From Central Virginia to the Central Plateau

It’s often hard to know what motivates people to step outside of their comfort zone. Money, fame and glory immediately come to mind, but none of these factors came into play when Thomas Eichler, M.D., a radiation oncologist from Richmond, Va., was first invited to go to Haiti in 2004.

“I was looking for adventure and a chance to lend a hand,” said Eichler. He was part of a group of seven people from St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Glen Allen, Va., who made their first trip to Haiti in January 2004 as part of the Diocese of Richmond’s Twinning Ministry. Over 50 parishes in the diocese participate in the ministry by “twinning” with a parish in Haiti. St. Michael is twins with St. Jean Baptiste in the tiny Central Plateau village of Dos Palais.

“Our first trip in 2004 was a bit frustrating at first because we were all brimming with enthusiasm and the urge to jump in and try to fix things, but the real purpose was to learn the scope of the problems, to try to grasp how Haiti worked and to stand in solidarity with the Haitian people,” said Eichler. “We left humbled but highly motivated to work with the villagers to help them solve the problems that they themselves felt were the most pressing.”

Back in Glen Allen, the people of St. Michael is set to work raising money to build a new school in Dos Palais. They also spent considerable time pleading their case for access to quality healthcare with Partner’s in Health, the Boston-based organization founded by Paul Farmer, M.D., Ph.D., and the dominant presence in Haitian healthcare. Dr. Farmer was one of the keynote speakers at ASTRO’s 2005 Annual Meeting in Denver and has spent the last 22 years working with third world and troubled countries, including Haiti, Guatemala, Mexico, Rwanda, Peru and Russia. Over time, PIH, or Zanmi Lasante as they are known in Haiti, agreed to organize a monthly mobile clinic to visit Dos Palais. They made their first visit in January 2005, the same week that 10 parishioners from St. Michael’s returned to Haiti for the second time.

“People started lining up at 7 a.m. By the time Zanmi Lasante arrived at 10 a.m., more than 400 people had jammed the schoolyard. There were two American doctors, both residents from the Department of Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, five Cuban physicians, nurses and a person dispensing drugs,” said Eichler. “The clinic was set up in the school with the sickest patients triaged for immediate assessment. I was able to participate in the care of some of the patients but mostly learned from the others. By 4 p.m., everyone had been seen. It was a well-organized and highly efficient operation.”

Over the course of two years, St. Michael’s raised enough money to build a new school, which was dedicated in an elaborate ceremony this past January, and to initiate a school lunch program. A major source of funding came from parishioners sponsoring the school age children in the village for $120 per year. That project alone brought in nearly $60,000 last year.

And the healthcare situation? Zanmi Lasante has recently agreed to provide two mobile clinics each month in Dos Palais, including one devoted to the children of the village. St. Michael’s has also raised money to sponsor a nurse who will live in Dos Palais and provide some basic healthcare needs. A clean water project is next on the agenda.

“Anyone who’s ever done anything like this will tell you that you get so much more out of the experience than those you’re there to help. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. There is much that we, as physicians and radiation oncologists, have to offer,” said Eichler. “It would be a great accomplishment if Dr. Farmer’s hospital in Cange included an oncology unit, complete with radiotherapy, with oncologists willing to donate a week or more of their time each year to staff the unit. It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. Anything is possible with hope and hard work.”