Verse of the Month

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.

Psalm 46:5

Looking around the world, it’s impossible not to see the trouble and challenges. Jesus never promised us it would be easy, but he did promise us that he would be with us until the end. 

Watching hundreds of thousands of innocent Ukrainian citizens, mostly women and children, in a mass exodus, reminds us of how fragile our world is and how connected we are. As the war wreaks havoc thousands of miles away, the political and economic implications are felt worldwide. The impact of a war like this on healthcare is absolutely devastating. Lives are being lost due to facilities being bombed and people having to flee with just what they can carry. There is an intense drive in all of us to see how and where we can help. The Dalton Foundation team has been in contact with organizations like Medical Ministry International that have been working on the ground in the Ukraine for years to collect lists of key medical equipment and supply needs. Currently we’re gathering blood glucose monitoring devices and strips, blood pressure machines, and suture supplies. We’re grateful to Meest shipping for their commitment to donating the shipping for all collected items for Ukraine. If you would like to donate to this medical response for Ukraine, please reach out to Rachel Bernard rbernard@thedaltonfoundation.org and join us in praying for a quick, peaceful end to this horrible situation.

International Healthcare Mapping Consortium Launched:

The Dalton Foundation Among Founding Members

For centuries, Christian organizations have been leading the way in providing healthcare services around the world. Christian mission organizations are well known for going that last mile and providing services in the most challenging environments. Unfortunately, information about these facilities and their programs is lacking and as a result the scope and impact of Christian healthcare often goes unreported. What percentage of healthcare in a given country is provided by Christian organizations? How do these organizations impact healthcare delivery and the quality of life for the people? The answers to these questions become important when working with Ministries of Health and being included in nationwide healthcare strategies and programs. Led by Christian Connections for International Health (CCIH), an International Mapping Consortium has been launched to serve as a repository for aggregating and sharing data on Christian healthcare assets around the globe. The Dalton Foundation Executive Director and CCIH Board member, Barbara Campbell was honored to be a part of this great group of healthcare leaders and innovative thinkers that helped launch this consortium. Vision is to provide better information about Christian health asset data and services, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Click here to learn more about this exciting endeavor and more about the founding members of the consortium.

Improving Orthopedic Outcomes in Haiti: Nationwide C-arm Project

The earthquake on August 14 in Southern Haiti served as a warning call for healthcare facilities throughout the region. Many organizations rushed in to respond to the healthcare needs and to support the local organizations in providing care for those impacted by the quake. The need for orthopedic care in these situations is very high but the lack of functioning equipment on the southern peninsula made providing high-quality orthopedic care challenging, even when additional surgical personnel arrived. The Dalton Foundation and Haiti Health Network were well positioned to help address this problem and offer a solution. 

As a result, a nationwide program has been launched to assess the existing c-arm technology throughout Haiti, repair what can be fixed, and to provide additional c-arms to trusted partners to ensure, that in the event of another earthquake, these machines are strategically positioned and functioning so that optimal, timely care can be provided. To date we have identified three facilities that have working c-arms, two hospitals that are installing c-arms this month, one hospital that had a broken c-arm that has been repaired by Haitian biomed Evenel Osias. We’ve sent out assessments to several other facilities to assess their capacity to support c-arm technology at their locations and plan to place two additional c-arms in Haiti in Q2 of 2022. We are very grateful for the financial, clinical, and technical resources that have been provided to help make this project a reality. We’d like to highlight and thank Rad-Rays for providing technical biomedical training and zoom support to the team in Haiti to help diagnose and repair broken units. Without the incredible partnerships, this would not be possible!

Addiction Recovery | Re-entry

Welcome Relink.org Communications & Community Engagement Director

Last month we began praying and searching for new team members to help us expand our work with the addiction recovery and reentry communities here in Ohio. Our prayers were answered, and we are thrilled to welcome Rachel Sobitz to relink.org!  

Rachel has an undergrad degree in education from Kent State and a masters in business from Malone University. She previously worked for a non profit that helped victims of human trafficking, and she has a heart to help others. She is excited to use her experience, coupled with her education to bring more awareness of relink.org to the state of Ohio. If you would like to connect with her feel free to reach out at rsobitz@relink.org 

Spread the Word! Add a link to relink.org on Your Organization's Website

We’re all about making connections and ensuring that people in need get linked to all resources they need. Did you know that relink.org is currently linked to the websites of over 125 organizations throughout Ohio? In fact in 2021, relink.org received 1370 referrals from these sites. If you’d like to add a link to community resources to your organization’s website, contact Rachel Sobitz at rsobitz@relink.org.

March 8th we celebrated International Women's Day, a day to recognize and celebrate women's and girls' social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. In honor of this day we want to highlight one of our partners in Haiti who are transforming the healthcare landscape for women through their Midwifery/Family Nurse Practitioner program.

The Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de Leogane (FSIL) de l'Université Épiscopale d'Haïti (Faculty of Nursing Science of the Episcopal University of Haiti), located in Leogane is the first four-year baccalaureate (BSN) school of nursing in Haiti. It opened in 2005 and by 2015 was ranked as the number one nursing program in Haiti by MSPP (Haiti Ministry of Public Health). Over 80% of the close to 250 graduates remain in Haiti addressing the major shortage of nurses in Haiti. FSIL is fully Haitian led, all faculty are Haitians, although there is support from volunteer nurse faculty in the U.S. and Canada.

Both infant and maternal mortality in Haiti is the highest in the Western Hemisphere. In 2015 a master’s degree family nurse practitioner program was started with 16 graduates in 2017—a totally new role in Haiti. In 2018 a master’s degree combined nurse midwifery/family nurse practitioner program started as a response to the need for primary care and midwifery providers. Thirteen students will complete the program in June 2022. That was not without major challenges due to Covid-19 and social unrest, having to move the program to a remote model. Graduates hope to find positions across the country. Haiti Nursing Foundation is the non-profit in the U.S. that raises funds to support FSIL. The Medical Benevolence Foundation (MBF), through its Center for Global Nursing Development, played a major role in initiating FSIL and has continued to provide support and funding for both the FSIL BSN program and the Masters/Midwifery program.



Joanne Pohl & Monique Germain