Grace Children's Hospital

Since 2004, Canadian Feed The Children has partnered with Grace Children’s Hospital to provide life-saving support to young patients in Port-au-Prince. Much more than just a hospital, Grace serves as a beacon of health and hope to children and families who cannot afford health care.

With a focus on tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, Grace cares for thousands of children each year. Before the earthquake, there were 60 beds in the hospital, where critically ill infants and children received around-the-clock care. Canadian Feed The Children works with Grace Children’s Hospital to provide a place of healing and solace. Past support has provided early childhood stimulation, life-saving medicines, nourishing food, infrastructure support, transportation for outpatients, parent education and more.

Earthquake Update from Grace Children’s Hospital:

Since the earthquake, Grace Children’s Hospital has opened its doors to the sick and injured of all ages. Cribs and beds have been moved outdoors, as children receive care on the grounds of the damaged hospital. With salvaged equipment and some remaining buildings, Grace has now become a health unit for serious and urgent care. Doctors have begun to do amputations and other lifesaving procedures, and a large tent has been set up behind the hospital for post-operative recovery.

Several staff members are still unaccounted for, but many may have temporarily left the city for more secure rural areas. The homes of numerous employees have been destroyed, and grief and suffering of those who remain in Port-au-Prince is great. The main hospital building sustained significant structural damage and is no longer safe to use. Many of the buildings will have to be torn down because of irreparable structural damage. Those areas will be reinforced with temporary supports so that files, computers and equipment can be safely retrieved.

The grounds of the eye clinic are being used as a field hospital. Humedica, a medical team from Germany, arrived on January 22 and are working alongside Grace medical staff to provide urgently needed treatment.

The Hospital hopes to get its usual outpatient clinics resumed in tents and under tarps. One doctor reports, “In addition to our usual clinics, the plan is to have two to three small teams capable of providing some psychological support. People are suffering greatly in this regard, though often behind the stoic, courageous front that often characterizes the way Haitians respond to adversity. The situation is desperate. There are still thousands needing medical attention for broken bones, infections and other problems. This is going to be a long haul.”

Grace Children’s Hospital is committed to providing immediate medical emergency response and long-term aid. It has become apparent that much international aid is "stuck at the airport", in part due to what appears to be a lack of adequate mechanisms for coordination and distribution. The families at Grace Children’s Hospital cannot wait, and the Hospital is pushing forward with other means of accessing support, supplies and manpower. In support of this decision, Canadian Feed The Children has transferred funds to the partner so that it may purchase the immediately required food and medical supplies in Haiti and Dominican Republic.  

Canadian Feed The Children, and its many supporters, will do everything it can to provide funding for Grace as it continues its vital work and prepares for reconstruction. Donate today to help vulnerable children in Haiti.