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21 Jul
Haiti
HAITI How to help We are passionate about securing a healthy and safe future for families and children. We invite you to join us as a volunteer, a donor, or a sponsor in the array of service opportunities we offer. Upcoming Trips Stay tuned for more information. Latest updates INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING? VOLUNTEER WE NEED doctors to lead trips to haiti Two annual trips aren’t enough. If you are a doctor interested in leading additional trips, please contact us. Contact us What we do SURGICAL CARE & Mentoring In January 2010, Haiti was struck by a catastrophic earthquake. Since then, NAVMC has been a major lifeline for the sick, injured, hungry, and homeless. We have worked at Hôpital Bernard Mevs in Port-au-Prince (HBM), one of the few hospitals in Haiti that cares for the severely injured. Making a difference WHy it matters After the 2010 earthquake, Project Medishare, a Miami nonprofit set up a tent hospital at the airport in Port-au-Prince. Three NAVMC teams were part of this effort, helping 250 patients at any given time. Six months later, when Project Medishare moved into Hôpital Bernard Mevs (HBM), NAVMC was there again to help. Now Bernard Mevs is one of the most important trauma and critical care hospitals in the country. NAVMC has worked with Project Medishare and the surgical team at HBM and has given thousands of hours to set up operating rooms. In addition, the organization has provided $2M worth of desperately needed equipment to treat the injured people who flood the gates at HBM. Patients who otherwise might not receive care, are being saved. lbs of Supplies 0 Surgeries 0 + Volunteers 0 + Trips 0 RENMEN FOUNDATION Renmen Home for Children sustained significant damage during the 2010 earthquake, and the NAVMC team has helped them rebuild, ensuring a safe and secure facility for up to 50 orphans. With our help, Renmen continues its 20-year history providing for Haiti’s most needy children. NAVMC supports education for Renmen residents and local children in a country that does not have a reliable public education system. Our help has led to students receiving nursing, law, and other degrees and certifications. Haiti 2017 My Brothers, Ours Sisters Photo exhibit by local photographers, Michael Collier and Jake Bacon Our Sponsors Contributions continue to help make a huge difference for those who rely on our services with disasters and other emergencies. STEVE & KIM WARD KAREN & MICHAEL DEMANGONE JRUE & LAUREN HOLIDAY BOB & SUZANNE GOLUB With your support we make a difference for the people of Haiti. DONATE
READ MORE19 Jul
Update from the President
Update You can save a life today by donating! Donate Now Or mail a check: NAVMC2532 N. 4th St., Box #342Flagstaff, AZ 86004 Please share our message with friends and family, and keep Haiti in your hearts as the country experiences this humanitarian crisis. 2023 UPDATE DR. “BULL” DURHAM, NAVMC PRESIDENT NAVMC has not sent teams to Haiti since COVID struck our world in early 2020. We have not been absent and have worked on projects from afar. We have provided funds to educate and feed the children in orphanages and we have continued to support Hopital Bernard Mevs (HBM) and Adventiste Hospital of Haiti. We are also working with multiple partners to build a prosthetic center in North Haiti where currently amputees have no resources for prosthetic limbs. We will keep you updated on this project. As you may be aware, life in Haiti has hit an historical low point perhaps never seen before, certainly not in our time and our focus now is on this new crisis. Gang violence, killings and kidnappings have wreaked havoc in the country, preventing local inhabitants from getting food and water. The gangs control the ports preventing few shipment from getting into the country. At present the port in Port-au-Prince is closed to shipments of any kind. This has created a food crisis never seen before in our hemisphere. Most of the hospitals are closed, lacking the fuel to run generators. Grid electricity is nonexistent. HBM turns on its generators on occasion to run the OR for dire emergency cases, when it can buy diesel. Otherwise, no surgeries are being done and little health care is available. The March 2023 UN report gives a grim report: https://www.wfp.org/news/haiti-brink-hunger-levels-rising-warns-report It is unclear when and if we will ever be able to return to the center of the violence, Port-au-Prince. We are looking into working with a hospital in North Haiti. It has been relatively safe to travel to Cap Haitien (Cap) in the Northern part of Haiti. We travelled there last May and August exploring options at Hopital Sacre Coeur (HSC) in the town of Milot, 30 minutes’ drive from Cap. There may be possibilities of sending teams there in the future, only if things quiet down and it again becomes safe to travel there. For now, it is not safe. I doubt that trips to Port-au-Prince will be safe for some time. For now, the dire need in Haiti is food. Many of the charitable groups that have helped Haiti in the past have left and others are not able to aid due to the fuel crisis and the port closures. Starvation is prevalent throughout the country and cholera has struck again. Bleach, which is used to help prevent cholera, cannot be found in the country. Project Medishare for Haiti has equipment ready to help fight the cholera epidemic, it has been stuck in port for months. We are partnering with several organizations supporting homes for children in North Haiti. They are providing food and water for families in their local community. They have boots on the ground and are providing food for their local community who cannot afford gas money to travel to the Markets which are often empty. We are asking for donations to help support this effort in yet another time of dire need in Haiti. As always, we are putting funds directly into the hands of those we know and trust. We will continue to provide funds to the orphanage we have supported for the last 12 years in Port-au-Prince to keep these children fed as well. They are surrounded by gang violence and it is difficult to get them to safer home at this point. My daughter Nerlande is living there now. She has not been able to return to her home in Port-au-Prince due to the violence in her neighborhood. Weekly she is venturing out into the community to search for food. What little is available has quadrupled in price. I do not know how long this will go on in Haiti, but I suspect it cannot go on long with the current situation. Absent some significant change, many will die, and the global community will not be able to ignore it any longer. For now, NAVMC can make a difference and help keep some Haitian victims fed. Thank you for your continued and essential support, we can assure you that the funds are getting into the hands that need them. Be safe and keep Haiti and the recent victims in your hearts. — John, “Bull” Durham, NAVMC President
READ MORE18 Jul
Bolivia
BOLIVIA How to help We are passionate about securing a healthy and safe future for families and children. We invite you to join us as a volunteer, a donor, or a sponsor in the array of service opportunities we offer. Upcoming Trips Postponed until further notice Stay tuned for more information. Latest updates INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING? VOLUNTEER WE NEED SUPPLIES DONATE What we do SURGICAL CARE NAVMC’s Bolivia team travels annually to Palacios, Bolivia to perform surgery for patients from rural areas that otherwise lack access to treatment. This life-changing care allows our patients return to their jobs and to care for their families. We partner with Centro Medico Susan Hou Clinic to select surgery candidates and provide follow-up care. Using two operating rooms for 4–5 days, NAVMC volunteers perform surgeries including hysterectomies, gallbladder removal, hernia repairs, and more. ROOF PROJECT In June 2017 NAVMC helped to fund a construction project in Palacios, Bolivia. The team removed the commonly used thatch roofs in favor of corrugated metal ones. The new roofs serve to reduce the spread of Chagas Disease in the village. Read More… Making a difference WHy it matters Typically the cost for NAVMC Bolivia to conduct one surgery is $500 which includes renting and setting up the OR, pre and post op nursing care, and all meds and supplies for a patient’s stay. We ship most of our own supplies well in advance of a trip because much of what we need is not available, shipping takes four months, and costs $3500. Volunteer medical professionals cover their own costs, and one trip can cost up to $2,000. Clinic Patients 0 + Procedures 0 + Volunteers 0 + Our Sponsors Contributions continue to help make a huge difference for those who rely on our services with disasters and other emergencies. STEVE & KIM WARD KAREN & MICHAEL DEMANGONE JRUE & LAUREN HOLIDAY BOB & SUZANNE GOLUB Please support NAVMC’s efforts in Bolivia. Thank You! DONATE
READ MORE18 Jul
Haiti Updates
Haiti 6 August Hope Everywhere The lead-up to this trip has been rough. Haiti has been experiencing escalating conflict for many months, and the decision to proceed with our trip was constantly in question. Many […] READ MORE 19 July MacGyver Rules The digital readout on the AC device in our room reads 17 Celsius and the motor has been whining all day long pushing out the comfort zone to probably 80 […] READ MORE 14 June Day 5 in Haiti The NAVMC team landed in Port-au-Prince 5 days ago, and it has been non-stop since. From day one, this trip has been different. In recent weeks, President Jovenal Moïse […] READ MORE 29 December December 2018 – Trip Summary Molhenne was supposed to die. When our medical team left Haiti in December 2017, her blood count was insufficient to sustain life especially in someone who had just lost both […] READ MORE 25 December Happy Holidays from Haiti NAVMC has just returned from its 3rd trip to Haiti this year. Attached is a trip summary. We wanted to share with you our successes from Haiti understanding that this […] READ MORE 11 July Coming Home There are 10 of us crammed into the “ambulance” as we speed through Port-au-Prince this morning dodging the fires that still burn in the streets. We are one of the […] READ MORE 9 July Day 3 in Haiti Today has been a day of rest and unrest. We are safe in the compound around Adventiste Hospital resting after a long and stressful day yesterday. The streets of Port-au-Prince […] READ MORE 9 July Day 2 in Haiti At eight o’clock tonight, Rose was wheeled out of the operating room, tumor-less. It took us 8 to 9 hours to complete the surgery. As far as we can tell, […] READ MORE 6 July Day 1 in Haiti The team has arrived at Adventiste Hospital in Port-au Prince. Rose is resting with her family in the hospital awaiting surgery tomorrow. She is nervous and excited for the opportunity […] READ MORE 5 July July Fourth in Haiti The tumor on Rose’s right arm now is the size of a large cantelope. Despite the size and the open wounds it has created, her hand function is near normal. […] READ MORE 19 June Haiti Last Day Large balloons with glow lights inside bounced over the heads of the 50 children at Renmen orphanage last night, suspended in the air by little hands reaching for the sky. […] READ MORE 19 June Haiti Day #5 Genese’s smile would light up the earth on a cloudy day. She came running up to Dr Hippolyte and me and gave me an embrace that brought tears to my […] READ MORE 13 June Haiti Day #4 Natacha shattered her ankle 2 weeks ago. She has been in a hospital in Port-au-Prince since then lying in bed with 8 other women in the woman’s ward, awaiting our […] READ MORE 12 June Day #3 in Haiti Charles’ thigh was crushed in a motorcycle accident 6 months ago. He was able to find the funds to have it fixed then. Six months later he is still in […] READ MORE 11 June Day #2 from Bull When I met Anne in December 2017, she had been in a sling with a functionless and painful arm for four months, her fractured humerus unhealed. She had been in […] READ MORE 10 June Day #1 in Haiti RF is a 23 year old woman with a tumor on her right arm the size of a cantaloupe. She is one of the patients waiting to see us in […] READ MORE 1 December MOHLENE Mohlene, 18 years old, was born HIV positive. She contracted the infection from her mother, and this is called “vertical transmission.” Her mom died many years ago from AIDS, and today Mohlene held my hand and smiled as we talked about her home and her family. Tomorrow she will lose both of her legs, but she doesn’t know this yet. READ MORE 1 December Lightning Speed Things are happening at lightning speed down here, and the amount of work we have done already is astounding. Stories are coming in from the results of our previous efforts as we prepare to begin new stories. A young man is going into surgery, as I write, for repairs on his fractured leg and upper arm. Another male who was in a motorcycle accident awaits surgery to repair his femur and wrist fractures early tomorrow morning. READ MORE 1 December GENESE and WOODJINA Day 2 Haiti: The team is settling in to care for injured patients who have travelled to Port-au-Prince from as far away as Cap Haitian, a 6-hour drive. Some we have seen before, and they have returned for follow up. Doctors Without Borders is scaling back here, thus the volume of injured patients at our doors is rapidly rising. READ MORE 1 December WOODJINA’S STORY Woodjina lies alone in her bed in a small room surrounded by ten other patients with orthopedic injures, all with various splints and traction devices set up. She swats at a mosquito and pulls against the traction device attached to her left leg. A coke bottle filled with cloudy water and tied to a rope dangles off the foot of her bed. It is attached to cardboard that envelops her left lower leg. Her right leg is in a splint, her left hip is dislocated, both are hot with fever. She wiggles to relieve the pain in the pressure sores that are developing after 3 weeks of bedrest. She is 5 years old. READ MORE
READ MORE15 Jul
About Us
About Us Who we are We are a team of medical and humanitarian volunteers supporting the health and education of children and families in Haiti and Bolivia. We send medical teams to underserved areas, providing essential medical and surgical care. We provide funding for education and food to children and families in Haiti where famine is rampant. We are passionate about securing a healthy and safe future for families and children. We invite you to join us as a volunteer, a donor, or a sponsor in the array of service opportunities we offer. Northern Arizona Volunteer Medical Corp (NAVMC) Mission NAVMC supports the health, education, and safety of children and families in need through local programs and international relief projects. Northern Arizona Volunteer Medical Corp History NAVMC is proud of its local and global work, and is grateful to the hundreds of supporters and sponsors who value our mission, the work that we do, and the lives that we save. Thank you! 1995 Beginnings Northern Arizona Volunteer Medical Corp (NAVMC) was founded by two Flagstaff, Arizona doctors, Kelly Reber and Bert Mckinnon, who traveled to Armenia on a volunteer medical trip. Inspired by this experience, they gathered a local group of doctors and nurses to continue this type of charitable work. In these early years, NAVMC traveled to Cambodia, Brazil, and Mexico providing surgical care to the underserved. 2007 Mogolia NAVMC transitioned into a teaching role, providing a more sustainable program. From 2007-2009 NAVMC sent teams to train orthopedic residents and operating room staff in Mongolia. We treated trauma victims and introduced new technologies and materials to the largests trauma center in the capital city Ulaanbaatar. 2010 Haiti On January 12, 2010, Haiti was struck by a massive earthquake that left over 200,000 people dead and 400,000 injured. NAVMC sent three teams as part of an earthquake relief effort. Since then, we have sent over 40 medical teams to Haiti providing surgical care and teaching local medical providers. 2011 Renmen Foundation NAVMC began supporting a home for children in Port au Prince. To this date, we provide, education, food, and infrastructure for 50 children that call it their home. See Renmen 2012 Local support NAVMC reached out to the local community to assist families and children in Flagstaff and Northern Arizona. We supported organizations including those that fed the food insecure and educated local youth, as well as managed blood drives to stock blood banks nearby and faraway. 2020 COVID March of 2020, the health care providers of the Navajo, Hopi, Apache and Zuni Nations found themselves without personal protective equipment (PPE). We responded to their most critical need, isolation gowns. Through our efforts, nearly 9,000 reusable cloth isolation gowns were fabricated and distributed to 13 service units. Board of Directors President Dr. John Durham Treasurer Bethany De Alva Secretary Amy Peterson BOARD MEMBER Dr. Andrew Aldridge BOARD MEMBER Robert Miller Board Member Dan Hall executive director Laura McGrath
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30 May
BOLIVIA TRIP SUMMARY – MAY 6-13, 2023
We had an absolutely amazing trip to Bolivia. This was the trip intended to check on our supplies, negotiate terms with the hospital, see patients in clinic, and reconnect with everyone down there that make our trips possible. All goals were achieved and exceeded. The team consisted of Drs. Andy Aldridge, Phil Williams, Brian Balanoff and me. The small team made the trip much more relaxing, and we could be more flexible with our schedule. It also really helped the four of us to form meaningful and lasting relationships with those at the Susan Hou Clinic in Palacios and Dr. Douglas Villaroel (our red tape workaround master.) We also got to listen to and speak a lot of Spanish which will serve us well in November. Here are a few of the highlights: We visited and paid our respects to the Espinoza family. Unfortunately, Dr. Espinoza passed from covid while providing care to covid+ patients in July 2020. Dr. Espinoza was a pivotal member of our team in Bolivia. He was a general surgeon who worked in Santa Cruz, but often came out to Portachuelo to work with us. If any complications arose with our patients after we left the country, he would take care of them. We had a very special breakfast with his large family at their home in Santa Cruz and were able to reminisce and share stories. We all feel so fortunate to have known and worked with Dr. Oscar Espinoza. We spent time at the hospital in Portachuelo. This is where we perform our surgeries and where the patients stay before and after surgery. The big news from this trip was that our equipment was all in functioning condition. I negotiated terms with this group for November and was assured prices would remain the same as in 2019. Apparently, inflation has not hit Bolivia like it has the states. We also had the pleasure of visiting Dr. Vargas at his home in Portachuelo. Dr. Vargas is the main doctor at the clinic in Palacios. He helps us select and prepare our surgical candidates before we arrive. My favorite part of the trip was the two days and a night at the Susan Hou Clinic in Palacios. We saw upwards of 80 patients in the clinic, all hoping to have surgery with us in November. We narrowed the list down to 50ish and now we are figuring out the most dire cases and what we can actually accomplish in November. People have been waiting a long time to see us so there were many urgent needs. We had the pleasure of the company of the Bolivian clinic coordinator, Gabriela, and her husband, Marco. While at the clinic we went on a night walk, saw the stars of the Southern Hemisphere (hello Southern Cross!) and ziplined over the rushing river that patients must cross to make it to the clinic from their homes since its bridge washed out. We also visited the newly built library (book donation thanks to NAVMC) and the kids treated us to food and drink. Our last night we had a lovely dinner with Dr. Douglas Villaroel. He is the person responsible for keeping us legal in Bolivia. He takes care of our licensure, credentialing, and helps us to bring all the equipment we need into Bolivia, not an easy feat. He reiterated his continued support for our cause and has already asked for a list of equipment I want to bring in so he can start working on the red tape so common in Bolivia. Dr. Douglas also spoke with us about the washed-out bridge and how it is impacting the community and their access to the clinic. More to come on that. I think it might be a great fundraising opportunity for NAVMC. Those are the highlights of our trip. I cannot explain how wonderful it felt to be back in Bolivia and to see all our friends. It has been over 4 years! We took the perfect small group to re-form strong bonds with everyone who helps us do what we do. With a full team in November, I know we will be able to help a lot of Bolivians and make you all proud. It’s great to get NAVMC back on the ground, accomplishing so much and realizing our mission statement. Thanks for everyone’s support!Amy
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