Eight Kids

Haitian Hearts' patient heart surgery at Sutter Children's Center in Sacramento, January 2011.

Photo by Douglas Crockett, MD


I have eight children that need to leave Haiti for surgery.

Seven of the eight need heart surgery and have been accepted in the Dominican Republic.

The eighth child is 16 month old Dosousa who is blind because of cataracts. He has been accepted in the United States for eye surgery.

However, all of the children need to meet in one place in Port-au-Prince during the next 10 days for "screening" and I am worried about their travel on the roads and in the capital.

Will Haiti close down again like after the November 28 presidential and parliamentary elections? That disaster cost lives as cholera treatment centers were without supplies and medical personnel during the shutdown. Even Haiti's international airport closed during those dark days.

With the imminent return of President Aristide described here before the elections, I worry all the more for my eight kids. Selfish reasons, but I worry about their safety. And if they don't get screened properly by the right medical people, their chances of leaving for the Dominican Republic and for the States diminish significantly.