The first three vehicles are on the way to Haiti!

Mission:

To improve the lives and livelihoods of the people of Haiti with accessible, mobile medical services and through partnerships with the communities we serve.

Vision:

The Healing Haiti Fund strives to realize an accessible, equitable and sustainable health care delivery system for Haiti while fostering community development, creating job opportunities, and empowering the Haitian people through health and hope.

Purpose:

The Healing Haiti Fund was created to further and promote the development of an accessible health care system for and with Haiti. Under the direction of Dr. Jean-Paul Bonnet, the Healing Haiti Fund raises awareness of the situation in Haiti and raises funds to directly support its projects. SantéBus, the Fund's first project, will provide mobile medical field clinics for the communities outside Port Au Prince, and its income-generating activity, SantéBus Suburbans, will create job opportunities while providing needed transportation services to the doctors, physicians, and other visitors to the capital region of Haiti.

Our Partners

With fourteen years of involvement in Haiti, Dr. Bonnet has developed links with many organisations, including Pou Solèy Leve www.pousoleilleve.org, Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization www.jphrodonate.org, Partners in Health www.pih.org, World Wide Village www.worldwidevillage.org, Christianville Foundation www.christianvillehaiti.org and Lumiere Medical Ministries www.lumieremedicalministries.org.

Background:

On the afternoon of January 12, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the capital city of Haiti, destroying homes, offices and hospitals. As international relief teams, aid and supplies trickled into Haiti, Dr. Jean-Paul Bonnet of Sparta, New Jersey, arrived within days of the earthquake to care for the victims. The number of injured was immeasurable, and the extent of damage indescribable. Thousands of children with crush wounds needed immediate medical care. Haiti’s government, schools, roads, and medical services system were destroyed by the earthquake, and the need for accessible long term medical care is urgent. As the country rebuilds, a health care delivery system that is both sustainable and equitable will be needed to provide care to the people of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. SantéBus will provide that system.

When Dr. Bonnet returned to New Jersey in late January, he shifted fourteen years of planning into gear. He formed the Healing Haiti Fund, a dedicated team of professionals from several industries who volunteer their time, services and expertise, which strives to realize a common vision – an accessible, equitable and sustainable health care delivery system to provide medical care and health education to the impoverished communities in Haiti while fostering community development, creating job opportunities, and empowering the Haitian people through health and hope. The Fund’s first project, SantéBus, will bring health care and doctors directly to patients in their communities. The project repurposes retired American school buses to create mobile medical field clinics. French for “health bus”, SantéBus aims to improve the lives and livelihoods of the Haitian people through accessible medical services and partnerships with the communities it serves.

Dr. Bonnet, who founded Skylands Medical Group in Sussex County New Jersey, has been travelling to Haiti for the last fourteen years to care for Haitians who do not have access to hospitals or doctors. His numerous partnerships and contacts in Haiti, with established clinics, community representatives, and government officials, have contributed to the planning and development of a mobile health care delivery system targeting Haiti’s urgent need for accessible medical services.

SantéBus: Healing Haiti, one bus at a time....

The first project of the Healing Haiti Fund, SantéBus aims to bring mobile medical field clinics to the earthquake devastated region of Haiti. SantéBus, which is French for “Health bus”, gives new life to retired American school buses. The buses, which by law must be maintained to very high standards during their use and retired after 10 years of service, are repurposed through retrofitting their interiors, removing the rows of seats and installing a medical exam table, shelving, and storage for outdoor shade tents and medical supplies. The shade tents on board each bus will provide 400 square feet of shade and protection from the elements for field clinics, so that doctors can provide services to the people of Haiti right in their communities.

The SantéBus project will hire and train tri-lingual drivers who speak English, French, and Kreyol. The Haitian drivers will be familiar with the region and the people of the community, and will facilitate the work of the medical teams and doctors as they bring their care directly to the injured and ill. An in-country central depot will also be established to maintain and service the buses, providing repairs and restocking the medical supplies as needed. The depot will also be staffed and run by Haitians, who will be trained as SantéBus mechanics to service our Fleet. In this way, SantéBus will be creating long-term employment opportunities and empowering employees with specialized training and skills. Each bus will also be outfitted with a generator, to provide electricity for the medical services as well as to service the communities in Haiti where electricity is scarce or non-existent. Additionally, each bus will be equipped with a GPS locator, to allow tracking and communication between the bus and the central Santé Bus depot in case of emergencies. And, because part of their mission is to bring hope to the people of Haiti while bringing health care, each bus has been redesigned on the exterior with bright colors and a sun logo.

Watch a SantéBus being born here!

The SantéBus project features a built-in income generative program, to ensure its sustainability in the long-term. GM Chevy Suburbans, known for their durability and strength, as well as their ability to navigate challenging terrain, are reborn as SantéBus Suburbans complete with SantéBus graphics and a tri-lingual driver who knows the region, the roads, and the people. These Suburbans can be reserved before visitors even arrive in Haiti, and will greet them at the airport.

The Healing Haiti Fund is dedicated to creating sustainable development in Haiti, and the SantéBus Fleet of buses and Suburbans is just the first of several projects the Fund will undertake as we continue to develop and expand our partnerships with the people of Haiti and the international community.