Dr. Jean-Paul at the wheel of SantéBus

Dr. Bonnet , a long time supporter of Haitians, returned from his post-quake visit to Haiti with a clear vision of what was needed on the ground. With his faith in his fellow man, he announced a plan to raise $100,000 dollars to convert used school busses into mobile clinics to help the victims of the earthquake recover from what would otherwise likely be fatal amputations and return to Haiti with the vehicles in a month.

The SantéBus, French for Health Bus, will be a mobile clinic running a route "like a milk truck" to the hardest-hit victims of the quake. With a tri-lingual (Kreyol, French, English) driver who would know the people and the route, the bus will travel with medical teams to treat the dressings of the many amputees.

Donald Potter helped Dr. Bonnet in finding the first two vehicles and delivered the first for mechanical evaluation and outfitting on February 5. Sussex Borough artist Kerr Grabowski designed graphics for the bus using Haitian colors and art as inspiration. Mark Maruska of Gravity DesignWorks in Newton helped prepare the files and drove the second bus be wrapped on February 9.

SantéBus is a mobile medical services project that repurposes American school busses into mobile medical field clinics and ambulance transportation, bringing health care and doctors directly to their patients. American school busses, which by law must be maintained to very high standards during their use and retired after 10 years of service, are reborn 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 onboard each bus will provide 400 square feet for field clinics, so that doctors can provide services to the people of Haiti right in their communities. Each bus will also be outfitted with a generator, to provide electricity for the medical services as well as service the communities in Haiti where electricity is scarce or non-existent. Additionally, each bus will be equipped with a GPS locator, to allow for monitoring and tracking as they provide medical services and also maintain a constant link between the bus and the central SantéBus 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.

Within three weeks of his return, Dr. Bonnet watched as the Healing Haiti Fund, a group of dedicated volunteers, drove the SantéBus dream into a reality. With school busses purchased, retrofitted and redesigned, and yellow GM Suburbans to accompany the busses and serve as personnel and supply transport in Haiti between the airport, clinics and hospitals, the Healing Haiti Fund sent the first of its SantéBus fleet in mid-March providing the accessible, mobile medical services Dr. Bonnet and his collaborators in Haiti have been dreaming of since his first trip to Haiti in 1996.

SantéBus from concept to reality

Impromptu meeting, January 31 , 2010	Concept drawing of SantéBus by Kerr Grabowski January 31 , 2010	Donald Potter and Kerr looking at Buses February 2, 2010
Imagining	Mark Marusks of Gravity DesignWorks of Newton, NJ February 9, 2010	Mark preparing the files
SantéBus #1 Rolling into the shop.	First peek at the first SantéBus	Kerr Grabowski getting her first look at the SantéBus at the Sparta fundraiser February 14, 2010
SantéBus number two. February 17, 2010	SantéBurban? Basic ransportation for hospitals, clinics and medical teams.	Dr Bonnet inspecting SantéBus number two
Dr Bonnet inspecting SantéBus number two SantéBus number one in the background	Dr Bonnet inspecting SantéBus number two	Outfitting a SantéBus February 20, 2010
Spotted in Sussex February 22, 2010	The Suburbans wrapped and ready	At the Red Hook Marine Terminal March 17, 2010