Former Middle Residents Help Haitians

FORT LIBERTÉ, HAITI – Beautiful ocean coastlines, appreciative people and a country rich in history are aspects that many Americans probably don’t associate with earthquake-stricken Haiti. The beauty, however, contrasts severely with images more familiar since the 2010 earthquake, such as Haitians burning trash with billowing smoke, children suffering from malnutrition and Haitians bathing in dirty streams strewn with trash.
All images represent a Haiti that is struggling to recover from the natural disaster, according to two former Middle Township residents who spent June 27-July 6 on a service-learning-based medical trip to the island.
Clarence D. Moore, a pharmaceutical doctor who also is an assistant professor in the Department of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy Sciences at Howard University College of Pharmacy in Washington, D.C., and his 14-year-old stepdaughter, Gabrielle Sherba, were part of a team responding to the needs in post-earthquake Haiti.
This was the fifth consecutive year that Howard University participated, and Moore’s second. For Sherba, it was her first trip to Haiti and first time experiencing a developing nation’s conditions.
“It was an amazing experience,” Sherba said two days after returning home.
The former Middle Township resident said, “It was completely different from what I expected. People had told me to expect third-world poverty but you can’t be prepared when you really see it.
“The experience really opens your eyes and broadens your horizons,” she added. “It’s amazing to see how people, with so little in comparison to us, can be content and happy with their life.”
For Moore, this second trip allowed him time to do a little exploring of the island, learning more of its history and architecture in addition to helping its residents.
“Haiti is a beautiful country which we don’t really see on the news because of the devastation of the earthquake,” the Middle Township High School graduate said, “it’s still a third-world country with a lot of trash around, people burning the trash so there’s lots of smoke and a bad water supply.”
Howard University sent 18 students and faculty members to the country from the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences, the College of Pharmacy and the College of Dentistry.
They worked in conjunction with the New York chapter of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians (NOAH NY) and the Haitian-American Alliance, a team from Howard University.
“The best experience was just the whole organization and effort,” Sherba said. “I love the idea that NOAH started because they wanted to help their own people. NOAH is such an accepting community of people. They want to help the Haitians and you know you are not alone in your efforts. The people there are so appreciative of our help and are counting on these groups coming back to help them.”
As an associate professor at the university, Moore said he spent mornings lecturing medical students and then afternoons attending to dentistry, pharmaceutical, internal medicine or surgical needs. Depending on their level of college, students either shadowed doctors or helped perform various tasks.
“Everyone can count pills to fill prescriptions,” Sherba noted, “but not everyone can perform surgery. I was allowed to observe, though, and shadow the doctors. Some of the older students were able to suture patients, and perform various levels of triage when we were in the field.”
The Howard medical teams have served nearly 3,000 Haitians during the years of the medical project. Working 12 to 14-hour days, Howard students and faculty have provided dental work and sexually transmitted disease (STD) training, distributed medications and conducted educational workshops for local physicians.
The much-needed care and clinical training covered the latest medical techniques in surgery, pediatrics, internal medicine and obstetrics and gynecology.
“The clinics were operated in the city of Fort-Liberté and in surrounding rural areas,” Moore said. “The area has a desperate need for health-care support. In some of the remote areas, we were just working out of a structure, without air conditioning, and it’s very hot there. There are no bags of saline just sitting around waiting to be used.”
Fort-Liberté is part of Nord-Est Department, which borders Dominican Republic.
According to a Howard University press release, “there are only a handful of physicians for thousands of residents who often cannot afford the cost of health care. The lecture topics were chosen with assistance from the medical director at the hospital in Fort-Liberté.”
Medical care and prescriptions are free through the Howard medical program.
Sherba, who attended Middle Township Elementary School through third grade and then again for fifth grade before moving to the Washington, D.C. area, described one of the most difficult scenarios she experienced while working at the Fort-Liberté hospital.
“I went outside one day and walked around, and my friends and I saw what looked like a 2-month-old baby sitting with an older woman,” she said. “I knew enough French to ask the woman where the mother was and how old the baby was. I was told that the mother had died and the baby was almost three years old. I gave her some money to buy some food, and when the grandmother gave the child the food, she didn’t remember how to swallow. It had been such a long time since the child had had any real food; she was so malnourished.
“It was tough to see,” she admitted. “Kids have it so much worse there because parents take care of themselves first.”
When her stepdad asked her to join the trip, Sherba said she thought it would be a great opportunity because she wants to help people. “My dad went last year and it was a great experience; you can’t say it was a good time, but it was a great experience. I have always wanted to help people and this was a great opportunity to do so.”
“I thought it was an excellent opportunity for Gabrielle to visit parts of the world as well as help others,” Moore noted. “Having her interact with multiple individuals in the medical field, in particular the students, was also a unique experience which may ultimately have an effect on her career choices in life.
Before this trip, Sherba said she had helped different organizations with fundraising efforts and other activities as part of Girl Scouts. “Now that I’ve actually been in the field doing things, I can actually see myself in the medical field when I get older,” she said. “This really solidified things for me.”
Moore graduated from Middle Township High School in 2001, and his wife graduated from there in 1998. They have four children and now live in Silver Spring, Md.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.