ASHT - American Society of Hand Therapists

My Second Trip to Haiti One year later 2011

One year ago, when my friend and I started the Hand Therapy Clinic at the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission on the northern coast of Haiti, Haitians were still reeling from the effects of the earthquake just a few weeks earlier. The Mission had graciously accepted our offer to come and start a hand therapy clinic and we had done so in two consecutive trips, my friend in March for a week and then me in April. It was and is our goal, to get the clinic started and then spread the word and recruit other therapists from all across our country, to keep the services going in the clinic. We did this by writing our stories and sharing them with our national associations, speaking engagements locally and internationally and by having our stories published in our alumni magazines and newspapers. I am, we are, so pleased to say that we have had 7 trips into Haiti in total since the earthquake in January of 2010, providing hand therapy services in the little hand clinic at the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission.
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Macon Dukes Haiti Mission

While at work several months ago, I checked my E-mail and saw the latest ASHT newsletter. I usually review my work E-mails quickly, reply when absolutely necessary, and hope that I remember to go back to look at longer ones (like newsletters). On this day I had some extra time before my next patient was scheduled to arrive, so I read the ASHT newsletter and saw a letter encouraging hand therapists to volunteer in Haiti.
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My Return to Haiti

It has now been six months since my first trip to Haiti to start a Hand Therapy clinic at the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission (NWHCM). I wasn’t planning on going back this soon, but somehow I found myself signing up to go again. I’ve been home for two days now trying to process what has just taken place over the past ten days. I returned to Haiti with two friends from church, Sue, a Children’s minister, and Chris, an English teacher. For some reason the travel to Haiti was long and exhausting. Our Miami flight to Port au Prince was delayed, which caused us to miss our connecting flight to the Mission at St Luis du Nord (90 miles North-West of Port au Prince). Consequently, we ended up spending the night in Port au Prince along with 3 other Mission volunteers. As is often the case, when our plans are forced to change, we consider it to be a waste of our time. However, as hindsight usually reveals, it was not a waste of time, but a blessing.
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Cindy Lavigne’s experience in Haiti

I am not a writer but I hope that I am able to convey to you what impact this Mission trip to Haiti had on my life …on my heart. It was both Heart wrenching and Heart warming.

For me, I found that Haiti was a country of contrasts… Beautiful mountains and beaches laced with filthy garbage. The land is so rich in natural resources yet the country was in an economic crisis. There was evidence of beautiful Spanish/French architecture amidst cardboard and rusty metal huts and now tent homes.
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Physical therapist changes education and lives as a medical volunteer in Guatemala
The following article was featured in "Orthopedics Today" about Sue Michlovitz, PT, PhD, CHT and her recent volunteer trip to Guatemala with the organization Guatemala Healing Hands Foundation:

Since 2007, Susan L. Michlovitz, PT, PhD, CHT, has worked to improve the care of patients and the education of physical and occupational therapists in Guatemala as a volunteer for the Guatemala Healing Hands Foundation. The mission of the nonprofit organization is to enhance the quality and availability of health care within the country through education, surgery and therapy. The foundation specializes in the treatment of affecting hand and upper extremity injuries and congenital hand differences. Michlovitz's most recent mission with the group was in October. She cited the nature of the Guatemalan people as one of the reasons why she returns to the country to volunteer. Read more.

Volunteering in Nicaragua
Dorit Aaron and Barbara Winthrop Rose were featured in a local news program during one of their yearly volunteer trips to Nicaragua. To view the video of the newscast, click here.

Haiti Post Earthquake: A CHT's Experience
By Sean Clancy, OTR/L, CHT

February 8, 2010 I left frozen Chicago for balmy Fond Paresien, Haiti. The University of Chicago graciously cosponsored a field rehabilitation hospital with a group of other academic institutions and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's). I was one of an eight member team. We were the second team sent by the University of Chicago Medical Center. The team consisted of physicians, surgeons, nurses, a pharmacist, a physical therapist and myself, an occupational therapist. We flew to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and took a bus to Haiti. The field hospital is located in Fond Paresien, Haiti, just twenty minutes drive from the Dominican Republic border.

It is located on the grounds of an active orphanage. The hospital was on half of the walled in 100 acre tract lent by Love A Child Ministries. The camp was roughly fifty acres of tents, outbuildings, and open space. Read more.

Improving Hand Therapy Treatment in Nicaragua

In June of 2008, Kathy Barnum, MS, OTR, CHT traveled to Managua, Nicaragua as a CHT. She traveled with Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO), a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to train local healthcare workers in developing countries. In Nicaragua, the hand therapy program is linked integrally with the hand surgery program, and their mission was to teach splinting and therapy skills, as well as to demonstrate how our two professions -- hand surgeons and hand therapists -- work as a team, providing care to persons with hand injuries. Read more.

Enhancement of Hand Therapy Services in the Republic of Armenia
Armenia is one of the ex-Soviet countries. It is a small developing country with a low population density. Rehabilitation in Armenia was originally modeled according to the Soviet ideology. Initial therapists were masseurs who worked with all categories of pathologies and with all age groups. The treatment methods used were massage, mobilization and remediation of physical culture. Read more.

Current Hand Therapy Practice in Israel
Click here to read about Current Hand Therapy Practice in Israel and learn more about the author and her international hand therapy experiences. If you would like to share a similar experience with ASHT, please contact info@asht.org for more information.

ASHT Members Volunteering for Interplast
Below are links to blog reports from Interplast Hand Reconstruction Surgical Trips. Most of these trips involve two hand surgeons as well as a full surgical team including one hand therapist. Interplast provides free reconstructive plastic surgery for the poor in developing countries. Interplast treats children and adults with clefts, disabling burns and hand injuries. Unlike many organizations, Interplast’s focus is to train and to empower developing world doctors and therapists to perform surgeries and therapy on their own for generations to come. When reading a blog, the most recent or top entry is the latest. So to read the blogs in chronological order, scroll down to the bottom of the page and start from the bottom up.