Local agencies helping Haitian quake victims

Calgary charity group helps rebuild Haiti The Calgary-based Brenda Stafford Foundation are helping Haitians make through the aftermath of an earthquake and a tropical storm.

CALGARY — The 7.2 earthquake that hit Haiti damaged a hospital run by the Calgary-based charity The Brenda Strafford Foundation.

For the past 40 years, the hospital has been providing eye surgery and care for up to 5,000 Haitians every month.

Foundation CEO CEO Mike Conroy said in an interview with CTV News that most of the staff at the hospital escaped unscathed despite substantial damage to the buildings.

“Of our 107 staff, one has been hospitalized to with minor injuries, but the rest are safe. But of course, they're incurring their own issues with their housing, houses being damaged, in many cases destroyed,“ said Conroy. “To their credit, we started to set up on day one, a first aid station at the institute outside, and we're currently serving and triaging  patients, and making sure they get access to care, either at the institute or at other hospitals.”

The hospital is based in Les Cayes in Haiti’s south. It is near the epicentre of the earthquake.  A makeshift tent city has taken over the city’s soccer field as tens of thousands of residents were left homeless.

To add to the degree of difficulty for all involved, Tropical Storm Grace is pummeling the area making life in the entire camp more difficult and hindering rescue efforts.

(A man walks along a road in a slightly flooded area of Tout Mahot, Haiti, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, the morning after Tropical Storm Grace swept over the area, just two days after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit on Aug. 14. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A DECADE OF DISASTERS

Haiti has suffered through a decade-long string of natural disasters, and political unrest, including the assassination of the country’s president in July.

Conroy said the country’s challenges only bolster the foundations resolve to rebuild the hospital

“A lot of people ask us why we do it, given the challenges, but it's precisely why we do it, because the need is so great,”said Conroy. “ It's the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The health needs are never ending, and they need all the support that we can provide.”

Calgary’s Haitian community is also coming together to try and help people both in their homeland, and here in Calgary, deal with the aftermath of the earthquake.

“That's a really bad, bad situation, and a lot of people are going to get affected mentally by that. One  time you know, you're a bit shaky, but the  second time the same thing happens and now you don't know what to make out of it,“ said Phillippe Pierre Pierre the past president of the Calgary Haitian Association.

(Phillippe Pierre Pierre, past president of the Calgary Haiti Association)

“They are wondering is that going to happen again?" he added. "Can I ever go back to my house? If you still have one left.”

Wednesday night the Haitian Association of Calgary is meeting to determine how it can help those affected by the earthquake.  They will be looking to assist not only those in Haiti, but looking at opening their offices in Calgary to supply emotional support to Haitians here in Calgary, many of whom have loved ones who died, or remain missing after Saturday's quake.

“Some of them don't didn't hear about their family yet.  Some of them have heard the situation with the tropical storm coming now is really disturbing for because they don't know what is next.

Said Pierre Pierre: “So it's still ongoing situation.”

The Haitian Association of Calgary is currently raising funds to help victims of the earthquake.

The Brenda Strafford Foundation is hoping for assistance to rebuild its hospital.

The organizations can be reached through the following web sites:

The Haitian Association of Calgary https://www.haiticalgary.com/

The Brenda Strafford Foundation:  https://thebsf.ca/