In the days following the temporary interruption of services at Mirebalais University Hospital, some may have thought that everything had stopped. That care had ceased. That nothing could stand. But on the ground, that’s not what we’re seeing.
In Boucan Carré, Thomonde, Cange, Belladère, La Colline, Saint-Marc, and many other localities, Zanmi Lasante teams continue to provide care. They welcome, stabilize and accompany… every day.
With the temporary suspension of services at HUM, neighboring health facilities have increased their capacity to cope with the influx of patients from the hospital’s catchment area, as well as the injured resulting from the violence in Mirebalais.
At La Colline, reception capacities have been reinforced; at Saint-Marc, emergency services and obstetric care remain fully functional; at Cange, transferred patients are being cared for without disruption; at Belladère, consultations have never ceased; at Hinche, teams are adapting to meet an unexpected increase in attendance. Pregnant women requiring caesarean sections, and other patients awaiting major surgery, are redirected to the network’s other points of service.
HUM was a buzzing hub of our activities within a network. But it was not the network alone. Everywhere, the strength of this network is reflected in deeds.
What some perceive as a closure is, in reality, a reorganization. For Zanmi Lasante is not just one hospital. It’s a living network of over 17 facilities across the Plateau Central and Artibonite. A network of healthcare professionals, logisticians, drivers, nurses, technicians, doctors, who have integrated uncertainty into their daily lives, without ever ceasing to act.
Yes, HUM plays a unique role. But it doesn’t work alone. What makes it possible are also these peripheral sites, sometimes less visible, but just as essential. It’s they who ensure continuity. They absorb the shock. In these troubled times, the network is our strength.
It holds together because each link takes up the slack; it holds together because we have learned, year after year, to be agile, to share resources, to decentralize.
It holds together because, despite fatigue, the teams still respond present. And as long as there’s a clinic open, a caregiver ready, a waiting room occupied, then care won’t have stopped. It will simply have changed location.
As Executive Director of Zanmi Lasante, I would like to reiterate that our mission does not rest on a building, however symbolic. It rests on the women and men who make up this network.
It is thanks to them that we continue.
Every day, despite the challenges, our teams continue to care, welcome and act. Make a donation to strengthen the clinics that hold on, even when everything falters.