Stories From The Field | January 2024

STORIES FROM THE FIELD:
Stories from Jony Pierre – For You Haiti’s Medical Coordinator   

AN OUTSTANDING HUMAN! 

Chery Marie Goergie was born in Petit-Palmiste La Gonave. She began primary school at Petit-Palmiste and moved to Anse-a-Galets for High school. After graduating in High school, Chery studied Hotel Management, Cosmetology and Informatics.

Our office is right by the school where she was undergoing her Informatic course and Chery was always observing and learning about how we care for children who need medical assistance. 

As her dream was always to work with children, after graduating in information systems, she asked if she could be a volunteer for For You Haiti. 

Since then, she’s been working with us for 4 years as our administrative assistant and secretary. Chery’s role is to welcome new patients at the clinic, register them for surgery and guide them to our doctors office. Chery works tirelessly to serve the children and she always has little candies to welcome them patients! She is such an incredible worker and also an extremely caring mother to her baby boy.

BABY OWENS RISKS IT ALL FOR HEALTH

Owens is a patient in our program who has been diagnosed with hydrocephalus. Owens had VP shunt surgery in 2021 and he was progressing well after his surgery. 

However, recently he started experiencing a fever, vomiting, seizures, and loss of appetite. Our Paediatrician, Doctor Berly hospitalized Owens right away at the Wesleyan Hospital in Anse-A-Galets for a couple of days. After observation, our medical team felt that Owens shunt wasn’t working properly. 

We then had to transfer him urgently to Bernand Mevs Hospital in Port Au Prince where he had another surgery. Besides all of the insecurity, shooting, and kidnapping his brave mom did not hesitate to go with him immediately. The gangs even stopped her on their way, however fortunately with her determination, they got away and made it to the hospital unarmed! 

That evening, Owens went to the OR for his VP shunt revision surgery and we heard the news from both his mother and the Neurosurgeon, that the surgery went very well! 

Owens has now been discharged and is staying in Port Au Prince for a follow-up appointment close to the neurosurgeon before he returns back home! 

DANCING IS LIFE! 

Edmond Guy Frantzso was born on May 20th, 2007 at Nan café, a small village in La Gonave. He suffered from bilateral clubfoot and is deaf. Edmond also doesn’t talk verbally. 

When his mother brought him to our office in 2020, he was 13 years old but extremely small. He could not walk because of his bilateral clubfoot, instead, he crawls on his bottom, which is painful for him. 

After meeting Edmond, we felt that he really touched all of our hearts. We were so happy that we were in a good position to process his case immediately to have surgeries on both feet. His surgery was successful, now he can walk on his feet. His life has changed forever! 

He is living a much happier life now, where he is able to play with siblings and friends and dance non-stop. (His favorite thing to do!) 

Edmond has such a great personality and thrives when music is being played near him. He is always excited to see our team during our home visits to his rural village. We know that he can’t talk verbally but he always expresses his gratitude towards us by dancing when we arrive and giving us a huge smile and hugs!