We stay

We make long-term commitments to the communities we serve.

“I came up from under the building,” says Shelove Julmiste, remembering her escape from the rubble of a collapsed six-story building, “and that’s when I realized my foot was crushed.”

Julmiste is among thousands of Haitians who have lost a limb or suffered serious injury— many, like her, in Haiti’s 2010 earthquake—and who desperately need treatment. While some facilites offer surgery, almost none offer rehabilitation services. People with injuries can become permanently disabled, unable to earn an income or contribute to their families.

Julmiste, who lost her leg and was fitted with a prosthetic, is not inhibited by her injury. As a Partners In Health patient, she learned to walk on her prosthetic and regained the use of her muscles. We then recruited her to serve as a coordinator for our rehabilitation program, now at University Hospital in Mirebalais. She uses her experience to help disabled patients see that they can lead normal lives through rehabilitation.

Walking freely on her prosthetic leg, laughing and chatting, she guides patients through exercises and talks with them about their fears and progress. “Every time I find a patient who has lost courage because they have lost a limb like me, I speak with them,” she says. “I comfort them, try to encourage them, and we rehabilitate together.”

Soon, PIH will open the doors of a newly constructed 10-bed rehabilitation center on the hospital grounds. Julmiste would like to see the program grow even more. She recites the Haitian proverb: “Piti piti zwazo fè nich li,” which means “little by little the bird makes its nest.”

We began our work in the town of Cange nearly 30 years ago. Now, at 12 sites across Haiti, we look toward the future and the impact we can make, continuing to open facilities such as the rehabilitation center to fulfill the health needs of the communities we serve.

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