Health Ministry Open s Doors in Haiti

By Amanda Schweinsburg

"One does not have to be highly educated or trained to meet needs in a Third World setting," Dr. Alan Rabe, chairman of the Department of Health and Sciences, said. A medicalmissionsteam ofLibertystudentsandfaculty in the community health and nursing programs makes yearlytripsto the Republicof Haiti,where theyuse afourprong approach tomeet physical and spiritualneeds.

The 1991 Health Outreach in Haiti team conducted adult health lessons,medical clinics,child evangelism programs and anutritionsurvey in which team members went door-to-door asking questions about nutrition and health Every team member was required to raisehis own support.

Leading the group in addition to Dr. Rabe were Dr. Richard Lane,professor ofhealth sciences and part-time staffphysicianat HealthServices;SharonRahilly,nursing professor; and Linda Rabe,Health Servicesnurse

The team worked infourBaptistchurchesinan areaof about 75 kilometers, using posters and interpreters to communicate health factswith theHaitians intheCreole language,which isa mixture ofFrench and African dialects

Along with the adult health lessons, the group also conducted freedailyhealthclinics.Thesewere supervised by the two professional nurses and Dr.Lane,who said: "We saw 815 people in eight mornings. We wrote and filledover 1,400 prescriptions."

Lane noted that the clinic dealt primarily with basic health problems. "In theThird World thereareso many problems that justabout anything you can do is going tohelp,"he explained

While half of the group conducted clinics, the othersdid child evangelism. "The sessionslasted up to 2 1/2 hours and 200 to 300 children attended,"Rabe said. "We would usuallyhave 15 to 20 kids raise their hand every time we gave an invitation showing that they had accepted the Lord astheir Savior."

The door-to-door nutrition survey was also a witnessing tool, according toLane."We gotto see what kind ofthings they eat; we got tosee where theyget theirwater,which is extremely important; and we got an idea of their immunizations," he said. "An additionalthingwe did is findout what they die of. And, of course, once you talk about deathit is anaturallead-into sharing the Gospel."

LastyearaLibertyteam arranged to have awell put intoachurch yard. Subsequently,aChristian school was started. Rabe and Lane said that the schoolhad 40 students inits first year and enrollment should have been 80-100 this year.

"The nurses and the community health majors with just basic background could meet tremendous needs inHaiti,"Dr.Rabe explained. "If you place your hand in the Lord's hand and you are willing togo, He can useyou."