12363: Pressrelease from the Batey Relief Alliance (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "Batey Relief Alliance, Inc. [BRA]" <bateyrelief@mindspring.com>

Pressrelease from the Batey Relief Alliance


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT: Ulrick Gaillard at Bateyrelief@mindspring.com or
(917) 627-5026
Haitian physicians to travel on a medical mission to Dominican Republic’s
sugar cane labor communities – bateys.

The Batey Relief Alliance [BRA] and the Association of Haitian Physicians
Abroad [AMHE] are dispatching a highly qualified and dedicated team of
volunteer health experts from the United States to bring desperately needed
medical assistance to the impoverished population, including those
identified as Haitian migrant workers and their families languishing in
sugar cane labor enclaves known as "bateys." BRA’s 10th medical mission,
which begins July 12th through July 21st, 2002, will focus its operation in
the province of San Pedro de Macoris where thousands of impoverished Haitian
and Dominican families remain in dire need of basic health care. "Our goal
is to provide culturally oriented care to patients who will receive
educational support in health crisis prevention and management in HIV/AIDS,
hypertension, diabetes, malaria and tuberculosis – vital care in pediatrics,
general medicines and dentistry – and a six-month free supply of medicines,
vitamins and preventive health aids to complete their short-term treatment,"
explained Dr. Raymond Thertulien, BRA’s Medical Director.

AMHE – a coalition of Haitian physicians practicing in the United States, is
contributing more than a dozen physicians from Florida, New Jersey and New
York. Other health experts from the Dominican Republic and Haiti are
expected to join the volunteer team. BRA secured close to $2 million in
medicines, medical supplies, equipment and professional services. Some of
the BRA’s sponsors include the Catholic Medical Mission Board, Direct Relief
International, Heart to Heart, Bayer Corporation, Medical Providence’s St.
John Hospital, Roosevelt Hospital, Medpharm, etc.. BRA will distribute part
of the donated supplies to its local member and partner organizations to
provide on-going health assistance to the needy population of the bateys and
of the urban slums. "It is important this type of coalition. The presence of
Haitian physicians in the bateys will help provide not only crucial care,
but will also help lift their compatriots’ human dignity and pride," said
Ulrick Gaillard, Executive Director of the BRA. Other collaboration is
expected from BRA’s current partners, including the Dominican’s State Sugar
Council (CEA) and the Ministry of Health (SESPAS), the Haitian Embassy in
Santo Domingo, the Peace Corps, etc.

Last February 28th, 2001, BRA held its first International Conference at the
United Nations exposing the miserable conditions under which thousands of
Haitians live and work in the bateys – and the discriminatory assaults they
continue to face. On the legal front, their Dominican born children are not
granted the country’s nationality – and thus have difficulties to access
public health care. Their parents are continuously being repatriated without
hope for a future in Haiti. Others sometimes lose their lives under
questionable circumstances as they cross the Haiti/Dominican border in
search of opportunities. "The situation in some bateys is so severe that
inhabitants continually face serious health problems. HIV/AIDS is first on
the list. The habitat is made typically of rundown state-built quarters
or/and tiny shacks made of mud and split cane. There are no electricity,
sewage systems, sanitation facilities, running water, or trash collections.
BRA, in response, is actively involved in saving thousands of lives each
year by not only providing direct medical care, but also by donating
medicine supplies and products to its Dominican-based partner and member
organizations serving the batey populations’ health needs. In doing so, BRA
expands its humanitarian efforts all across the Dominican Republic ensuring
human productivity through access to basic health for all without regards to
race, sex, creed or nationality," added Gaillard. Please visit BRA’s website
at www.bateyrelief.org.
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