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Nothing has been the same since the COVID pandemic started in March 2020 but we have found ways to continue supporting our partners both domestically and internationally. We are thrilled to share with you some of the bright spots we have achieved this year.

PPE PROJECT

We have continued to supply PPE through the summer to our partner sites in NYC. Large PPE donations were also made to our partners in Liberia, as well as hospitals in the Dominican Republic, St. Vincent and the Grenadines after the volcanic eruption. 

 
 
 

VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO

In the fall, we were finally able to return to Vieques, Puerto Rico with guidance from the island's epidemiologist. While IMR continued to support the island’s test and trace team with PPE, it was wonderful to be back in the community. We continued home visits and worked with community leaders on building a resilient hospital on the island. 

 

LIBERIAN FISTULA PROJECT

In December, we were so excited to finally return to Liberia where we evaluated over 30 women and performed over 20 operations to fix obstetric fistula. Many are women who have waited years for this surgery. We were thrilled not only to provide life changing surgery but our patients were also able to receive COVID vaccinations prior to their procedures. 

 

HAITI

The ongoing pandemic, political turmoil, and safety concerns in Haiti made it impossible for IMR to return to Haiti this year. However, we continued to support our Haitian colleagues and partners by donating medical and surgical supplies so they are able to continue caring for women with birth trauma and fistula especially after the tragic earthquake this summer. 

We also received an update from our local partner GOALS about a pregnant woman that IMR cared for during our previous visit. At the time, IMR had helped coordinate an emergency transfer to St. Boniface Hospital due to severe preeclampsia, a life threatening complication in pregnancy. The baby, who was born by emergency c-section, is now a toddler who is thriving. We were so happy and relieved to hear that both mom and child are doing well and cases like this remind us of why we do what we do.  

 

LOCAL COMMUNITY SUPPORT

This year, we established a relationship with our new local community partner Life Of Hope, supporting their community baby showers in central Brooklyn that promote safe motherhood and birth in the Haitian/Caribbean diaspora and the community-at-large. Please consider donating to our wishlist which gets needed supplies to the large number of pregnant Haitian migrants that are newly arriving in Brooklyn.

We also donated at-home electric blood pressure cuffs to pregnant patients at a community health clinic in Los Angeles. Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy can be deadly and making at-home monitoring accessible to people in low-income households could help save lives.

 
 
 

EDDY ROSE SCHOLARS

Carlos Horacio Rose finished med school this year with our support! He’s in Nicaragua and is now applying for surgery residency as he finishes his internship in Managua.

We also continued our annual tradition of awarding $10,000 to a Black midwifery student at SUNY Downstate. Arielle Sooknanan is our much deserved awardee this year, and she is working hard in her final year to complete her studies to become a midwife.

“I can hardly believe the year is already ending. Classes this semester were challenging especially with finals occurring on the heels of this omicron variant wave and in the midst of some family health issues. However, my amazing classmates and I pulled through with some study groups and I’m so excited to embark on this last upcoming semester. I’m looking forward to the end and finally being able to work as a midwife.”

-Arielle Sooknanan, Student Midwife and Eddy Rose Scholar

 

In addition to Carlos and Arielle, IMR began sponsoring a Haitian nursing student, Bettina Pepilus. Bettina came to us through our local partner, GOALS, and hopes to provide care in Destra where she would play an integral role in extending care to the area.

"Receiving this scholarship is very important for my life because I like nursing and I know my family cannot afford to pay for nursing school, and thanks to GOALS and IMR I have their support so I can now go to school. It was a great joy for me and my family when I knew I was awarded this scholarship. My family and I want to say a big thank you and God bless you to the people that sponsored this scholarship.

The impact I can have will help young girls, boys, and elders with how to protect themselves and show people how to be careful with their health in life. I would like to inspire others to be a nurse.”

 – Bettina Pepilus, Eddie Rose Scholar

We look forward to supporting Bettina and strengthening our ties with Destra while the region endures continuing political instability.

Finally, THANK YOU to all of our supporters who have made this work possible. The last two years have been challenging to say the least, and we truly could not have done this without you. We look forward to sharing more new good news in 2022.

-Ambereen, Josh and Mayano

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