This newsletter is a report about the hospital and the mission, as well as an update on the organization and function of the Covenant Hospital Network (CHN). Because mission committees and interest groups change membership, it may be that this letter should be shared with others at this time, and that we need updated names and e-mail addresses. We ask that you please help us to get this information where it needs to go in your church, and request that we receive notice of new addresses so that we can maintain an accurate database. Many thanks.

HOSPITAL WORK CONTINUES

Covenant Hospital continues to provide first-line health care for the 40,000 people in the Mombin Crochu region. We received a recent report from the Medical Director, Dr. Fred-Shero Cenadin, who grew up in Mombin Crochu and whose mother is a long-time employee of the hospital which we have helped to support. He tells us that he has three Haitian physicians on staff now, and a full workforce of nurses. The patient care volume has risen in the past few months, apparently in part due to an increased amount of malnutrition in the region as hard economic times affect Haiti even more forcefully than other places in the world. Poverty is greatly worsened in the poorer regions, and so there is less money for food, more illness in weakened and poorly-fed people, and increased need for the hospital, for medicine, and for treatment of illness. The people of rural Mombin Crochu continue to need our prayer and our assistance.

NETWORK FINDS NEW HOME

We are pleased to report that Covenant Hospital Network has changed its center of organization. Formerly part of Medical Benevolence Foundation, CHN and Covenant Hospital Mombin Crochu is now an official project of Village Partners International, an energetic and involved non-profit mission foundation with full 501c(3) status. It is important to understand that all contributions previously made for Covenant Hospital have been transferred to “VPI/CHN Haiti Project”, the new designation for tax-deductible contributions to Covenant Hospital Mombin Crochu. We are now receiving new and much-needed contributions from churches and individuals who wish to assist with Christ’s work in health care in rural Haiti.

MISSION FOCUS

Since operational authority for Covenant Hospital now rests with the Haitian people and the Haitian Ministry of Health (MSPP), the CHN is in the unique and favorable position of being able to help the Haitian people strengthen their own systems of preventive medicine and health care delivery to the very poor and needy region of Mombin Crochu.

Working with the regional MSPP director, we have identified the areas in which we may provide the most direct and effective healthcare support to Covenant Hospital:

• Treatment of illness. We will help maintain an adequate stock of medicines in the hospital pharmacy so that doctors and nurses can properly provide for both clinic and hospital patients in the community.
• Maintain the hospital and guesthouse buildings and the hospital supply vehicles. Work teams will focus on repairs and training of local people.
• Provide nutrition assistance. Since malnutrition is so critical at this time, we plan to respond by re-starting a former program called Food for Healing, which provides one nourishing meal daily to aid in the healing of sick and hospitalized patients.

VPI/CHN Haiti Project will direct our donated financial and mission team resources to these efforts in the coming months. We have worked hard to establish and will maintain proper accountability methods for efficient and direct use of all resources.

Many thanks to those congregations who have generously and faithfully pledged to the work of Jesus Christ at Covenant Hospital for 2009. We pray that many others will join in this mission of Christ’s hope and healing for the people of Haiti.

Covenant Hospital Network Advisory Council

Paul McLain, MD
Sylvia Campbell, MD
Allen Atz
Alice Patterson
Rev. John DeBevoise