Jennifer Lang, Program Director – April 1, 2013
A healthy and happy Kettia!
Kettia Jacobs is a thirty-five year old woman who suffers from severe anemia. She came to our primary healthcare facility, the Infirmary Saint Etienne in downtown Les Cayes, from her home in Bergeaud –with trouble breathing. Our Infirmary Director, Dr. Elmide Nazaire, immediately helped the patient, and she realized a blood transfusion was necessary.
We referred the patient to an in-patient facility, the public general hospital here in Les Cayes. However, medical resources in rural Haiti are scarce, and all blood donations are dependent on the Red Cross blood supply. Kettia was out of luck – there was no blood in her type available in the South. The only way to receive care would be to travel the 4 hours by car to Port au Prince, a journey which she and her family couldn’t pay for.
Hope for Haiti intervened using our Robert E. Hord Emergency Medical Fund. For a small transport fee, 2,000 HTG or $50 USD, we were able to send her and a caregiver to the Port au Prince Red Cross. She received type AB blood as needed.