Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Haiti

HelpAge responds to Haiti's nursing homes

HelpAge International and its local partners in Haiti have been working in nursing homes in Port-au-Prince to assess the needs of older people and to distribute medical supplies.

Medical staff on the ground

Medical staff from our partner CARPA have been examining patients in the Azile Communal nursing home in Bel Air, Port-au-Prince and CARPA doctors visited the UN hospital to collect free medical supplies which will be given out to them today.

Currently around 329 temporary living camps have been established in the Haitian capital. HelpAge is aiming to support ten of them, including the Municipal Nursing Home.

Two of our Emergencies Team, Sarah Packwood and Margaret Chilcot visited the home yesterday with two CARPA doctors to deliver medicines including antibiotics. They also brought tarpaulins which were tied to the branches of trees to provide some shade in the tropical heat.

More caregivers needed

Margaret Chilcott said "we will hire someone to do some cooking and get water points set up. We can see that more caregivers were needed. I've see one man not eating despite his hunger, apparently because he couldn't eat without help".

"There are a whole lot of issues here - protection issues, health issues," said Margaret , " However, we are concerned at targeting them because of the large numbers of destitute people all around the home so it will be difficult to deliver.

Also, though we are able to get hold of supplies, delivery and distribution mechanisms are extremely weak".

Meanwhile, another Emergencies team member, Bertin Meance and colleagues from CARPA people were at the Azile nursing home yesterday putting up tarpaulins.

Food supplies reach 400 families

Richard Blewitt, Chief Executive of HelpAge International, says

"For all our staff and partners on the ground, challenges of intermittent communications and power and acquiring vehicles and sufficient fuel, continue, and this is affecting how soon we can respond to the plight of people in the nursing homes and beyond.

Yesterday, HelpAge staff Jeff James and Julian McKoy were part of the team distributed food supplies to 400 families. To read about their journey from Dominican Republic to Port-au-Prince, read Jeff's blog post.

Our emergency team and partners have been heartened by the news that =A342 million has already been raised by the UK Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Haiti Earthquake Appeal since its launch on 14 January. These funds will be shared between the 13 DEC members.

How you can help

We urgently need more funds to help us get aid to those who really need it and to support longer-term relief.

If you are a UK citizen, please donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Haiti Earthquake Appeal now.

If you live outside the UK, you can donate to our Haiti relief efforts through:

World Granny

HelpAge USA

HelpAge Germany

Read more about our response to the Haiti earthquake emergency

Read more about HelpAge's partners in Haiti

Go to our Haiti earthquake photogallery on Flickr