One Thursday morning in August, a young man came to our clinic carrying a bundle of blankets. Inside was a tiny baby, only 24 hours old. It was a little boy named Jhonky, and the young man carrying him was his proud daddy, named Augustin. It took us only one glance at the baby’s face to see why he had come to us: he had been born with a cleft lip/cleft palate. In North America, this would have likely been detected on prenatal ultrasound and plans made for referral and surgery as soon as possible, but here it came as a total surprise when he was born. Dad was a simple mountain man, 24 years old with one older child. He came from an area called Gwo Cheval, about a 30 minute motorcycle ride away from our clinic. He was looking for help.
Our first concern was whether or not the baby was able to breastfeed. A cleft palate can make it very difficult for a baby to coordinate the critical sequence of suck/swallow/breathe that is so vital to nutrition and survival. Dad assured us that the baby breastfed fine, and the baby did appear comfortable and well-cared for. That took some of the urgency out of the situation, but it remained very important to get this baby to definitive care and scheduled for surgery as soon as possible. We knew that Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince has a cleft palate program, so I put in a message to the head nurse, a woman named Maggie. She replied that yes, the hospital was able to take care of this baby, but unfortunately the volunteer medical teams from North America that have previously come into the country and done these operations are no longer coming in because of the unrest and volatile political situation in Haiti. Therefore, the hospital is no longer able to offer this service free of charge. The operation itself would be 30,000 Haitian gourdes, or about $300-$350 USD at the current exchange rate. There would be office visits and laboratory fees to consider as well. Such a small amount of money compared to what we are used to paying for medical care in the States, but a price still far too high for this dad to come up with.
My heart knew what the right thing to do would be, but I also knew that offering to help this family would invest our clinic for the long run and may end up costing more than expected. I reached out to our board of directors in North America, seeking approval to sponsor this child and to look for donors to help cover the cost. They agreed that it was a worthy cause and they felt the way was open for us to move ahead and help this family wade through the hospital and operation process. I had planned to post the case to our website in hopes of finding some funds, but within a couple of hours the board came back to me with the news that they had already found enough pledges to cover the entire amount! I was amazed and humbled by the quick response and was so glad I could let the dad know that help was on the way. We made plans to take the baby to the hospital the following Monday for a consult with the pediatrician and meet with Nurse Maggie to be enrolled into the cleft palate program.
Early Monday morning Augustin met me in front of the clinic, carrying baby Jhonky all wrapped up against the morning chill. We made it to Bernard Mevs in good time and were number 6 in line to see the pediatrician. As usually is the case with Haitian healthcare, the visit ended up taking a good share of the day, but I won’t bore you with details. In the end we covered the important bases: we met Miss Maggie and received instructions for the cleft palate program, consulted with the pediatrician, and got labs drawn. They want Jhonky to be several months old before scheduling him for the operation, and in the meantime he can follow up in our clinic to ensure he is gaining weight appropriately. We packed up and headed back out of town, visiting as we drove. Augustin promised to keep in touch until his next appointment in our clinic, and he has done so. One week ago he called to tell me he wanted to bring us some fresh cow’s milk, and before long he showed up with not only a jug of milk, but also a sack of potatoes and some fresh field corn. He had walked on foot, carrying all this on his back. He assured me it wasn’t too far, if you take the shortcut through the ravine. He sat on my porch and we visited for a while before he set off to walk home. He expressed his great thankfulness for the help he was receiving, and he repeated over and over how he could have never managed to pay for the surgery and wade through all the bureaucracies of the hospital visits without us. All I could say was, “That’s what we’re here for. God put me here in this time to help people like you.” It makes me think of the song that repeats the phrase, “God set you here, God set you here…”
Today was Jhonky's first follow up appointment in our clinic. Augustin showed up right on time with him, all bundled up in the same blue blanket as the first visit.
He was awake and alert and appeared well cared-for and well-developed. He is still breastfeeding well and takes a bottle occasionally, and his weight had gone up from 3.2 kg to 3.97 kg. His vital signs were normal. We sent him home with a follow-up for the 8th of October. We hope and pray that he will still be doing well and gaining weight.
We sincerely thank each of you, even though we don’t even know all your names, who reached out and helped this family in their time of need. You can be assured your funds are being received with thankful hearts. We will keep you all posted as we move through this process together. Please continue to pray for Jhonky and his recovery.