Siloe Medical Clinic
Clinics in the Methodist Church of Haiti have always been a mission outreach of the Church. They were never intended to be profitable or even breakeven because by definition they exist to provide essential medical care for those that cannot afford it. In the past, there was interest by external sources to provide that mission outreach. The recipients have always been asked to contribute a small amount financially for their care. It has never been sufficient to fund the clinics and will probably never be sufficient given the financial status of the cliental. Over the past several years, the interest in providing medical care to the indigent by the donor community has dwindled and now puts the program in serious jeopardy.
Currently there are only three of the seven operational clinics that operate with any regularity. The clinic at Furcy operates one day per week through the donations from Mountains of Hope (Tom and Wendy Vencuss), the Siloe Clinic in Petite Goave operates through the donations of Highland Park UMC, and the Gebeau Clinic at Jeremie operates through the donations from Birmingham First and Jeremie Haiti Project, Dr Croswell also supports Dr. Marcelus on a one week per month basis and Dr. Croswell brings teams to staff the eye clinic at Gebeau from time to time.
The other clinics are only open intermittently when teams with a special interest are in country. Several teams support and staff the clinic at Yvon for a week or two once or twice a year. A team from California is building a clinic at Sobiere and is investigating staffing it on a regular basis. Construction has begun to renovate the clinic at Olivere which is only open when teams are present. Otherwise the various clinics are closed except when a team is present. To establish a breakeven criterion in 2-3 years is unrealistic and will never be achieved. A better approach would be to find donors willing to subsidize clinics on a permanent basis as an expression of mission outreach