Voices of Haiti

In the final episode of Voices of Haiti, Nurse Thamar Julmiste shares a song she wrote in the days and weeks following the devastating January 2010 earthquake. Then and now, she remains hopeful that a new Haiti will emerge, built by and for Haitians.

Ancito Etienne had already fought for his life before reaching high school, having battled childhood cancer thanks to support from Partners In Health. Soon after his cure, he faced another challenge: how he could help his country in the wake of the devastating January 2010 earthquake.

An extraordinary case arrived at University Hospital in Mirebalais, just one year after it opened, presenting a challenge for the hospital that was built as a response to the 2010 earthquake. An expectant mother learns she’s pregnant with triplets, and two of them are conjoined. Two PIH doctors tell how their team and international clinicians collaborated to deliver the best care possible to a family in need.

A full 24 hours passed before Dr. Christophe Millien knew whether or not his wife, pregnant with their first child, had died in the massive 2010 earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince. Those early days were filled with loss and sorry, but they also strengthened Millien’s conviction in the importance of his role as an OB/GYN in rural Haiti.

As a first-year physician, Dr. Maxi Raymonville witnessed how difficult it was for patients in rural Haiti to access quality care. That disparity became ever more apparent with the 2010 earthquake. And so, when University Hospital in Mirebalais opened in 2013, he proudly lead a team that made the facility a hub of specialized care for the poor and for advanced training of Haiti’s next generation of clinicians.

As many as 1,500 people suffered injuries that required amputations following the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Miss Eunite Sincelair was among them. She is now a nurse leader with Zanmi Lasante, and speaks about the stigma and mental, emotional, and physical challenges she and hundreds of other amputees face in Haiti every day.

To Dr. Anany Gretchko, organizing camps for the displaced in Port-au-Prince was much like managing small cities in the months following Haiti’s devastating January 2010 earthquake. He and his team realized that part of their responsibility had to be the delivery of quality mental health care to residents, and that they—the caregivers—also needed space and time to heal.

Haiti is plagued by stereotypes and often only one narrative about the country prevails. This episode challenges those stereotypes, while presenting a series of events that defined the country’s past and now weigh heavily on its present.

For nine months after the earthquake, Dr. Patrick Ulysse managed four camps for the displaced in Port-au-Prince, helping resident access health care and meet their basic needs. While he’s still processing that experience, he can see the beauty in what emerged from that chaotic time in Haiti.

Dr. Patrick Ulysse felt the tremors nearly a two-hour drive away from the earthquake’s epicenter in Haiti on January 12, 2010. Within hours, he and a driver were headed to Port-au-Prince on a mission to provide first aid. Those first hours and days of response remain with him today.