A young woman lies on the examining table, anxious and unsure. She tested positive for pregnancy, but after being seen at a local clinic, she was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy, a potentially life-threatening situation when an embryo implants in the fallopian tubes rather than the uterus. She sought help at Justinian University Hospital and […]

Children in orange and plaid school uniforms with hair neatly parted in matching bows shout “blanc, blanc,” and wave at our rickety van as we pass. Palm trees grow at the road side along with banana trees and rows of cactus bushes displaying that afternoon’s clean laundry. Locals push wheelbarrows full of coconuts or steer […]

Yesterday was a really wonderful day for Hands up for Haiti. It was a day that saw dreams, vision and hard work bear fruit and become reality on the ground. Yesterday, our Haitian staff taught the life-saving skills of Helping Babies Breathe to 24 Haitian nurse practitioner students, who will in turn teach these skills […]

Andrea Feddes is a registered nurse from Canada, a HUFH volunteer and medical mission leader, who just returned from 9 weeks on the ground in Haiti with HUFH. Among her projects: a sexual health class for young women. “What if we don’t learn about sexual health in school and our parents don’t teach us. How […]

Heal – Teach – Support. These are the words that guide all that we do at Hands Up for Haiti. But how are we able to do what we do? Only with the generous support of our donors and volunteers. Your help truly makes a difference in the lives of the people that we help.  […]

A young mother brought her 5 month old infant to the Open Door clinic where our medical team was working that day. She told us that the baby was vomiting and having trouble eating. One look at the baby and we knew this was serious. An average 5 month old weighs about 15 pounds. This […]

Women in Haiti are the backbone of the country, strong and resilient, but they face multiple health challenges and risks throughout their lives, especially in the child bearing years.  HUFH remains dedicated to the support of our programs that help to improve the health of women throughout their lives.  To celebrate International Women’s Day, a […]

As volunteers with Hands Up for Haiti, Lynn Perton and I have made three trips to Haiti on pediatric missions. On each trip we visit the local tourist market in Cap Haitien, looking for things to buy to support the local economy. But beyond a few trinkets, we don’t usually find much. Then in January […]

Dr. Marilyn Jacobowitz and I just returned from a trip to Haiti to launch our new hypertension screen and treat program. The lack of reliable follow-up and consistent access to medication makes it especially difficult to treat hypertension in Haiti and contributes to already high levels of stroke, heart failure and premature death. Through HUFH’s […]

Water equals life. And clean water equals health. It’s a simple concept but it has powerful meaning. Waterborne bacteria cause infectious diarrhea and life threatening cholera and are a direct result of people forced to drink unclean water to survive. So much of the disease that we treat in Haiti would be prevented by the […]