A (slight) change of plans

Hi everyone,

Just a couple of notes to pass along

I've decided to take 2 trips to Haiti in June.    My first trip will be short (June 1-4), primarily to make sure the stage is set for my 2nd trip (June 11-18).  There are a lot of details that I am hoping will come together on these two trips.  

I'll be launching the Anemia Campaign.   As part of that training, I'll be providing the workers with a new Child Carried Record that I developed for Pestel.   We will assign medical record #s to each child  (an entirely new effort), which is going to be no small undertaking.   For those interested, we're going to use this system:

10010001   = 1 (Section 1) 001 (town of Pestel....each village within a section will be assigned a village code) 0001 (child #1)

So 

40200100 =  Section 4  Town 020  Child 100 (0100)

Neat!   Now we'll see if it works  :)

One key is to make sure that we don't assign the same # to two different children, so I'll be bringing down master log sheets with pre-printed medical record #s.  Children are then sequentially assigned a medical record #.   It all gets a bit complex, and I won't bore you with any more details.

The Child Carried Record is a small document that has places for documenting immunizations, Vitamin A & Albendazole, anemia results, and malnutrition level.   The idea is that the record can be updated by ANYONE who is providing care to a child throughout Pestel.  This will help to make sure kids are not receiving two doses of a medication in a short time-frame, for example.  And also it helps health workers know which child has already received immunizations, for example.   Currently, this does not exist throughout Pestel.

Also, it allows us to start tracking data better.   If we can get the cell phone application to work, then the workers will start entering the data into the cell phone-->transmit the data directly to the US.  No more tedious and time-consuming data entry by us!!!   The workers can also type in the child's medical record #  as part of the data collection so that the data can be tracked to each child.

We haven't been able to do that to this point.

I recognize this isn't going to be EXCITING!!! news for most readers :)    but it is an important, detailed step forward for health in Pestel.  One that is both a bit daunting as well as vital.

Another bit of good news:   I just learned that Miriam Frederick's organization was able to raise funds to help provide a diesel truck for Dr. Seneque!!  His truck died several months ago.   Thanks Miriam!!!

Ben

-- 

Thriving Villages Blog
http://thrivingvillages.blogspot.com/

Update from Variety International Annual Conference

Hi everyone,

We (Jen, myself, Micah and Ellie) have spent the last several days in Chicago at the Variety International annual meeting, and we've had a really good time. The people in Variety are really welcoming and great encouragers!

I gave a presentation yesterday to the International Children's Fund Committee, the group that oversees the project funding.  I think that went well.  I received some good feedback.  Quite surprisingly, during my presentation a series of questions from the group led to a very strong sentiment among the group that they want to fund-raise to drill wells in Pestel!

This is of course on my wish list ever since our trip in March when Dr. John Lane determined that there is water under them hills.  And lots of it.   But folks, this might become a reality much sooner than anyone anticipated.  

I made it clear to them:  establishing wells throughout Pestel is a game-changer for them.   No doubts about it.  In the household surveys that I have analyzed so far, the average hike for water is 2 hours.

You know what happens during the dry seasons:  they hike even further out of necessity.  You have to water to live.

The #2 cause of child death in places like Pestel?    Preventable.  Treatable.  Unbelievable.

It's diarrhea.

Kids should NOT die from diarrhea.  That is simply unconscionable.   And now that we know there is water to be had through well drilling  

What is also astounding in my mind is that over the past 6 months I have been in contact with three experts in water who have expressed interest in working on this issue.   Most recently when I spoke at the Moneghan Presbyterian Church I met Bruce Juergens who has offered to use his expertise in water engineering to develop a plan as to how we should approach this issue and many of the considerations.     

None of this is an accident.  And none of this is simply good luck.  

This should be recognized as the hand of God releasing good gifts at the right time, and in turn people respond, some knowingly and some unknowingly, to His prompting.

 

We will see Thriving Villages in Pestel as a demonstration of God's goodness and compassion.

Please take a moment to thank God this morning.

Ben

--
Thriving Villages Blog
http://thrivingvillages.blogspot.com/

Thriving Missions....mission statement

Happy Easter!!   

Or as my kids have been saying, "Resurrection Day"....which I prefer.  Today is a day for Rising Again.  For great hope and new ways of doing things.

Today is a new day for Jen and me.  We have decided to move forward with the non-profit and make it explicitly a faith-motivated organization (as opposed to keeping it 'secular' or stripped of language relating to Christianity).   

We would like to thank many people for their insights and suggestions as we've developed this:  

Thriving Villages is a Christian organization called to demonstrate God's goodness and compassion.  We will work collaboratively and holistically with individuals and organizations, utilizing our gifts and skills to address issues of health, poverty, and development in rural Pestel, Haiti and beyond.

We anticipate filling legally with the state very shortly in order to start the process for obtaining non-profit status.

Thanks

Ben

--
Haiti Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

Some more data

Hi All,

Here is a short report of some of the data I've analyzed from the household survey.  Some pretty shocking statistics.

For those entering data, know that your work is very very important.   All the data you are entering is revealing these kinds of important needs.

Ben

--
Haiti Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

Fwd: Some biometric data from Pestel

Some of you may be interested in seeing some analysis of the height & weight data from last year.   I finally figured out how to get some software to analyze it for me!!!   (Go me!!!)

The take-home messages are in the .doc   (the two curves ought to match up.   Pestel's curve falls well below where it ought to)

For those who like to see % etc, check out the .xls   (look at weight-for-age, for example.   The -3SD means the # (or %) of kids who fall WAY below normal weight for their age (like, in the bottom 5th percentile).

We can use this baseline data to show the levels of malnutrition before we started any of the efforts (i.e. deworming, Vitamin A, anemia campaign, Heifer International project, etc etc)

Ben

Iron therapy

Hi all,

So this is pretty cool:   I've been emailing with the head of UNICEF's nutrition program for Haiti.   I JUST got an email from him today that he is able to provide me with iron tablets and micronutrients for the upcoming anemia campaign in June!!!   

I asked for 160,000 doses   (gulp).  

His response:

"I have them in stock here in Port-au-Prince".   

:)

Now THAT'S really cool!   It's also really good that Pestel is now a bit on UNICEF's radar screen.  That might be very good news for the kids in Pestel!

Ben

--
Haiti Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/

Latest news

Hi all,

First, after months of discussion and prayer, and after meeting with a bunch of people, we've decided that we need to start up a non-profit group for the efforts in Haiti.  More information will be forthcoming as it develops, but we have decided on a name:

Thriving Villages Initiative  (TVI)

We've purchased ThrivingVillages.org  and ThrivingVillages.com     But they are not up-and-running yet.  I'll let you know when they 'go-live'.

The non-profit has grown out of necessity. We're thankful to finally land on a name.  This was harder than naming our kids!!!

We now need to apply for non-profit tax exempt status, and we've been looking into that process.  I'll keep you posted!!

Ben

--
Haiti Blog
http://haitimedical.blogspot.com/