A group of volunteer doctors and nurses arrived in Haiti in 2010, the year of the devastating earthquake in Haiti that killed over 250,000 people and displaced millions. We began our work in the north of the country where many children were sent who had survived the disaster. After establishing connections in the Cap Haitien region,  Hands Up for Haiti was formed as a medical humanitarian organization to continue providing care to those in need.

From 2010 to the beginning of the COVID pandemic in 2020, HUFH sent over 100 medical teams to Cap Haitien and the surrounding region. Our volunteers included physicians, nurses, students, educators and others who provided direct patient care and created an infrastructure for health care in areas where there had been none. Throughout this decade, we worked closely with our Haitian medical counterparts and provided education, equipment and medical supplies as well as financial support. This ongoing support allowed us to transition to a model of Haitian Run, Haitian Led programs and leadership.

During the pandemic when we were unable to travel to Haiti , we realized that our Haitian-led focus was key to achieving our mission and our goals: reducing barriers to care, improving medical compliance, reducing childhood malnutrition, and decreasing infant and maternal mortality. As many organizations folded or left Haiti, we remained and became stronger as we had established clinical programs, for Haitians and by Haitians, that continue to run to this day.