FLORIDA HOSPITAL SUPPORTS HAITIAN HOSPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
(Space Coast Medicine) - By Centralfloridamedicine.com
For Florida Hospital’s environmental service employees trip to the outskirts of Haiti’s capital, Port-Au-Prince, it was a unique opportunity to serve their home country and make an impact on the health care climate, as many of them are Haitian themselves.
ORLANDO, FLORIDA — Florida Hospital’s support and mission service group, Global Mission Initiatives (GMI), recently led a professional team of Florida Hospital’s environmental service employees to the outskirts of Haiti’s capital, Port-Au-Prince, to share best practices in hospital safety and infection prevention.
The Florida Hospital environmental services team trained employees at Hopital Adventiste d’Haiti on facility maintenance and proactive infection prevention.
Every day, this team helps keep Florida Hospital clean and sanitized for the safety of employees, visitors and patients. The team taught its counterparts at the local hospital how to implement sustainable sanitation management and operations.
For a majority of the team members, the trip was a unique opportunity to serve their home country and make an impact on the health care climate, as many of them are Haitian themselves.
“I want to help my people and my nation by trying to make health care better for my country,” said Philemon Genestan, a member of the Florida Hospital environmental services team.
“It is an honor to be able to visit Haiti to reorganize the hospitals in order to make them a safer place.”
The Florida Hospital environmental services team trained employees at Hopital Adventiste d’Haiti on facility maintenance and proactive infection prevention.
The Haitian hospital also gained access to and knowledge about proper equipment for cleaning to maintain sanitation codes. Many of the cleaning supplies were sent in the beginning of January this year during the cholera outbreaks affecting the country.
In 2008, three fourths of the Haitian population had no access to health care, and Florida Hospital Global Mission Initiatives has been sending medical missions to Haiti since before the devastating earthquake in 2010.
Hopital Adventiste d’Haiti A “Footprint” Location
But the combination of the earthquake’s mass destruction and the poor health care climate over in Haiti led Florida Hospital to take more action in assisting Haiti in its recovery process.
Florida Hospital has designated Hopital Adventiste d’Haiti as a “footprint” location, meaning Global Mission Initiatives has a long-term standing commitment to help Haiti.
“We have sent numerous medical missions to Haiti, especially since the earthquake devastated the area, which included supplies and medical personnel,” said Terry Owen, Florida Hospital senior vice president.
“Now, we are taking our assistance a step further to teach protocols and processes that will make the hospital safer and improve the quality of health care in Haiti. It is crucial that the hospital begins to build a stronger infrastructure and implement best practices to improve the quality of health care in the country long term.”
In addition to education and training efforts, Florida Hospital’s GMI team is also helping the Haitian hospital remodel their patient areas.
The hospital will receive a new pediatric and women’s services area, laboratory, pharmacy, outpatient and inpatient areas, as well as an optometry clinic.
“Implementing sustainable sanitation operations is essential for the success of a health care facility,” said Owen. “We want to help improve the state of health care in the country to ensure that good, quality services are provided.”
Humanitarian Work Around the World
In addition to Florida Hospital’s active involvement in the Central Florida community, it is dedicated to supporting the growth and development of health care in countries around the world.
This year, Florida Hospital employees are involved in several trips to lend a helping hand. Florida Hospital plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Steig recently traveled with Florida Hospital SHARES to Mexico to provide surgical treatment for congenital birth defects, especially cleft lips and palates.
Dr. Stieg has been working with doctors in Merida and Oaxaca, Mexico for many years to establish multidisciplinary cleft teams that will offer the same type of comprehensive care to Mexican children that we offer here in Central Florida.
The mission trips to Haiti also continue as pediatrician Dr. Tom Lacy recently led a Florida Hospital for Children funded trip to teach infant resuscitation techniques to other medical professionals.
The team brought highly realistic simulation training to ensure hospital employees are trained on the best equipment available. Florida Hospital continues to its mission around the world to provide the skill to heal and the spirit to care.
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