(P-O-P-S)   The miracle on the Hudson which saved hundreds of lives doesn’t compare with the miracle of Hospital Albert Schweitzer still standing after the gargantuan amount of destruction and the hundreds of thousands of lives the recent Haitian earthquake has already claimed.  Located 42 miles outside of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the hospital escaped damage “possibly because it was constructed using U.S. building codes in 1956,” according to John Walton, Chair of HAS Board of Directors.

Surgery at HAS for earthquake victims

Surgery at HAS on quake victims

In the past days, the hospital was reported to having shifted immediately into mass casualty protocol.  Internet communications from Managing Director Ian Rawson on the HAS blog described the current situation as “the most serious challenge faced by HAS in its 54 year history.”

The brain child of Larry Mellon of the famed oil and banking family, Larry at age 38 became influenced by Albert Schweitzer with his reverence for life philosophy.  He returned to school, got a medical degree and relocated his family and stepchildren in one of the poorest enclaves he could find on earth, establishing a much needed hospital.  The hospital opened June 26, 1956, on Mellon’s forty-sixth birthday, named after his good friend.  More than just a hospital, HAS became a medical complex that fit the needs of a neglected rural population.  In peaceful times, HAS serves as clinic, emergency room, school, and outpost of hope—headquarters for an integrated health system dedicated to prevention as well as cure.

While we applaud any and all generosity on the part of individuals and organizations that set out to raise money or medical supplies, or send doctors and much needed food, water and blankets to Haiti, immediate prioritization should take place in this decimated country.  We urge rapidity in getting this aid to those caught up in the gargantuan devastation and lifesaving attempts that are the top priorities NOW.

Next we ask you to consider the fact that this hospital will be supporting the Haitian people for years to come.  “This recovery will be years long.  We’ve been here for 54 years, and we are going to be here next year and thereafter.  Cash donations and medical supplies will go toward our established commitment to the people of Haiti.  We help everyone who manages to get here,” said Ian Rawson, the managing doctor director of HAS since November 2009, and son of Gwen Mellon, the wife of the hospital founder.

“Please understand how grateful we are for the overwhelming worldwide response of generosity.  Go to Hopital Albert Schweitzer Haiti to donate directly on our website, www.hashaiti.org. All the money donated is used to directly help the injured and ill.
As our founder Dr. Larimer Mellon stated in his lifetime, ‘People tell me what I am doing is noble but I really know it is selfish.  I have found happiness in helping people no one else is helping.  It was worth everything I had to get to this.   I have sacrificed nothing.’”


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Points of Persuasion Syndicate (P-O-P-S) wrote this article pro bono for Hopital Albert Schweitzer, Haiti.