Helping Haiti heal
U.S. now plays humanitarian role in Caribbean nation
August 5, 1997
Web posted at: 10:05 a.m. EDT (1405 GMT)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNN) -- Illnesses wiped out in most of the modern world still exist in the slums of the Haitian capital. Open sewers and garbage proliferate. And there's no clean water for people crammed in close quarters. Treating the poor and sick has become the U.S. military's new mission in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Virtually every child treated at a U.S.-established medical clinic in Port-au-Prince's Cite Soleil neighborhood has worms. Both children and adults with broken bones may go weeks or months without seeing a doctor.
Children in Haiti suffering from lack of medical attention
1.9MB/22 sec. QuickTime movie
857K/22 sec. QuickTime movie"Haiti's about as bad as you're going to find," says Army Capt. Brian Brannman, part of a U.S. humanitarian force of several hundred soldiers assigned to Haiti. "You see infections that have gone to the extreme."
The humanitarian "support group," as it's called, operates separately from the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti that last week was extended for another four months.
The peacekeepers took over after the U.S. withdrew the 20,000 troops it sent in 1994 to restore Haiti's democratically elected president to power after years of military dictatorship and political violence.
With that mission now over, the U.S. military has a different role to play -- serving Haiti's most desperate people.
The U.S. military support group arrived in March 1996 on an open-ended mission, not just to provide medical assistance but to build and repair roads and schools and look for clean sources of water.
It wasn't until two months ago, however, that the clinic could open here in perhaps the poorest spot in the Western Hemisphere. It was too dangerous. "You literally had running gun battles between rival gangs," says Brannman.
Now, when the makeshift clinic opens one day a week, Haitians wait for hours. It's the first time many have ever seen a doctor. They cannot afford medical care. But here, care is free, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.
"(The U.S. soldiers) do a lot of things for the country and a lot of things for me," says a grateful William George. The 36-year-old man broke his leg in April but had no proper treatment until he saw the U.S. military.
Another man who's come for treatment may not be as fortunate. Augustin Auguste injured his leg cutting wood, perhaps as long as a year ago. The leg -- now swollen and discolored -- appears to be badly infected.
"It's not going to heal without long-term antibiotics," says Dr. Jim Schnieder, one of the U.S. military's medical personnel at the clinic. "Or, in this country, probably the safest thing to do is amputate it."
More than 40,000 Haitians have been treated by U.S. military medical teams since the humanitarian mission began nearly a year and a half ago. Each day the number grows.
"We're trying to assist a nation building itself up," says Col. Jon Stull, commander of the U.S. support group in Haiti.
The military says it would rather help a nation heal now, than intervene with guns later.
Correspondent Pat Neal contributed to this report.
- Newsmaker Profile: Rene Preval - Haitian President
Related stories:
- Security Council approves extended Haiti peacekeeping force - July 30, 1997
- Deadline looms in Haiti as U.N. troops prepare to leave - July 14, 1997
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