most of our materials, equipment and medicines have been destroyed or stolen. We need your support to help us rebuild the medical services at the national prison and elsewhere, to provide continuing diagnostic and treatment care for those with HIV, TB & Beriberi, as well as chronic illnesses. We expect that many new prisoners will undoubtedly have trauma from the earthquake and will need immediate medical care.
Won't you please donate by clicking on our link above or by writing a tax deductible check to Health through Walls (a Florida-based 501C3). (See our address on How You Can Help page.)
From John P. May, MD - Health through Walls' Medical Director and President:
January 14, 2010
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Health through Walls wishes to express our sadness as well as our continued commitment to actively help in any way that we can with regard to recovery efforts in Haiti. Our expertise is in prison health care and we remain deeply concerned for the medical well being of the prisoners, as well as the prison administration staff and its medical personnel.
The Haitian Prison Authority has been grievously hurt by the earthquake on January 12, 2010. The Civil Prison of Port-au-Prince -- Haiti's main prison -- sustained significant damage resulting in several deaths, exact numbers still unknown. The facility was housing 4,367 prisoners. All surviving prisoners fled. A few staff remain unaccounted for. The Ministry of Justice was destroyed. Commissioner Jean Celestin, Director of the Haitian Prison Authority and an ICPA member, survived. The United Nations peacekeeping operation, MINUSTAH, suffered collapse of their headquarters and multiple deaths including Mission Chief Hedi Annabi and his deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa. All MINUSTAH corrections unit advisers are safe. At the offices of one of our partner organizations, at least one civilian who managed the laboratory specimens for HIV and TB was killed.
We have been working in the Haitian prisons for 9 years. The issues have always been complex and unsettling, and the disaster this week leaves us numb. The prison built for 800, and then expanded for 1,200, had more than 4,300 this week. The overcrowding was manifested by contagious disease, malnutrition (beriberi) and swollen legs from prolonged standing. In 2009, we trained and certified 25 prisoners to be HIV peer educators. They were engaged and effective in their work. We began a program of HIV prevention, care, and treatment through a program supported by USAID and PEPFAR. In the past few months, we had more than 80 persons receiving treatment for HIV infection and 50 for active tuberculosis. They are now running through the rubble of Port-au-Prince, hopefully finding family and the means to survive. No prisoners remain in the Civil Prison of Port-au-Prince, except for some who have died. We do not know the numbers of deaths.
Security issues are paramount to any recovery effort. International relief agencies will not participate if unsafe. Very likely, law enforcement will be busy in the coming weeks and adequate resources and humane conditions for detention required. We already learned that prisons outside of Port-au-Prince are being affected as food supplies, medications, and staff are not getting to them. There is so much to be done, and they will not be forsaken.
The non-governmental agency, Health through Walls, has been working with the Haitian Prison Authority since 2001 to support efforts of health and sanitation. Health through Walls, a registered 501c3 organization in the USA, is accepting donations to be used to meet the needs of the Haitian Prison Authority.
Thank you for your interest, support and action on behalf of Haiti and prison health care.
John P. May, MD
Medical Director and President of the Board
Health through Walls (HtW)
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"Infectious diseases respect neither the borders of prison walls, nor the borders of national shores." Dr. John P. May, Founder & Medical Director of Health through Walls
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