May 1, 2010

The SantéBus project continues to move forward. Two more buses and two more Suburbans are ready to ship and will be leaving in mid-May. SantéBus will then have 3 mobile medical clinics and 4 medical transport vehicles stationed with partner clinics in Haiti. The Healing Haiti Fund is working to create and ship more SantéBus buses – our goal is to ship and maintain 400 buses: one bus for every 20,000 people in Haiti. The need in Haiti is great and each bus will result in more lives being saved, more patients being treated, and more doctors reaching more victims. We need your help to add them, one bus at a time.

Donated supplies for Haiti are piling up at the SantéBus offices. Medical supplies, tents, diapers, dental hygiene products, crutches and walkers are among the items we have collected to fill the busses when they ship.

The first set of buses is earmarked for Sean Penn's Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization (J/P HRO). They are a very highly praised group working in the Port-au-Prince area. Negotiations are under way with several deserving groups for the second shipment. SantéBus is proving to be a popular and highly desired vehicle.

Dr. Bonnet has several trips to Haiti coming up. On May 28 he will lead team of 5 including two students from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Physician Assistant program and two guidance counselors from Pope John XXIII High School. During later trips he will be aiding a team of nuns from the Felician Sisters as they visit the country working to set up programs of their own.

Jean-Yvon Kernizan, the SantéBus in-country representative, continues to work on smoothing out the process of receiving the vehicles in Haiti and providing a haven for SantéBus staff visiting the capital. He is also working on setting up the SantéBus maintenance facility and finding knowledgeable tri-lingual drivers.

March 24, 2010

The SantéBus Fleet has launched! Last Wednesday, March 17, the Healing Haiti Fund watched proudly as it's first three vehicles left the Brooklyn port and started their long journey to Haiti! The SantéBus Bus and two Suburbans are expected to arrive in Port au Prince late this week, and Dr. Bonnet has arranged for their safe keeping with Sean Penn's Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization (J/P HRO) in Petitionville. On his most recent trip to Haiti, in early March, Dr. Bonnet had the pleasure of meeting with J/P HRO volunteers, who expressed their urgent need for reliable medical transportation. The J/P HRO Strike Team provides mobile medical services, and is already treating nearly 200 patients every day.

SantéBus was designed specifically for mobile medical services, carrying on board each bus a mobile field clinic where doctors and staff can drive directly into the temporary camps and begin to provide care - especially followup care for those patients who were able to be treated in the first few weeks after the earthquake, but who have since not been able to see a doctor.

The Healing Haiti Fund is proud to be partnering with the Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization, and is eager to launch the rest of the Fleet in early April! SantéBus will then have 3 mobile medical clinics and 5 medical transport vehicles in Haiti, stationed with partner clinics in and around Port Au Prince. The Healing Haiti Fund is always looking to create and ship more SantéBus buses - the need in Haiti is great and each bus will result in more lives being saved, more patients being treated, and more doctors reaching more victims. SantéBus is healing Haiti, one bus at a time.

March 8, 2010

Dr. Bonnet arrived in Haiti last Thursday, and has since been meeting with the clinics that will host our buses and suburbans!

The SantéBus suburbans have been designed! The graphic installer, Mr. Mark Maruska, who was also responsible for the beautiful wraps on the buses, will be installing the graphics on the suburbans as well. Check HERE for the images.

Early last week Dr. Bonnet was honored by the Sussex County Community College by being invited to be the graduation speaker for this May's graduation ceremony! Check back as Dr. Bonnet plans his speech!

The wheels are in motion – literally! Our first SantéBus was completed in February, with two more in the production line. The Healing Haiti Fund owes our thanks to Mr. Mark Maruska of Gravity Designworks, in Newton New Jersey, for his countless hours of work on the SantéBus fleet's vehicle graphics. Working with art and graphic directors Kerr Grabowski and Christine Steelman, Mr. Maruska created and installed the fleet's beautiful vehicle wraps, which will continue to inspire hope and happiness to the communities in Haiti as SantéBus buses and suburbans bring medical care and doctors to the victims of the January earthquake.

March 5, 2010

The wheels are in motion … literally! SantéBus, a nonprofit organization founded by Sparta resident and doctor Jean-Paul Bonnet, is preparing to launch its pilot Fleet of SantéBus buses and suburbans! In mid-March, SantéBus (which means Health Bus in French) will be shipping two medical buses and five suburbans into the earthquake devastated region of Haiti surrounding Port Au Prince. Dr. Bonnet is travelling to Haiti this week to finalize arrangements in country for the pilot fleet, securing their transportation and meeting again with the two clinics who have agreed to host the SantéBus buses during the program’s pilot phase. The doctors and staff of the clinics will use the SantéBus buses to bring their medical care directly to their patients, in the communities where they live. Each bus has been repurposed from retired American school buses into mobile medical field clinics. Stocked with medicines, medical supplies, exam tables, and over 400 square feet of shade tents, SantéBus buses will bring hope and health to the people of Haiti. The SantéBus suburbans will serve as transportation vehicles for visiting medical teams and supply delivery from Port Au Prince.  Dr. Jean-Paul Bonnet, who has been travelling to Haiti for the last fourteen years and most recently volunteered with a group of medical relief doctors in the wake of the earthquake, has been planning and developing a medical delivery system designed to target Haiti’s specific needs and provide urgently needed medical access to Haiti’s poor. When he returned to New Jersey in late January, he set his plan in motion by creating the Healing Haiti Fund and setting a fundraising goal of $100,000. The Healing Haiti Fund started the engines on SantéBus immediately, and held three successful benefit concerts in February. To donate to the Healing Haiti Fund’s SantéBus project, visit SantéBus online or contact Dr. Jean-Paul Bonnet at info@healinghaitifund.com!  The SantéBus mobile field clinics will allow doctors and health care providers to serve their communities outside of the clinics, bringing needed medical attention to the hundreds of people injured in the earthquake, many of whom could not otherwise reach medical doctors.  SanteBus strives to enhance the lives and livelihoods of the people of Haiti with accessible, mobile medical care in partnership with the communities while creating needed job opportunities and a sustainable health care delivery system for Haiti.

March 1, 2010

Just four short weeks since the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti, the Healing Haiti Fund has received an enormous amount of support from our community! We are well on our way to reaching the fundraising goal Dr. Bonnet set in late January, with over fifty thousand dollars raised! We are eager to meet, and exceed, our original fundraising goal!

Last Saturday, however, a malicious attack on Dr. Bonnet's email account resulted in a fraudulent email being sent to all of his contacts. This hacker requested $850 in Dr. Bonnet's name, and while many of our fears for his well being were immediately calmed by the realization that this email was a fraud, one of his close friends in Haiti acted too quickly and was taken by the scam artist. Mr. Assali, owner of the Golden Orchid farm in Haiti, actually overdrew his bank account to send Dr. Bonnet the money the hacker requested. In response to this unbelieveable act of kindness, Dr. Bonnet will make a personal contribution to his friend's program in Haiti that exceeds the amount lost to the hacker. The Healing Haiti Fund extends our thanks to Mr. Assali, and hopes that no one else was scammed by this fraudulent attack on Dr. Bonnet.

In better news, the second and third SantéBus buses have been fully retrofitted and all necessary mechanical improvements have been made – they now have a "clean bill of health" and are ready to go to the wrapper for graphic detailing!

Dr. Bonnet will be travelling to Haiti later this week to finalize arrangements for the SantéBus buses and suburbans! He will be meeting with established partners in Haiti who will host the vehicles and pilot the SantéBus project for the next several months. Shipping arrangements for the vehicles are still being made, but this trip to Haiti will be an exciting opportunity to discuss the project in more detail with the clinics!

February 22, 2010

SantéBus in the news – again! Last Tuesday Mr. John R. Luciano, of the Aim Jefferson, interviewed Dr. Bonnet and you can read his story HERE.

The Healing Haiti Fund would like to thank all who attended the Voices and Hearts for Haiti benefit concerts Saturday evening, held at the Pope John High School in Sparta and the Sussex County Community College in Newton. Choir Director Karen Scott did a wonderful job putting together an evening of student performances at the Pope John High School, and the out pour of support from the Pope John community has been overwhelming. Vice President of the Theater and Performing Arts Club at Sussex County Community College Ms. Katelyn Saxton presented a lovely concert, featuring fellow students and the Fund's own Mr. Phillip Lid in an evening of music celebrating Hope. We are greatful for the support of all those who were involved in making these concerts happen. Read more about these concerts and see photos from the events HERE.

Last Wednesday, Graphic Artist Kerr Grabowski and Web Director John Anderson met with Don Potter, of Roxbury Auto Wreckage, to review the latest bus the Healing Haiti Fund has purchased and to measure the bus for graphics! Check out the photos HERE.

Don Potter has also found the Healing Haiti Fund several Chevy Suburbans for the SantéBus Suburban Fleet! Graphics are already being planned to turn these school-bus yellow suburbans into SantéBus transport vehicles for the income-generating arm of SantéBus in Haiti! Check out the photos HERE.

A great local organization, Pass It Along, will be hosting there 8th Annual Concert. The concert will be held at the Farmstead Golf & Country Club on Saturday February 27th with doors opening at 7pm. Please call the Farmstead Golf & Country Club ahead of time for reservations at 973-383-1666 Ext. 102.

February 15, 2010

Progress is happening so quickly at the Healing Haiti Fund!

Last night, the Voices and Hearts for Haiti: A Sussex County Cares Festival benefit concert at Sparta High School presented an afternoon of beautiful music and performances by local artists, and the first SantéBus was parked outside the school! Click HERE for pictures of the SantéBus and the concert's performers. Our thanks go to Dr. J. Thomas Morton, Superintendent of Schools, and Mr. Denis Tobin, High School Principal, whose support and kindness enabled the concert to be such a success. Thanks also go to the performers, whose artistic talents were truly enjoyable.

If you missed last night's concert, check out our Events page to learn about the upcoming concerts this Saturday, February 20th, at SCCC and Pope John High School!

Partners in Health, founded by Dr. Paul Farmer, is doing some absolutely amazing work in Haiti. The need for medical care is urgent, and this organization is truly inspiring. Read more HERE
PIH mobile clinics http://act.pih.org/page/m/27a18450/4693c66e/6c5cfd17/c8962d6/1098076018/VEsH/

Last week, thanks to the work of the Healing Haiti Fund's Chief Legal Counsel Mr. Richard Pompelio, the Healing Haiti Fund became a registered New Jersey Charity! We're well on our way to becoming a nationally recognized 501c(3) tax exempt organization!
Our friends over at Pass It Along were nice enough to promote our first benefit concert at Sparta High School through a FaceBook update! Thank you, Pass It Along!

February 8, 2010

The Healing Haiti Fund has been busy this past week, with three benefit concerts already planned to raise funds for SantéBus! Our thanks go to Mr. Phillip Lid, Mr. and Mrs. Lou and Lynda Andres, Mrs. Karen Scott, and Mr. Peter Lubrecht for their efforts to organize and create the first three benefit concerts in the Voices and Hearts for Haiti: A Sussex County Cares Festival of musical performances to raise money for the first Fleet of SantéBus buses!

The Fund's SantéBus graphic designer has been hard at work, preparing graphics for the exteriors of the first SantéBus buses! Her beautiful sun graphic will bring hope and happiness to the people of Haiti as the SantéBus brings medical care and doctors to the communities surrounding Port Au Prince.

An impromptu benefit concert was held last Friday at the Greens Beans cafe in Sparta, NJ, and the students of Pope John who organized the event donated over $500 to the Healing Haiti Fund's SantéBus project. If you'd like to make a contribution to SantéBus, donate online via our secure PayPal account!

Hope to see you all at the first benefit concert, organized by Mr. Lid and hosted by the Sparta High School in their new auditorium! Local artists will perform, and all proceeds will go directly to the SantéBus project! For more information, check our Events page!

February 1, 2010

The Healing Haiti Fund is formed the SantéBus project is created! Dr. Jean-Paul Bonnet, a resident of Sparta, New Jersey, returned late last week from his most recent trip to Haiti. He has been visiting Haiti for fourteen years, and flew down to the earthquake devastated Port Au Prince on January 15, 2010, to provide emergency medical relief to the thousands of victims injured by the 7.0 magnitude quake. While in Haiti, he made a funding request to the people of Sussex County, New Jersey - “if everyone in Sussex County gave one dollar, we'd have [].” See the full article HERE. His call was headed, and even before he returned to New Jersey, donations were arriving at the Skylands Medical building in Lake Hopatcong. The Healing Haiti Fund, a dedicated team of professionals volunteering their time and expertise to realizing Dr. Bonnet's plan for Haitian medical services, quickly coalesced and began planning for the future. SantéBus, the Fund's first project, is already in the works.