SPIN! Pizza Rides for Heart to Heart

Tags

Kansas, Missouri, Kansas City, volunteer, donations, SPIN!, SPIN! Pizza, bicycle, bike rides, road rides, cycling, KCMO, Overland Park, Pizza, bicycle rides, kansas city metro

The bike riding season is well underway in the Kansas City Metro!  Great weather, warm temps… perfect for getting up on two wheels and exploring!

The awesome restaurant group SPIN! Pizza is hosting numerous guided bicycle rides in multiple locations around Kansas City this summer, for riders of all skill levels.  And they’re all benefiting Heart to Heart! (ride details below).

For each rider, at each ride, SPIN! will donate $1 to Heart to Heart up to $3,500.  Hundreds of dollars have already been raised!

Roll on over to the SPIN! Pizza Biking Facebook page

The rides have already begun, but there are plenty more in the coming months to get involved.  So come on out, get a great ride in, raise money for Heart to Heart, and as they say at SPIN!:  We ride, then we eat PIZZA!

Check out the Details: Four weekly rides continue through August 31 at four of SPIN!’s Greater Kansas City locations.

Mondays at 6:15PM
-12 & 20 mile rides
-At Overland Park SPIN
-6541 W. 119th St.

Wednesdays at 6:15pm
-10 mile ride
-At Midtown KCMO SPIN!
-4950 Main St. (second tier parking lot behind SPIN!)

Thursdays at 6:15pm
-14 or 19 un-guided road rides or
-guided mountain bike ride (only for experienced riders)
-At Lenexa SPIN!
-9474 Renner Rd.

Saturday mornings at 9:15am
-16 or 20 mile ride around Longview Lake
-At Lee’s Summit SPIN!
-1808 NW Chipman Rd.

Welch Allyn Volunteer Team in Haiti – Slideshow

Tags

Caribbean, clinics, Fondwa, Haiti, health, healthcare, humanitarian, Leogane, Medical Aid, medical education programs, medical equipment, medicine, photography, Port-au-Prince, science, service, volunteer, volunteer service trip, Welch Allyn

Recently, a five-member team of Welch Allyn employees traveled to Haiti on a Volunteer Service Trip (VST) to assist our Haiti Operations.
For a week, the team conducted training on donated equipment, provided direct patient care and even got sweaty and covered in paint putting finishing touches on a Heart to Heart clinic.
We’ve recently showcased their trip in two blog posts written by team member Sue Mangicaro, RN, Director of Clinical Affairs at Welch Allyn, originally published on advanceweb.com.

Now we’d like to share more of the best photos from the team’s trip in a slideshow.  You can access Part One of Sue’s guest blog here… and Part Two here.

Click any photo below to enter the slideshow.  And enjoy!
DW HHI

###

Welch Allyn Volunteer Team in Haiti (Part Two)

Tags

Caribbean, clinics, education, equipment, Haiti, health, healthcare, humanitarian, medical education programs, medical equipment, medicine, science, service, volunteer, volunteer service trip, Welch Allyn

Recently, a five-member team of Welch Allyn employees traveled to the Caribbean on a Volunteer Service Trip (VST) to assist our Haiti Operations.
For a week, the team conducted training on donated equipment, provided direct patient care and even got sweaty and covered in paint putting finishing touches on a Heart to Heart clinic.
What follows is Part Two of a guest blog by Sue Mangicaro, RN, Director of Clinical Affairs at Welch Allyn, originally published on advanceweb.com, as she describes some of the team’s experiences as volunteers with Heart to Heart.
To read Part One, click…

Sue Mangicaro:  Today, John Haberstock and I headed to Dufort, Haiti, to work with two volunteer doctors from the United States and Dr. Jean-Anis Louis, the Haitian clinician who works with Heart to Heart. We drove to the clinic through an area that looked like a jungle with lush vegetation on roads that were really just a dirt path. There were mango and papaya trees along the way, as well as goats, roosters, mules and oxen. While we may not always have what we need, we follow the Haitian saying, “dégagé,” which means to do the best with what you have.  Most of the time we have no running water nor electricity (at clinic sites), but are able to treat people with what we have available to us. We are seeing some Malaria, hypertension, dehydration and multiple infections. I can not stress how reassuring it is to have our Welch Allyn equipment with us, knowing that the devices are reliable, and the amazing group of interpreters who’ve become like family after years of working side-by-side.

The team that has been helping Heart to Heart construct a new healthcare clinic has also been very busy. They are determined to finish what they set out to do – get the clinic as close to being ready for use as possible. The team has completely finished painting the outside of the building, installed ceilings in five rooms, painted all five rooms and built the patient waiting area. All of this work was done in extreme heat and humidity with the help of the Haitian construction crew.
Jim Colvin said how grateful he was to be working with the Haitian crew, who were incredibly skilled, because they made it that much easier for our team to work together and complete this task. Steve Hower, director of corporate relations at Heart to Heart, was also a key participant and was willing to tackle any task at hand.

Click a photo below to enter slideshow mode…

Taking a break from construction work…

Look for Part Three soon, with more photos from the Welch Allyn Volunteer Service Trip to Haiti with Heart to Heart International…
DW HHI

###

Welch Allyn Volunteer Team in Haiti (Part One)

Tags

Caribbean, clinics, donations, education, Fondwa, Haiti, health, healthcare, iExaminer, medical education programs, medical equipment, medicine, ophthalmology, science, service, volunteer, volunteer service trip, Welch Allyn

One of the many great things about the people at Welch Allyn is… they get it.  The medical equipment manufacturer has a great relationship with Heart to Heart International that continues to grow, and you’ll find the company’s support across many of our programs and projects.
Recently, a five-member team of Welch Allyn employees traveled to the Caribbean on a Volunteer Service Trip (VST) to assist our Haiti Operations.  For a week, the team conducted training on donated equipment, provided direct patient care and even got sweaty and covered in paint putting finishing touches on a Heart to Heart clinic.
What follows is from a guest blog from Sue Mangicaro, RN, Director of Clinical Affairs at Welch Allyn, as she describes some of the team’s experiences as volunteers.
DW HHI

♦♦♦

Sue Mangicaro:  Today we worked at a clinic in Bel Air, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, which is close to the former palace. I was struck by the progress and poverty in the region.
First the progress: When I first came to Haiti in January 2010, one month after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake, and then a year later in February 2011, the area looked as though it was a war zone. So many homes and government buildings, including the palace, were destroyed and there was rubble everywhere. People were living in tents as far as the eye could see-not much had changed from January 2010 to February 2011.

During this 2013 trip, I immediately noticed a significant change on the drive to the clinic. Where the collapsed palace once stood, for a full year without any change, was now a clean open space. The tents that surrounded the palace for more than a year were now all gone. While there are still some tents scattered in the area, there is a significantly less than in 2011.

There were also drastic improvements made to the clinic in Bel Air. We once saw patients in makeshift exam areas, sometimes out in the open. We now have real exam rooms. And, where we used to dispense meds from a crude set up, they now have a small pharmacy. Finally, we previously had to send patients requiring blood work away, but now there is a small lab at the clinic to run tests.

Welch Allyn is donating equipment to the clinics here in Haiti. To make sure these clinics will get the most out of the devices, we have been training the Haitian triage nurse, the nurse manager and the Haitian family physician to use the Spot Vital Signs^® Lxi that we left behind. The triage nurse was thrilled to have a device that could capture all the vital parameters she was currently capturing manually (with the exception of thermometry using a Braun ear thermometer) in such a short time.

After visiting the the clinic in the morning, we went to a nearby hospital that also has a teaching program for resident physicians. We met up with several ophthalmology residents and the chief resident, along with Dr. Frantz Codio, Heart to Heart’s Medical Logistics Director who coordinated the visit.
John Haberstock (in red in photo) trained the Haitian medical staff to use the iExaminer and they were thrilled to use the donated device.  I spoke to them about the value of acquiring vital signs, regardless of specialty, while Winsome Graham provided training on the donated Spot Lxi. Each resident physician wanted to use the products and were also very grateful for the donation to their program.

All in all, it was another great day in Haiti. The team commented on how quickly the week was going and how hard it is to believe it is our last day in clinic tomorrow. We head up to the mountains in Fondwa, about a three hour drive.  It will by my second trip to this clinic and I’m looking forward to the day!

♦♦♦

Look for Part Two soon as the team works construction and heads into the mountains, along with more photos of the volunteer team’s trip…
DW HHI

Heart to Heart Hosts Haiti Development Summit

Tags

access, Caribbean, Cascade Pichon, Cholera, clinic, Development, Economic Development, GoH, Government, Haiti, health, healthcare, infrastructure, NGO, peasants, Summit, Sustainability, Tourism

It was remarkable really.

Momentous even, that so many representatives for so many different entities chose to come to Cascade Pichon, a place quite literally at the end of the road (picture above), in a far remote corner of Haiti, difficult to reach, to talk development and healthcare with Heart to Heart International… we’re all still a bit stunned that it actually happened. But we’re all very pleased too!

The purpose of the Summit was to jump-start all of the things that have been talked about & planned for this far-flung area of Haiti, to get as many groups and government ministries involved as possible, and to get them to Cascade Pichon.

This is one of the areas where Heart to Heart has worked for three years to broaden access to healthcare for the citizens of Haiti. There’s a new Heart to Heart health clinic in Cascade Pichon where residents, seeking care, hike down from the mountains on foot to reach. We recently launched a five-week comprehensive Cholera response to aid and educate from here. And this is where we deploy not just Haitian doctors and nurses, but medical and non-medical volunteers to help us reach our goals.

And this is where dozens of people gathered, Thursday, April 4th, 2013 to talk about the future of healthcare for thousands of residents far off the beaten path in Haiti. It’s worth mentioning the date as we hope it serves as a milestone moment.

Both Heart to Heart and The Federation of Peasants of Pichon hosted the summit where government officials, NGO representatives and local leaders met to chiefly talk sustainable development.
For the Government of Haiti this was a Director level meeting and representatives of several GoH Ministries were on hand: Health, Tourism, Education, Environment, Planification (Economic Development).
And from Heart to Heart International both CEO Krystal Barr and CFO Bud Jeffress were in-country, and joined our Haitian staff of doctors, nurses and executive personnel.

The result from this historic summit? A commitment to improve the road to Cascade Pichon and invest more in the healthcare infrastructure of the area.
It’s not everything that needs to be done, but it’s a start. A good start.

DW HHI

What follows are photos from the Summit. Click any to begin a slideshow.

Dr. Rubens Amicy, MD with Heart to Heart shares his experiences of working and living in rural Haiti for the last year, citing transportation and referral hospitals as the biggest challenges for his team.

Christophe Rodrigue, on left, and Ted Lazare with the Haiti Ministry of Health and head of public health in Southeast Haiti, took hard questions from those gathered about ambulance availability in rural Haiti.

Heart to Heart CEO Krystal Barr addressed the delegation of peasants, leaders, technicians, and government ministers in the Heart to Heart clinic in Cascade Pichon, Haiti.

A representive of Haiti’s Ministry of Planification and Cooperation, on left, confers with Heart to Heart’s country director & executive director before the historical meeting of the government, federations and HHI in Cascade Pichon, Haiti.

From left: CEO Krystal Barr, CFO Bud Jeffress and HHI Haiti executive director Steve Weber speak with environmental protection agents in Cascade Pichon, Haiti.

Lenexa Rotary Honors Heart to Heart

Tags

award, Business of the Year, community, Kansas, lenexa, Lenexa Rotary Club, Rotary, Rotary International

Rotary International (RI) has been a longtime friend of Heart to Heart.  The two organizations share, if not the same, very similar goals centered around service.  In fact, 20 years ago, it was a handful of Rotarians in the Kansas City area that set everything in motion, creating what is now known as Heart to Heart International.

Recently, a chapter of RI, the Lenexa Rotary Club from Lenexa, Kansas named Heart to Heart as the “2012 Business of the Year.”
HHI Interim CEO Krystal Barr was on hand at the club’s annual shrimpfest/bingo night to accept the award in front of hundreds of attendees.  The shrimp was very tasty, the bingo a lot of fun… but it was the award that really stood out.  To be recognized by such a group for all that we do to broaden access to healthcare in the US and around the world is quite an honor.

Many thanks to Rotary for being there at the beginning, throughout Heart to Heart’s history and for the continuing goodwill and friendship.

DW HHI

CDC Foundation Honors Heart to Heart

Tags

access, CDC, CDC Foundation, Haiti, health, healthcare, humanitarian, MSPP, NGO, Port-au-Prince

Heart to Heart is very proud to be recognized for our work to improve health and broaden access to healthcare in Haiti.

Just this week, the Centers for Disease Control Foundation announced the completion of two new public health buildings in Haiti in partnership with the Haiti Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP or Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population).

At the same event in Port-au-Prince, the CDC Foundation also honored Heart to Heart International for our long term commitment to the country and the people of Haiti.  HHI Haiti staff member Dr. Frantz Codio accepted the award on behalf of everyone at Heart to Heart.

 

 

The award reads:  With deep gratitude to Heart to Heart International for your commitment to improving the health of the People of the Republic of Haiti – February 25, 2013.

 

 

Again, very honored to be recognized in this way.  Many thanks to the CDC Foundation.  Let’s keep up the good work!

DW HHI

Combating Cholera in Haiti

Tags

Caribbean, Cascade Pichon, Cholera, cholera bacterium, Clean Water, donations, Haiti, handwashing, healthcare, humanitarian, Medical Aid, mobilize, oral rehydration salts, public health, Water

This isn’t an easy fight, but it’s one that Heart to Heart International is committed to waging.
As we blogged recently, Cholera has flared in the remote southeast of Haiti around the picturesque area of Cascade Pichon.  Where the outbreak stems from, we’re not sure yet.  But its affect is apparent.
In our survey of the outbreak in this small region we found nearly two dozen people died from cholera and more than 50 contracted it, were treated, and thankfully survived.

Cholera is relatively new to Haiti, believed to have been introduced for the first time in 2010 in the months following the January earthquake.  It is a bacterial infection of the small intestine that causes a large amount of watery diarrhea.  It causes severe and rapid dehydration, cramps, dry mouth and skin, excessive thirst, lethargy and nausea.
The CDC: The cholera bacterium is usually found in water or food sources that have been contaminated by feces (poop) from a person infected with cholera. Cholera is most likely to be found and spread in places with inadequate water treatment, poor sanitation, and inadequate hygiene.

This is where Heart to Heart comes in.  We’ve mobilized a response of not just supplies needed – like oral rehydration salts and hand-washing materials – but our professional Haitian staff consisting of doctors, nurses and public health workers.  The goal:  To treat those affected, to help them recover and to train the local population in cholera prevention.
What follows is a gallery of photos from Heart to Heart’s ongoing response to combat cholera. Click a photo to begin the slideshow.

Difficult to view, a woman suffering from cholera lies on a makeshift stretcher. Cholera causes rapid and severe dehydration. Lethargy is just another one of the debilitating symptoms.

The suffering woman is fed an oral rehydration solution by her husband. He was trained by one of the 24 health agents that in turn are being trained by Heart to Heart to respond and combat cholera.

The Cascade Pichon location is so remote, large vehicles can’t make it the last 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) to the clinic. Items must be carried in by hand. This is a 300 pound hospital bed.

Heart to Heart’s Haiti Country Director Christophe Rodrigue, on left, & Medical Director Dr. Duane Spaulding pose with some of the jugs that will become handwashing stations.

Just some of the supplies, funded by donors, that are being used to combat Cholera in Haiti.

A flurry of activity as donated Cholera supplies are sorted.

Hundreds of these blue jugs are being turned into makeshift handwashing stations. Here, health workers learn how to install one of 357 stations. These workers will then fan out to communities around the region to train residents.

This is a Train-the-Trainers session in Cascade Pichon. 24 Health Agents are being trained by Heart to Heart public health nurses, who will then train local communities on how to set up hundreds of handwashing stations.

Heart to Heart’s public health nurses Elizabeth Linda & Louise Polidor conduct the training of 24 health agents who will then head out to help educate local communities on how to stop the spread of cholera.

Some of our Haiti staff pose with local residents in the picturesque Cascade Pichon area of Haiti.

A photo of Heart to Heart’s public health nurse Louise Polidor posing with leaders from the region. The namesake of the area – the water fall Cascade Pichon is behind in the distance…

HHI and AAFPF Team Up For Training

Tags

article, Cap Haitien, doctors, Haiti, health, healthcare, medical education programs, medicine, newspaper, physicians, science, symposium, training

Heart to Heart International recently hosted a delegation to Haiti from the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation. The week-long trip was part of its Family Medicine Cares International (FMCI) program, and was divided into three components: Patient Care, Service Projects & Medical Education.

The Medical Education team held two symposiums across Haiti to provide specialized continuing education for Haitian doctors and healthcare providers. Their topic focused on cardiovascular disease.

One of those locations was in the historic city of Cap Haitien, on the country’s north coast. The symposium in Cap Haitien was documented by a journalist from the French-language Le Nouvelliste, Haiti’s oldest and largest daily newspaper.
Click the screengrab to the left to see the original article and to read it in French.
Or look below to read the article translated directly into English.

FOR A SURVEY OF THE LEVEL OF HEALTH IN HAITI
Le Nouvelliste | Publié le : 2013-02-06
by: Daphney Valsaint Malandre

Cap Haitien, Haiti — While the final preparations for organizing the carnival takes place in a city of Cap-Haïtien boosted, a group of Haitian and foreign doctors met at the training center of the Justinian Hospital for a symposium Monday, February 4, 2013 .

This activity falls within the framework of a project resulting from the agreement between Dr. Andre Vulcain, the “Project Haiti”, the American Academy of Family Physicians and Heart to Heart International. This project aims primarily to raise the level of health in Haiti while focusing on family medicine. Dr. Andre Vulcain, Haitian doctor, trained in Haiti but who have a specialization in family medicine at the University of Miami, working for the “Haiti Project”, a project of the School of Medicine of the University of Miami that supports Justinian Hospital for nearly 12 years.

Dr. Vulcan returns to Cap-Haitien regularly to provide support for training family physicians can take care of most health problems that may be present in a population. The “Haiti Project” has also helped the hospital develop a service family physicians and to develop a program of support for PV / HIV and a physical rehabilitation program. Their main goal is to assist existing entities and help them to build their capacity. To do this, they are backed by the American Academy of Family Physicians and the NGO Heart to Heart International.

The mission of the American Academy of Family Physicians in Haiti spans three phases. The organization of the Cap-Haitien symposium on cardiovascular disease in partnership with Dr Vulcan is the first. A second symposium will be held in Port-au-Prince Thursday, February 7. Meanwhile, a part of the team providing care to the needy in the area of Leogane while another is actively working in clinics and orphanages in neighborhoods like Bel Air.

Haiti has not been the first country to benefit from the assistance of these practitioners from the United States. These have indeed worked in many other underdeveloped countries. Heart to Heart International, a nongovernmental organization based in the United States, meanwhile, already working in Haiti for five years. The organization has shown, among others, has enough on Haitian soil immediately after the earthquake of 12 January 2010. At that time, there was talk of bringing first aid and provide necessary equipment. This time around, she wants to launch a new program that has already been proven in several Soviet countries for twenty years.

Heart to Heart International has already set up a permanent office in Haiti and several clinics in areas such as Leogane, Bel-Air and the south-east. A staff of about forty Haitians supported by foreign doctors ensure the proper functioning of these clinics. The organization is not only combined with other entities such as the American Academy of Family Physicians, but also with the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) to help Haitian doctors to become specialists in family medicine and increase the level of education of nurses.
These symposia which is attended by representatives of the American Academy of Family Physicians and Heart to Heart International and Dr. Andre Vulcain are in fact the beginnings of a project should extend the long term.

Heart to Heart Sends Aid to Philippines

Tags

aid, Bopha, Care Kits, humanitarian, hygeine kits, IMC, Pablo, Philippines, relief, relief supplies, tropical cyclone, Typhoon

Early December 2012, Typhoon Bopha (locally Pablo) made landfall on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao as a Category 5 super typhoon.  It was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike the island in recorded history, with wind gusts of 160 mph (260 km/h).

courtesy: Philippine Daily Inquirer/ Mariane Bermudez

The storm laid a path of destruction.  Mudslides, torrential rain, winds flattened villages, floods washed away homes and people, thousands were made homeless by the damage or destruction of 200,000+ homes.

At last tally, the death toll stands at 1,067 with a further 834 people reported missing. There are still 7,524 people staying in evacuation centers, while 835,934 displaced people are seeking shelter elsewhere. (OCHA, 15 Jan 2012)

Typhoon Bopha/Pablo was devastating, to say the least.  The Philippines government and the United Nations has put out the call for more aid — And Heart to Heart is responding!

We have already shipped seven pallets of Heart to Heart Care Kits via FedEx Express. They’re headed to our partners the International Medical Corps (IMC) and the Asia America Initiative.
The Care Kits travel first from Kansas City to Los Angeles, then to Manila and from there south to Davao City on the island of Mindanao for distribution to those in need.

And we have more on the way. Heart to Heart is readying another shipment of Care Kits bound for another partner in Manila.

DW HHI