Kathi Caton is collecting medical supplies that will be shipped to Cap Haitian in Haiti for treatment of an overflow of people injured by the earthquake. Some victims have found their way to the Cap Haitian hospital, six hours from Port-Au-Prince. Caton has started a box for supplies at her business, Goings Electric in Farmington Falls.

Kathi Caton is collecting medical supplies that will be shipped to Cap
Haitian in Haiti for treatment of an overflow of people injured by the
earthquake. Some victims have found their way to the Cap Haitian
hospital, six hours from Port-Au-Prince. Caton has started a box for
supplies at her business, Goings Electric in Farmington Falls.

FARMINGTON — While the eyes of the world focused on the devastation in Port-Au-Prince, messages voicing concerns and needs to help treat victims traveling to northern Haiti have reached local mission volunteers.

They are responding.

Kathi Caton of Avon is one of many in Maine with connections to Haiti. During frequent trips there to help provide schooling and food for inland Haitian children, she stays in a mission house in Cap Haitian, the second largest city, six hours north of Port-Au-Prince.

This weekend she learned of 80 patients who have traveled back to the hospital near the mission house in Cap Haitian. Many were originally from that area and are returning to seek medical care, she said.

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Northern Haiti survived the quake undamaged but the hospital there is not prepared to take care of an influx of patients. It does not have the supplies to treat them and they are expecting more to arrive, she said.

When Caton learned of the need for medical supplies this weekend, she started collecting for Pat Moore, of Haitian Ministries in Cap Haitian and Pam and Luke Brochu of Glenburn, Maine, who run Third World Missions, which sponsors clinics in the surrounding area of Cap Haitian. Both Moore and Pam are nurses and connected to Caton. Moore runs the mission house in Cap Haitian and Brochu has traveled with Caton on trips to Haiti.

Collected items left at her business, Goings Electric Supply in Farmington Falls, will be packaged and shipped to Florida for transport to Cap Haitian through Missionary Flights International.

Pam Brochu, a nurse, and two doctors were on their way to help with the clinics when the earthquake held them up in Florida, Caton said. She contacted a medical supply business there where supplies can be purchased and shipped directly with the help of monetary donations.

“If anyone is going to purchase supplies to give, it would be better to make a donation to Third World Missions for purchase of supplies in Florida avoiding the shipping costs from here,” she said. Those who have supplies on hand are welcome to drop them off at the store located at 1060 Farmington Falls Road.

A list of items needed is available by e-mailing Caton at schoolchildren@gmail.com.

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The Brochus and doctors were finally able to make it to Haiti Tuesday morning. Their planned work will be set aside while they help treat the injured, she said.

“One hundred percent of everything given will go directly to purchasing medical supplies and be distributed to area hospitals and clinics,” Caton said. Donations can be sent to Third World Missions, 26 Riverbend Drive, Glenburn, ME 04401. In the check memo area, people need to write “Haiti Relief.”

Caton became involved in Haiti through sponsoring students in a feeding and teaching program called Schooling Christian Haitians Out of Love, located outside Cap Haitian. She will share her ministry and how the earthquake has affected the communities she works in at Farmington Baptist Church at 6 p.m. on Jan. 31.

The banks in Cap Haitian are closed, which means funds sent for the school and food for the children cannot be cashed right now to buy supplies, she said. Schools are closed and diesel is in short supply. E-mails to pastors of the schools have not been returned yet, she said.

“The state of Maine is known for the amazing support given,” she said. “The people there are very appreciative of it.”

A Maine-Haiti Network has developed among 10 area groups involved with Haitian causes. They meet regularly in Belgrade and are working to coordinate some of their efforts, she said.

abryant@sunjournal.com


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