Gary,
Thank you very much for your view and reflections on the article in
La Nouvelliste. You have stated some very well written points for
consideration.

I, and a number of others, was forwarded a copy from Dr. Jack
LaFontant that had been sent to him. I appreciate having received
the article first from him and now posted in HSCEnews since it was
one I had missed in my usual search for articles in the news on
Haiti. I think it may have been missed by my search engine since it
was originally written in French. These are not new facts nor are the
assumptions in the article new. Let us not get carried away with
assumptions and past allegations but work with the present and have
hope for the future.

Obviously, the situations that brought HSC to this point are based in
many, many issues. It is, as the Haitian saying goes, that there are
"mountains beyond mountains."

The past that brought us all (who love the people of Leogane and
whose deep desire is to be an instrument of the Lord) to bring a
ministry of hope and healing cannot be wiped away. What has happened
has happened. Political actions, financial ramifications, uncertainty
and other complicated actions are the facts of history. It is the
future for which we must pray God's guidance and grace.

What I (in own mind, with out representing ANYONE else, any
institution, church or program supporter) perceive to be the
direction and actions necessary will take compassion, trust, hope,
prayerful discernment, communication, Hope, sacrifice, giving up of
self-centeredness, partnership and HOPE.

The Presbyterian Church USA has been a partner with the Episcopal
Diocese of Haiti since HSC grew from a small clinic to the large
medical facility it is now. It MAY be that in and during the growth,
the original vision of ministry and mission to serve the people of
Leogane became diluted. WHATEVER the past may be, the future is where
we set our eyes.
It is up to the leadership of the Diocese to MAKE and to TAKE the
difficult steps to return to the vision. As partners, it is up to
the visitors and supporters of HSC who have the health and welfare of
the people of Leogane in their heart to work with the leadership.
Partnership can be messy and very hard work. Mission can be messy and
very hard work. The love of God is for His people is easy and
beautiful.

Our HOPE is in the Lord from who all good things come.
Grace and peace,

Pix

PIx Mahler
PCUSA Haiti Partnership Facilitator
pix@...
1022 Floyd St., Lynchburg, VA 24501
http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/mahlerp.htm


On Oct 14, 2006, at 5:22 AM, paraison gary wrote:

>
> The political insability agravates the situation of the Hospital.
> Financially speaking, visitors used to contribute enormously to the
> employees' salaries. A lack of security in Haiti caused several
> trips to cancel. The hospital has not been going through financial
> crisis only those recent months but for more than five years.
> Crisis has started since the political uprisings with President
> Jean Bertrand Aristide in Power. The Hospital has lost its
> international relations and its potential donors due to several
> reasons.A lack of attention and appreciation given to donors or
> visitors have also undermined its relations. Since the hospital is
> non-profit- the personnels need to reinstate or strengthen their
> relations with existing and prospective donors as well.
> One thing, do please remind that the hospital did not have an
> available fund to finance all its operations. It was often money
> collected from the mission groups which kept the hospital on its
> toes. It is going to detoriate without new strategics developped to
> manage both its finances and employees. I think it is time for the
> hospital personnels to step down and shout for helps.
> I was born in this hospital and It is sad to hear what the
> hospital is going through in those days. It is going to be
> nightmare for the community to see the only main hospital in
> Leogane is no longer able to serve the community. The hospital
> needs to now to research its weakness and its strength to balance
> its continuing operations.
> I am hoping the churches continue their supports toward the
> hospital in those days.
> Thanks
> Gary
>
> anderseven@... a écrit :
> Hospital Holy-Cross Crosses an Agitated Sea
>
>
> The situation has become complicated at Holy-Cross Hospital.
> Vagueness of firings, disengagement of financial partners, are
> among other difficulties which followed the revocation of Dr.
> Jacques Guy Lafontant, General Director of the institution.
> For approximately a year, the situation has been difficult at
> Hospital Holy-Cross of Léogâne (HSC) which is slow in resuming
> activities after the revocation of Dr. Jacques Guy Lafontant, in
> November 2005, as Director General.
>
> With reduced medical personnel, demobilized financial partners and
> increased medical fees, this hospital complex of the Episcopal
> Church of Haiti is losing its calling.
>
> Father Jean Berthol Phanord, Administrator General, has not managed
> to maintain normal operation of the hospital, according to
> personnel of the institution.
>
> A disagreement with the Bishop of the Diocese of Haiti, Mgr Jean
> Zachée Duracin, was behind the firing of Dr. Lafontant, very
> prejudicial for the institution which had a certain standard.
> Several employees considered to be close to the old direction were
> reinstated, underlined our sources.
>
> Mi-figue, mi-raisin
>
> Even the entrance of the hospital testifies to its slow down. A
> market and a station of motor cycles divides the sidewalk of the
> hospital.
>
> Maintenance of the medical programs, true vocation of the hospital,
> is today only one business of frontage. Several financial partners
> left after the revocation of Jacques Guy Lafontant, while those who
> remain are not regular in the releasing of funds.
>
> Since January 2006, an employee of the hospital says, several
> financing organizations float between engagement and abandonment, a
> situation which envelopes the institution in total distress.
>
> About fifty employees have been laid off since the arrival of
> Father Jean Berthol as administrator general of HSC. Between August
> and September, 44 people of which 22 are nurses, were removed from
> duty without continuation nor pay, a victim informed.
>
> Thanked and Reinstated
>
> Five contract personnel who were fired last June were reinstated.
> Some of them, belonging to the medical personnel, work daily,
> others were obliged to work elsewhere while keeping their status
> as employees of the hospital, awaiting retroactive pay covering
> several months.
>
> Moreover, HSC has shown serious delay of payment. According to our
> sources, the employees depending on IICO, have not received their
> wages since January. Others have been waiting for more than three
> months, a situation which becomes complicated day by day.
>
> A circular posted in the Administrative Section of the hospital
> mentions the cancellation of reimbursement of expenses or extras
> because of financial difficulties.
>
> Increase in fees out-raged patients and complicates life so that
> patients hardly attend the hospital any longer because of the
> difficult economic situation of the country.
>
> Closings down…
>
> “Everyone went to the hospital. People came from all corners
> of the country and even our compatriots of the Diaspora were there
> to be admitted to ensure themselves of the presence of their
> relatives who could not be by their bedside elsewhere”,
> recalls a former employee of this hospital complex, asking for
> anonymity.
>
> Today, the situation changes. Léogânais see themselves
> obliged to move towards other hospital complexes offering better
> quality care and at better prices, such as Cange in the Department
> of the Center, Bonne Fine in the South and other centers in Port-au-
> Prince.
>
> The pharmacy of the hospital has almost completely exhausted its
> stock. The pharmacist, not being authorized to speak in the name of
> the institution, chose to keep quiet about the lack of supplies
> which characterizes this part of the hospital, and refused even
> viewing the interior of the pharmacy.
>
> The operation of Hospital Holy-Cross of Léogâne, inaugurated
> in 1968, remains a true enigma today. No person in charge was
> available to provide information relating to the predicament of the
> institution.
>
>
>
> Découvrez une nouvelle façon d'obtenir des réponses à toutes vos
> questions ! Demandez à ceux qui savent sur Yahoo! Questions/
> Réponses.
>
>

PIx Mahler
pcusa Haiti Partnership Facilitator
pix@...
1022 Floyd St., Lynchburg, VA 24501
434-845-1754
http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/mahlerp.htm