MeduProf-S supports Haiti

Since January 2011 MeduProf-S started to support the hospital of  AnneMarie and Rob Hulshuizen in Passe-Catabois, Haiti. On 9-11-2001  AnneMarie and Rob left the Netherlands to work in the hospital in the  northern part of Haiti. AnneMarie was trained by Fontys in ultrasound  before she left. In January 2011 Jojanneke Oudenaarden  went  to  the  hospital to assist AnneMarie in her work as a doctor. For at  least 1  year  MeduProf-S will donate a part of the salary of Jojanneke. This  is one  of  our ways to show our “social responsibility”.

Read more about  Passe-Catabois at www.passe-catabois.org.

Jojanneke about herself and her mission:

“My name is Jojanneke Oudenaarden, 33 years, started as a General Nurse, specialized over the years in Intensive Care, Coronary Care, Tropical Illnesses and Anaesthesia.

I gained experience in healthcare in the following countries (developed and underdeveloped, paid and unpaid); The Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Haiti, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bonaire.

In Zimbabwe for example, where I worked for four periods of time, I mostly worked in the operating room of a district hospital 150km North West above Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe. Due to the economic crises, political instability, poverty, HIV/TB/malaria Zimbabwe experienced a huge brain drain and faced immense problems in daily life. For medical supplies we relied for 95% on well wishers from abroad. Also there was no regular supply system, often we were out of stock of many things which made us improvise and handle cases with stuff we had but not meant to be used for the purpose we used it for. Regardless the difficult times the country went through and still goes through, I had fantastic times with my national and international colleagues’ from all over the world.

Last year, January 2010, I was asked to come over and help in Haiti. Because of the earthquake occurred January 12^th 2010 many people died, got injured, lost their homes, became sick. In one of Port au Prince’ suburbs I managed a clinic for four months, treating 60 till 100 patients a day.

A few months ago I received an emergency call by MeduProf-S from a project in the northern part of Haiti, to come and help because of a lack of professional staff. The cholera crisis causes a great amount of patients, greater than the project actually can handle but they are the only health care facility in the area.

The name of this project is Passe-Catabois. Managed by doctor Anne Marie Hulshuizen and her husband Rob Hulshuizen, pharmacist and administrator. The project exists of an out patients clinic and a small hospital. On the 12th of January I moved from Bonaire to Haiti, near Port de Paix to work and live there for a certain time.

To make my job possible at Passe Catabois, one company and two foundations have offered their financial support. These supporters are Meduprof-S, Foundation Proplan and Foundation Help Haiti.

“No one chooses the place where he or she is born. But we can choose to make a difference in one way or another”.

Jojanneke