NOVA readies to send 17th Medical Mission to Haiti

Local moms with their kids waiting to see the doctor

There is a lot going on at NOVA Hope for Haiti these days.  The building project is underway.  NOVA’s staff is busy 4 days per week seeing patients in Boileau, Haiti. They average about 500 patients per month.  The Board of Directors and volunteers in the US are working hard for our annual fundraiser this week.  In addition to raising the money needed to keep NOVA’s current operations going, our goal is to raise the additional money needed to add on the pharmacy and laboratory wing to our NOVA’s new pediatric clinic.  These are exciting times and very busy.

And in addition to all of this, NOVA is preparing to send our 17th Medical mission team to Haiti from April 26 to May 4.  The team will consist of about 24 physicians, nurses, translators, and coordinators.  Our staff in Haiti will work one on one with our physicians from the US for the week for professional training and development.  And it’s a great opportunity for our staff to meet some of our volunteers.

While our staff can about 500 patients per month, our mission teams will see over 1000 in a week.  In addition to just being able to bring medical care to a larger number of people, our volunteer missions bring a broader breadth of expertise which comes with the diverse medical team we bring down.  We are working hard to change how our future missions will work together with our staff in Haiti.

Our goal is for our physician in Haiti, Dr. Altenord Nixon, to line up patients who need a greater level of care and specialization, for example: dental needs, surgeries, etc., and then coordinate with our volunteers in the US to organize smaller, more specialized missions to meet these needs.  These smaller teams will be able to stay in the volunteer residence being built above our clinic.

NOVA will always run at least one annual, large mission which is a great way to introduce people to our work in Haiti and to be able to work with a large group of generous, talented people.  But our work is evolving because of our permanent clinic in Haiti and we are now poised to provide even greater medical care to the people in Cavaillon and Boileau, Haiti.