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Covenant Hospital
Mombin Crochu, Haiti

In the high mountains of northeast Haiti lies the village of Mombin Crochu, served by a 22-bed hospital. Covenant Hospital provides primary and emergency care to the region’s scattered rural people. It is the hub of community health programs that give vaccinations and present health education, and it participates in country-wide preventive and treatment programs against Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases of poverty which so plague these people. It is equipped to do x-rays and diagnostic laboratory work, and has an operating room for the use of visiting surgeons. Covenant Hospital runs on a budget of about $150,000 a year.

It is vital to the 40,000 people in this area to keep the doors of this institution open. This hospital and its healing mission to the rural poor of Haiti cannot continue without our assistance.

Until Covenant Hospital opened, local medical care was limited to one nurse, an occasional visiting team sponsored by MBF, and native voodoo practitioners. The nurse was able to see about 60 patients a day. The next closest hospital requires about 5 hours walking time to reach, as few vehicles ever travel the deeply rutted dirt roads. This more distant hospital requires full payment in advance for all medical services, making it inaccessible to this region’s poor people. Covenant Hospital is able to provide charity care when needed.

Recently Dr. Kens, a Haitian national, became the hospital administrator for Covenant Hospital. Dr. Kens assumed the position after completing a year of government service at Covenant working with Dr. Paul McLain. The salary for this doctor/administrator position will be in the range of $16,000-$20,000. A Haitian physician will provide an opportunity for Covenant Hospital and the community health clinics to work towards sustainability and independence.

How Congregations Can Help

Over the past years, MBF found people, funding and materials to bring new life to Covenant Hospital. Generators and solar panels, a septic tank system and a water tower and well were either installed or refurbished to provide the infrastructure necessary for the hospital to run successfully. As an example, one team from a Presbyterian church in Minnesota saw the need for a well to provide a dependable water supply. They went home, developed a plan and provided the financial support. Today, the well pumps clean mountain water. Another church delivered a new sorely needed truck to the hospital, while yet another has installed satellite communications. These are but a few examples of how Presbyterians are supporting Covenant Hospital. Learn how you and your congregation can provide much needed help by clicking here.

What is needed at Covenant Hospital

The hospital has a small residence for a doctor and an administrator, as well as a dormitory capable of housing 12 visiting mission workers. The dormitory is used to house construction crews and the visiting medical teams that provide specialized care for the villagers. The dormitory or “guesthouse” is just one of the sources of income that Covenant relies upon. Current estimates are that the revenue from the guest house will be down at least 50% this year. Many congregations are canceling the Haitian mission trips due to the current political upheaval.

The funds that MBF is requesting to support Covenant will help to pay for medicine, supplies, pay for rural health clinics, vaccinations, health education and charity care. Your gift will help to provide support for an area that is riddled with uncertainty. MBF’s interest in continuing this project in Haiti is two-fold. First, the need is so great for this extremely poor, misery-ridden and voodoo-dependent area. Second, it is relatively close to the US and offers an accessible site for medical professionals, clergy and lay workers to make a measurable and critical difference in a short period of time when the political climate will safely allow. The people of Mombin Crochu have learned that when the MBF teams arrive, bodies and souls are healed. They have learned that those two things are interdependent.

The Great Commission charges us with healing, teaching and preaching the Gospel. That’s what is happening at Covenant Hospital, but it is only the start of what must be done. Become a part and make a difference during this time of chaos and controversy. You will touch lives, hearts and ultimately souls.