Longtime Haitian aid group rallying Calgarians to support earthquake victims

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Posted January 21, 2010

By Kyle Glennie

Dr. Jaime Yu (centre) at the Healing Hands for Haiti clinic in Port-au-Prince, November 2008An international medical aid group operating a clinic in Haiti for the past eight years is holding a fundraiser in an effort to get their clinic operational again.  Team Canada Healing Hands for Haiti, which includes the Faculty of Medicine’s Dr. Jaime Yu, will host the event at Schanks North in Calgary on Friday, January 29th beginning at 7:00pm.

“We’re hoping to raise as much money as we can not only for our organization, but also for other groups already on the ground in Haiti,” explains Yu, who graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in 2005 and is a fifth-year physical medicine resident.  “All of the funds raised will be pooled together and will go towards getting our clinic up and running again, and it will also go to other groups who need it most.”

The clinic Yu speaks of is the Healing Hands for Haiti International clinic in Port-au-Prince.  This free clinic, in operation for the last eight years, is a fully staffed facility equipped with medical exam rooms, a prosthetics lab and physical therapy rooms.

“It’s a well known facility in Port-au-Prince and we give free, walk-in care even though it’s primarily a facility that helps people with disabilities like strokes and amputations,” says Yu.

While the clinic itself remains intact following the earthquake, it is inaccessible because of damage to surrounding roads and buildings.  An apartment building adjacent to the clinic and also owned by Healing Hands for Haiti International wasn’t so lucky.

“That building collapsed in the earthquake and there were deaths in that,” Yu confirms.  “It was rented out to a lot of United Nations workers at the time.”  Yu also says of all the staff that worked at the clinic on a daily basis, only 25% are accounted for.  A group of representatives from Team Canada Healing Hands for Haiti are now in the Dominican Republic and will be entering Port-au-Prince shortly.

Tickets for the fundraiser are $25 each and include an appetizer buffet, drink specials and a silent auction of Haitian art.  $20 of each ticket will go directly to Team Canada Healing Hands for Haiti, and can be purchased by email at calgarytchh@gmail.com; in person at the U of C Medical Bookstore; or by calling Dr. Jaime Yu directly at 403-619-0387.