The Surgicenter covers the following needs:
- OB/GYN
- Orthopedics
- General/Vascular Surgery
- Hernia Repair
- Tumor removal
- Urology
- Face and Oral Surgery
- Teaching and training hub for future Haitian surgeons
The Higgins Brothers Surgicenter for Hope provides many opportunities to help the underserved people of Haiti. We presently take a surgical mission team quarterly to Haiti from Kansas City. While there can now operate with our Haitian team of surgeons and nurses handling patients that have been referred for surgical evaluation from all over the country. Many of these patients cannot afford payment of their surgery in Haitian hospitals. We do ask for donations for our services, but all patients needing surgery receive our care whether or not they can provide funds.
Besides helping our Haitian surgical staff with complex cases, we look forward to teams providing teaching opportunities for our 6 nurses handling perioperative care. This training is essential for improving the level of medical care we hope to deliver.
We have a team of nurse midwives that assist with over 700 deliveries a year at Haitian Christian Mission. Our Ob-Gyn surgeon performs C- sections and emergency procedures when indicated. Assisting with the teaching of our nurse midwives and with family planning is also a goal of our program.
Over the past several years we have developed a wonderful teaching relationship with the General Hospital in Port Aux Prince surgical staff. Seven surgeons from Kansas City operated at Higgins Brothers Surgicenter in 2017. Each surgeon was assigned a general surgical chief resident that operated across the OR table for the week. We were able to perform over 400 procedures on 324 patients in 2017. These included general, vascular, obstetrics, gynecology, urology, and podiatry. Follow-up is provided by our Haitian team and our quarterly mission visits.
We need to raise funds to train young talented Haitian students to become nurses, doctors, and medical technicians. A scholarship program has been started to provide funds for these students. The cost for medical school is roughly $5000 per year. These future medical providers will ensure that our facility and the quality of care will be sustainable.
Our relationship with the medical services provided at HCM has grown. Our emergency room/ trauma area is now a 24/ 7 facility with the ER physicians under our employment. They handle many cases that were previously referred to Port Aux Prince, allowing treatment to occur in a more rapid fashion, and in many cases negating the need for transport.