Most Recent ICC Update

Thank you for your ongoing dedication to International Child Care! With your help, ICC has been able to reach more children and families in Haiti and the Dominican Republic this year than ever before. We are so grateful to those who came together to support the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake, and who are dedicated to the process of rebuilding Grace Children’s Hospital. Haiti in particular felt devastation not only with the earthquake, but also with Hurricane Tomas and now the cholera outbreak.

As International Child Care continues to rebuild and face these challenges, we are celebrating the grand opening of the transitional inpatient facility at Grace Children’s Hospital. There will be an official dedication on December 16, although the facility has been in use since August. Currently, 15 children are inpatients at the hospital, where they are receiving medical care, nutritious meals and, when they are well enough, education at ICC’s on-site classroom.  

There has been much exciting progress at the hospital, including the launch of a partnership with Medishare, another organization operating in Haiti. Through a new referral system, Medishare staff will now refer patients to Grace Children’s Hospital when they don’t have the accommodations to treat them.  This partnership has already been put to use as GCH admitted a child with a serious case of TB thanks to a Medishare referral.

The cholera outbreak has begun to fade from the news, but it is still at the forefront for  Grace Children’s Hospital staff; new signs have been installed on the sidewalks outside of the hospital reminding passer-by the importance of good hygiene and the community’s responsibility to maintain good hygiene practices.

We continue to welcome Mission Education Encounter groups to ICC projects in Haiti and the Dominican Republic; recently a team from Epworth United Methodist Church in Toledo, OH worked on building a meeting room for community health workers in a tent camp near the hospital; if you would like to plan a trip to Haiti with ICC, please contact us today.

Thank you for your support of ICC. As the Holiday season begins, we hope you will consider a Christmas gift to ICC, but also don’t forget about our alternative giving campaign, as well as the note cards and t-shirts that are available by contacting the ICC office.

You can also click here to read this update about our work in Haiti and share it with others.