The LAMP Foundation is a not for profit corporation working together with the people of Haiti, to advocate for the respect and protection of basic human rights in the areas of greatest misery and poverty in the capital city of Port-au-Prince. In pursuit of this mission, the LAMP's will provide basic health care, investigate allegations of human right abuses, and provide educational and humanitarian aid. The LAMP does not support or oppose any government or political system. We are solely concerned with the impartial protection of all basic human rights.
In Haiti people routinely die of diseases and afflictions virtually unknown or easily treated in the developed world. The LAMP Foundation intends to initiate the simple already proven fixes that can save these lives.
In addition to providing medical care, the LAMP Foundation will also seek to investigate and analyze the root causes of the lack of medical care. For example, the doctors and attorneys of the LAMP Foundation recently learned of a spate of inmate deaths from Beri-Beri at the Haitian National Penitentiary. Beri-Beri is caused by a lack of thiamine. It is common in people whose diet consists mainly of polished white rice, which contains little or no thiamine. One form of Beriberi affects the heart and is sometimes fatal, as it causes heart failure. Another form of the disease causes wasting and partial paralysis resulting from damaged peripheral nerves. Treatment is with thiamine hydrochloride, either in tablet form or by injection. A rapid and dramatic recovery can be made when this simple and inexpensive treatment is correctly administered. Health can be transformed within an hour of administration. Processed white rice is stripped of thiamine. The nutrient is then returned to the rice by an enrichment process which adds a vitamin-filled exterior coating to the rice. Unfortunately the traditional Haitian method of cooking rice destroys this important coating returning the rice to an unfortified condition. Because white is a staple of the Haitian diet, including those incarcerated at the National Penitentiary, the lack of thiamine has caused several preventable deaths. The doctors and attorneys of The LAMP Foundation discovered the cause of these deaths and were able to alert prison officials that a simple change to the rice cooking method would prevent future deaths.
In Haiti, The LAMP Foundation has already identified a location with a suitable structure to build and equip a medical clinic. We have entered into negotiations with owner for a multi-year lease to improve the space. The clinic will provide dental, medical, emergency, and nutritional care with an emphasis on preventive, prenatal and pediatric care. The clinic will be equipped with a pharmacy, clinical laboratory, dental operatory, medical examination suites, a medical laboratory, medical and dental radiology capabilities, and sonogram as well as classrooms for educational programs. We will employ a professional staff, including physicians, registered nurses, LPN’s, and medical technicians as well as auxiliary personnel.
An upper floor of the medical clinic will eventually become a residence capable of housing full-time and visiting volunteers. To further accommodate volunteerism, we hope to construct a larger residence in an adjacent building for use by long-term volunteers.
The LAMP Foundation will rely heavily on the generosity volunteers who will donate their time and talents to supplement our future staff in Haiti. Volunteers will travel to PaP, at their own expense, from America, Canada and Europe to share their skills and resources with the poor. We anticipate that these volunteers will include health care providers, teachers, clergy, students, attorneys, and other humanitarians.
The LAMP Foundation will also work with the existing Ajan Sante program. The LAMP Foundation clinic will serve as training facilities where residents of Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince are trained to give basic advice and to recognize when follow-up care my professional medical personnel is warranted. |
In the United States and throughout North America, the LAMP Foundation will raise public awareness of the plight of the poor in Haiti. We will send volunteers and staff to speak at international and national conferences, and arrange informational events and traveling exhibitions. Special public education projects will address the stark reality of living without access to basic health care in an environment where basic human rights are not respected and where poverty is overwhelming. Volunteers will raise public awareness on the hardships of life in urban and rural Haiti. |
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