The following story was written by Hope for Haiti’s Clinic Manager, Jean Herns Dede, who lives and works in Les Cayes, Haiti.
“I don’t know where this disease comes from or why it chose me.”
These are the words of Kyarah, a 6-year-old diabetic girl who was recently hospitalized due to extremely high blood sugar.
Despite this, many in our community still believe that only adults can have diabetes and that this chronic disease does not affect children.
We recently held our first meeting for the Diabetic Children’s Club with patients from Hope for Haiti’s Infirmary St. Etienne. Although we already have a Diabetes Club for our adult patients, we realized that it is particularly important to have dedicated sessions for parents whose children have been diagnosed with diabetes.
“They need more guidance, and for effective and efficient care to be provided to the children, parents must be educated about the disease,” said Miss Sandina, Hope for Haiti Head Nurse.
“In the past few weeks, we have seen two parents bring their children to our clinic because they were losing weight despite eating a lot. They did not realize that the reason their children weren’t feeling well was diabetes,” said Roselande, Hope for Haiti’s Pharmacist.
She continued, “After providing proper medical care, we want to guide and educate parents so their diabetic children can live with the disease, go to school, and play like other children.”
Our team will continue to visit different community schools in the coming weeks to conduct a large-scale diabetes screening. This is one of the many ways Hope for Haiti works to improve the quality of life for people in our community.
You can support Hope for Haiti’s healthcare program and its Infirmary St. Etienne here.
