By Scott C. Nelson ’96

T

he tropical sun beat down on a red shipping container outside the emergency room at Hôpital Adventiste d’Haïti (HAH). It was not a recent addition, judging from the rust and holes. The three-foot-thick slab beneath it affirmed its permanence. At one point, it had been partially unpacked, but a large stock of splints, braces, and boots remained stacked deep inside with walkers, crutches, and wheelchairs, beyond broken medical equipment and worn-out hospital furniture. Many were donated broken, not able to be fixed by well-equipped clinical engineers in the best U.S. hospitals, so they had been donated to Haiti in the hope that someone would be clever enough to make use of them. While cleaning out the remaining storage areas at HAH, we constructed a new loading ramp behind the hospital to safely and efficiently unload future incoming deliveries and donations.

Six years later, in March 2024, on a brief visit to Loma Linda, our return tickets to Haiti were canceled when gangsters in Port-au-Prince shot bullets through parked airliners and took over the airport. The return to Haiti was delayed from days to weeks to months. I took this as an opportunity to pack a new container for the hospital. It was a unique situation because no one understands HAH’s current needs, history, and future plans better than the person who has lived there for six years.

The first items to go in were 10 nearly new Stryker gurneys donated by the OR at Loma Linda University Health. The brakes were mounted upside down; fortunately, it is not difficult to fix. We added a plastic recycling machine for our prosthetics lab and some dental chairs for the new dental clinic. I then sourced many other items needed using our donated funds. These included: new tables and chairs for the cafeteria, new washing machines for the laundry, cafeteria equipment, a huge extractor fan for the kitchen cooking area, 72 large oxygen cylinders, a new lawnmower, construction materials, sinks and countertops for patient room renovations, oxygen bedheads and medical gas valves, IV poles, crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, plaster casting material, bandages, dressings and braces, tools for the maintenance department, surgical instruments, and many other items, even Big Franks, and a fake plant from Ikea for the welcome desk. I labeled and inventoried each item. Finally, we closed and sealed the door.

The crane came to pick up the container. It weighed 33,000 pounds, slightly over half the total container weight capacity, but it was packed tight and nearing the weight limit for transportation on California highways. It traveled by truck to Long Beach, then by boat through the Panama Canal, and finally by another boat to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The total cost for the trip was about $12,000 USD, $10,770 funded by the Alumni Association’s Alumni in Mission Service (AIMS) Council, and it took less than one month. By that time, negotiations had already begun in Port-au-Prince, where gangs controlled the roads and constantly disrupted activities at the port. It took another six months to make the final five miles of the 3,400-mile journey. With many prayers, additional financial resources, and intense strategizing, the container completed the daring journey through one of the most dangerous parts of Port-au-Prince and finally arrived at the new HAH loading dock.

Our team carefully unloaded all the contents. I was so hoping to be there for the unpacking, but nearly two years after the airport was taken over by gangs, it still remains closed. Virtual participation occupies my early mornings and any free moments during my workday in Loma Linda. It is a huge job to make sure that all the inventory is distributed for its intended purpose.

Receiving the container of needed items was an immense boost to the morale of our providers and staff as they continue to persevere against all odds. Perhaps even more meaningful is their feeling that someone cares about them.

Sixty percent of hospitals in the surrounding area have been destroyed, and most of the others are barely functioning. At HAH, not everything is perfect, but patients are still getting the care they need, even when they do not have the resources to pay for it.

On behalf of the staff and patients at Hôpital Adventiste d’Haïti, I express sincere gratitude to the Alumni Association and its AIMS Council for their support. Shipping is a necessary but not attractive donation item. The $10,770 of alumni donations we received through AIMS was essential not only to ensure sustainability at Hôpital Adventiste d’Haïti but also to allow us to offer top-quality care to those who need it most. Thank you to all those who gave. Your gift brought joy and made a lasting impact.

The partnership we have with the Alumni Association to share the costs of container shipping is another essential way we advance sustainability at Hôpital Adventiste d’Haïti and offer top-quality care to those who need it most.  ν