The hospital-based malnutrition center began in January 2003, when the economic situation in Haiti began to worsen and the Nutrition Program noticed an increase in the number of severely malnourished children requiring hospital care. In addition, the Program recognized the need for a link between our community-based monitrices and the hospital when referring Hearth children. The Nutrition Program designed, supervises and sustains a malnutrition program in the pediatric ward, and works closely with the village health workers.
One of our Leogane-based monitrices, Mme. Gerald Paul, was hired and trained to supervise the new center. She receives all children referred by Nutrition Program monitrices, assists them with hospital logistics, is present during the doctor’s consultation, and accompanies them to the lab or pharmacy.
If the child requires hospitalization, The Nutrition Program assists the mother and child in settling into the pediatric ward, and in obtaining immediate medical care.
The Nutrition Program sponsored a training seminar for the pediatric nursing and medical staff on the World Health Organization’s protocol for treating severely malnourished children in the hospital, including the administration of enriched milk for metabolism regulation and nutritional rehabilitation. Mme. Paul now collaborates with the pediatrician to ensure that this protocol is being followed, and the Nutrition Program provides all enriched milk supplies, vitamins and minerals, laboratory examinations and medical supplies including medicine, IV solutions, NG tubes and thermometers. Every child is weighed daily to monitor progress.
All severely malnourished children admitted to the hospital, whether they have participated in Hearth or live outside the Hearth catchment’s area, receive the same care. However, if the child has been referred by a Nutrition Program monitrice, the referring monitrice is regularly informed of the child’s progress in order to ensure a smooth transition from the hospital back to the community upon the child’s discharge from the hospital. The hospital malnutrition program schedules regular follow-up visits with all children after discharge.
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