Comment on Child Slaves in Haiti

This post was a comment sent to Dying in Haiti regarding Haiti's restavek problem.

More food for thought that you won't find in your local newspaper.

Thank you, Chantal.

Here is the comment:

Dr. Carroll do you find it interesting that news reporters such as this man are so willing to report on "slavery" in Haiti, yet have nothing to say about the US' imperialist actions in Haiti* with the 2001 an 2004 US backed coups of Haiti's first Democratically elected government? US intervention in Haiti is a continuing problem that started even before the racist and brutal occupation of 1915.

Would you say that this is serving a political interest, for the mainstream media to address the "slavery" issue, yet ignore the US government and its allies' illegal actions in Haiti?

Would the status of Haitians change in the minds of the international community do you think, if they were not always portrayed in this manner? As incompetent, unable to rule themselves, violent, stupid, diseased, lazy... and by the way, do you know that they have SLAVES (good for a laugh!!)?

What are you're thoughts? Maybe Haitians could be on their way to a better life if the US government intervention were not a way of life -- snd media portrayals were not biased and propagandistic?

Maybe just leave Haiti alone, respect Haitian sovereignty?

After all, what did the US expect would happen to Haitian children of those forced to seek work in the cities after "globalization" devastated their way of life on their lands in the country?

And even before this there was the onerous "debt" demanded by France (for lost revenues from slavery) and serviced by American Banks that Haitian governments paid. Under the threat of invasion, Haiti paid. This debt was repaid at the expense of any development needs -- social, economic, governmental. The Haitian government was never late and This debt was paid in full only in 1938.

I guess, just like the Mexicans who migrate to the US due to the same globalization phenomena, Haitians should just stay at home and starve quietly!

Is it your understanding, that there is "slavery" in Haiti? Or do you see the connection to a propaganda war on Haiti and the Haitian people and the pushing of the "slavery" narrative.

Note: US imperialism
Conspiring with Group 184, Canada and France to oust President Aristide. Setting up the brutal puppet government of Gerard LaTortue. The manipulating of Rene Preval's election by seeing that his rivals, such as Father Gerard Jean-Juste were locked up. The proxy occupation of Haiti by the US served by the presence of MINUSTAH.


Posted by Chantal to Dying in Haiti at 5:09 PM

Heureuse and Hurricane Gustav

Haitian Hearts is managing Heureuse’s congestive heart failure from 1,500 miles away.

Frandy, our contact in Port-au-Prince, took her to the General Hospital in the capital last week and the doctor suggested that Heureuse be admitted. However, Heureuse had no one to take care of her in the hospital, so she could not be admitted.

In Haiti, at large public hospitals such as the General Hospital, a patient needs a family member with them to assist them in the hospital. The family member would be responsible for obtaining food and water, bathing the patient, providing bed sheets and washing them, emptying the commode, and buying medications for the patient.

Heureuse’s family lives on Haiti’s southern coast in Benet and are not present in the capital. Heureuse's husband is dead and she has sent out her two small children to live in different parts of the country while she awaits death.

Incredibly, during the last few days, Heureuse has improved. She is breathing better and is able to do more. We have increased her furosemide and added a medication to control her blood pressure.

However, Hurricane Gustav hit Haiti pretty hard the other day and caused massive flooding and a quite a few deaths (according to Frandy) on the southern coast (near her family). And it has been much harder for Frandy to assist Heureuse because of the weather. Frandy has been providing Heureuse with food, water, and medications.

If she can survive this week, there is a possibility that Heureuse can get an echocardiogram next week. For her to have a chance of being accepted in the States, a cardiologist or surgeon needs to view her echocardiogram.

All of this seems so incredible. Heureuse is trying to survive congestive heart failure living in a shack alone with no money and not enough food and water. And Gustav hits Haiti with such force it stops 19 year old Frandy, another very poor Haitian who has a heart defect also, from helping her.

And OSF in Peoria precedes with its one half billion dollar medical campus expansion in a city that is 1/20th the size of Port-au-Prince.

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” (Albert Einstein)

No Answers

I sent the letter below to quite a few people including Sister Judith Ann, Bishop Jenky, and OSF-Corporate ethicist Joe Piccione. Joe also sits on the International Committee for OSF-SFMC. The International Committee reviews which international patients are operated at OSF.

Also, I sent a letter to Jim Stowell who is President of the Children's Hospital of Illinois Community Advisory Board.

No answer from any of these people regarding Heureuse.

Letter Asking for Help

A few days ago I sent this letter out on behalf of Haitian Hearts patient Heureuse.

Heureuse is a 29 year old female who lives in Haiti. She was operated at OSF in 2002 for a serious heart valve problem. She needs more surgery now as the letter explains.

OSF has abandoned her but other Haitian Hearts patients in Haiti are helping her tremendously. However, unless she has surgery soon she will leave two little children in the slum without parents. And Haiti is suffering greatly now with the "food shortage".

Today I forwarded an e mail from Haiti describing Heureuse's condition to Keith Steffen, CEO of OSF-SFMC. The e mail bounced back consistent with OSF's policy blocking my e mail as it has done in the past. This certainly is not doing Heureuse a favor.


International Committee and Children’s Hospital Community Advisory Board

August 14, 2008

Dear

Haitian Hearts is currently working on bringing 14 more patients to the States this year for heart surgery. Two other children were successfully operated earlier this year.

However, in addition to the above, we have three previous patients that need to come back to OSF to be reoperated in Peoria.

Many of you will remember Jenny Guillaume, Heuruese Joseph, and Henri Andrique. All three were operated at OSF 5-10 years ago.

Haitian Hearts has followed up with these patients in Haiti after they left Peoria and we supply them with examinations, medications, repeat echocardiograms, etc. during our frequent stays in Haiti.

Jenny is 29 years old now and teaches hearing impaired students in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. She has never been married and still lives with her mother. She communicates with us by e mail and is fluent in French and Creole. She also speaks English fairly well. She and her family have helped us considerably in Haiti over the years.

Heureuse is 29 years also. She lives in a seaside slum in Port-au-Prince. She is raising her two small children alone. Her father is dead and her family lives on the Haiti’s southern coast and is not able to be of much help to her. She has no job and Haiti’s food prices have climbed dramatically over the course of the last year. Heureuse and her kids go to bed hungry.

(I have learned in the last few days that Heureuse is very sick. She is in congestive heart failure and lying in her bed unable to walk. Below is an online conversation I had with Dejean Frandy today, a Haitian Hearts patient who is 19 years old. Two other Haitian Hearts patients, Jenny Guiallaume and Suze will attempt to help Heureuse also. We are doing whatever we can to keep her alive until I can bring her to the States.)

Henri is 34 years old now and just got out of the hospital in Port-au-Prince due to cardiac problems. He is unable to work and his weight is down to 130 lbs.

Jenny, Heureuse, and Henri all need valve surgery. All are in various degrees of heart failure due to their bad valves. I have not had any luck finding other medical centers to accept them. They will be difficult cases due to their previous surgery and their underlying pathology.

All three would like to live. What would you do if they were your relatives, children, or friends?

Please make sure that OSF and their legal counsel, Douglass Marshall, remove their embargo of Haitian kids at OSF. Their physicians would like to see them return to Peoria as would their host families.

I do not want these three to die painful deaths like Jackson Jean-Baptiste and Maxime Petion did after they were denied on going care at OSF.

I humbly ask you to be their advocates and will wait to hear from you regarding these three young adults.

John A. Carroll, M.D.
309-648-1087

haitianhearts@gmail.com

www.peoriasmedicalmafia.com
www.pmmdaily.blogspot.com
www.dyinginhaiti.blogspot.com


Online conversation today regarding Heureuse:

Dejean Frandy3:18 PM Dejean: HI i need to talk to you now me: frandy, can heureuse talk to...
3:37 PM (6 hours ago)
3:18 PM Dejean: HI
i need to talk to you now
me: frandy,
can heureuse talk to you?
Dejean: yes i am there
i saw her this morning
3:19 PM she has prescription for Echocardiogram
she may need to see Dr Pilie for it
3:20 PM me: frandy,
Dejean: she has medicines
me: I want you to e mail a haitian friend of mine...her name is jenny guiallaume..
her e mail is...
3:21 PM gjenny12@yahoo.fr
3:22 PM she lives near delmas 33
she can help you and heureuse...
she is a heart patient....
heureuse needs to take a medicine called lasix (furosemeide)..
3:23 PM explain to me heureuse's condition
can she walk a little...
can she eat and drink?
Dejean: no she can not
me: are her legs swollen?
Dejean: she can but she does have money to feed herself
3:24 PM she does not have money
me: she does or she does not have money to feed her self?
is she short of breath?
Dejean: she does not have money
3:25 PM yes she is and her legs are not swollen
me: where are her kids??
3:26 PM Dejean: the boy is with her but the girl is somewhere else
maybe delmas
she has the medicine you said above
me: ok...
will you contact jenny?
3:27 PM Dejean: let me tell exactly what she needs for now
me: can you and jenny take her to the General Hospital or the hospital in leoganne??
Dejean: yes i will
3:28 PM me: ok, tell me...type fast...i will wait...
Dejean: she already went to GCH
me: ok
Dejean: she needs to do Echocardiogram
3:29 PM and Thyroidien, glycemie
me: frandy, she needs treatment with medication before echocardiogram...
Dejean: ok
3:30 PM do you have Jenny's number phone?
me: tell the doctor she has a problem with her valve aortic and valve mitral...she was operated in 2002...
no i do not have jennys number but she checks her email every day...please send her an email... and tell her to call you...
3:31 PM Dejean: ok i will do everything
me: maybe suze can help you with a ride for her to the general hospital....
Dejean: i am going to see Heures later
me: ok.
3:32 PM Dejean: i can do this
3:33 PM do you Andrique's Echocardiogram?
do you need Andrique's Echo...?
he said that he has it
3:34 PM i can scan it for you
me: tell heureuse not to take the thyroid medicine...she needs to take the furosemide...yes i need andriques echo results....maybe he can send me the results via e mail or you can scan it...
3:35 PM please get hold of jenny now...and suze...
Dejean: i will do that perhaps during the week end
ok
byeee
me: yes, the echo on the weekend is good...
heureuse is problem number one right now....
3:36 PM tell heureuse that she should take furosemide 40 mg in the morning and 40 mg in the afternoon...
3:37 PM Dejean: ok byeee
talk to you later
--------------------------

Heureuse at the top. Keith Steffen at the bottom.

See Maria's article regarding Heureuse.

Protection

The Catholic Diocese and the Peoria media are protecting OSF. It won't last forever. As I told Mr. Steffen in the past, the truth will eventually come out.

The Story That Won't Go Away...

The fact that poor Haitians are eating mud patties to help stifle their hunger pangs has caught the attention of the international media.

See Kate Kennedy's recent article in Macleans.

It is imperative that all of this press turn into something good for Haitians. Haitian farmers need to be supported so the food that Haiti needs is grown and sold in Haiti.

Hospitals Sending Immigrants Home

If you didn't see the New York Times article regarding U.S. hospitals flying immigrants back to their homes, here it is. It is a must read.

Sister Margaret McBride, vice president for mission services for Saint Joseph's in Phoenix, was truthful when she said that the patient/immigrant's families were not happy about repatriation but they (Saint Joseph's) don't require consent from the family to repatriate. She should know since her hospital returns quite a few unlucky souls each year.

This reminds me of OSF in Peoria.

When Haitian Hearts was negotiating with OSF and the Catholic Diocese of Peoria regarding the fates of numerous Haitian children suffering from heart disease, neither OSF nor the Diocese would tell me the details that I had to accept to receive any support from OSF. However, they did allude to the fact that the Director of Children's Hospital of Illinois (CHOI) would be holding the passports and visas of my Haitian Hearts children. I knew the Director's behavior in the past, and so I was afraid that he and Children's may attempt to send Haitian kids back to Haiti before they were safely cleared for me to fly them back to Haiti.

Unfortunately, with the recent New York Times article addressing the unethical business of sending immigrant/patients home, it reminded me how these hospitals have nothing on OSF in Peoria.

OSF's Hypocrisy Continues....

The Peoria magazine, InterBusiness Issues, has an article in the August, 2008 edition.

The article was written by Keith Steffen, Administrator of OSF-SFMC in Peoria.

Mr. Steffen starts out his brief article with this sentence:

“Being able to serve all the patients who come to us is our primary priority.”

I wonder if Mr. Steffen really believes this. He cut all funding for Haitian Hearts patients in July, 2002 and OSF-SFMC is denying care to past OSF Haitian patients who need repeat heart surgery.

Two young patients, Jackson Jean-Baptiste and Maxime Petion have died in the last couple of years after they were refused surgery at OSF-SFMC. Four other Haitian Hearts patients need repeat surgery soon or they will all die.

Mr. Steffen also writes about OSF’s Milestone Project which is costing about 400 million dollars.

“The Milestone Project will use 47,000 square feet of glass, 22,000 cubic yards of concrete, 143,000 pounds of rebar (used for reinforcing concrete) and nearly 10 million pounds of steel.”

He then ends his article with the following paragraph:

“This new facility will help us to better “serve persons with the greatest care and love in a community that celebrates the gift of life”. And that is the OSF HealthCare mission.”

Notice that he put the mission statement in quotes…possibly distancing himself from this philosophy.

Many Haitian patients and their families wouldn’t believe this if they read his article. And I am sure the hypocrisy of Mr. Steffen’s words are not lost on many people in central Illinois.