"From Tears to Hope" Support Greg Kopan's second IronMan in Madison, WI on September 12 and help raise funds for the Leogane Family Health & Research Center

FHM NEWS BRIEFS


FHM CONSTRUCTION TEAM SENDS PHOTOS
(1 September 2010)
See the photos from Fondwa sent by a construction team member Wednesday morning via his Blackberry, complete with captions describing their activities.

FHM CONSTRUCTION TEAM ARRIVES IN HAITI MONDAY MORNING (30 August 2010)
After a number of delays including staying overnight in Miami, FHM's construction mission team made it to Haiti this morning. The group under the leadership of Dave Williamson will travel to Fondwa this afternoon to begin work on more temporary structures for the children at Ste. Antoine's School.

FHM provides support for 550 children at the Fondwa school. Learn more about the program and how to sponsor a child.

ON-SITE MANAGER IN HAITI HIRED
(24 August 2010)
Missy Owen has joined FHM as On-site Manager in Haiti. She will have the responsibility of expediting the work of mission teams, researchers, and other visitors. She also will oversee the many new projects started since the earthquake at FHM's three Haitian partner sites. Learn more about Missy Owen.

FONDWA CONSTRUCTION MOVES FORWARD
(16 August 2010)
Family Health Ministries has agreed to fund another project in the rebuilding of Fondwa. FHM will collaborate with the Association of Peasants of Fondwa to build a safe and healthy kitchen facility near the site of the fallen guest house. The new kitchen will serve both the orphanage children and guests in Fondwa.

Earlier in the spring, FHM funded a new, temporary school building; another school structure will be built by a second FHM construction team traveling to Fondwa on August 29th.


LAUREN KNELSON JOINS FHM (9 August 2010)
Originally from Gastonia, NC, Lauren Knelson is FHM's new Global Health Research Associate in our Durham office.

Lauren earned an MSPH in health policy and management from UNC-Chapel Hill in May 2010. She had her first global health experience in Zambia while an undergraduate at Davidson College.

Lauren's initial project is focusing on nutritional data collected in the Fondwa and Blanchard communities.

   
FHM STAFF PRESENT AT NATIONAL CONFERENCES
(3 August 2010)
FHM Executive Director Kathy Walmer (left above) and Nicole Tinfo, FHM Director of Research (right above) both made presentations at national conferences last week.

Walmer spoke at a special conference at Emory University in Atlanta, entitled, "Disaster Response Utilizing Academic and Institutional Resources." Her talk described FHM's earthquake relief and plans for the future.

Tinfo was an invited speaker for the 17th Ovarian Workshop held in Milwaukee.  Her presentation, “Understanding the Effects of Atrazine on Steroidogenesis in Rat Granulosa and Human H295R Cells,” was the result of her post doctoral work at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Nicole began working at FHM in May 2010. She attained her PhD in Physiology from Iowa State University.


VBS PICTURES - FONDWA JULY 2010 (2 August 2010)
See team members' pictures of their week with VBS in Fondwa.

TEAMS RETURNING FROM HAITI ( 28 July 2010)
FHM's special summer activities are finishing up this week in Haiti. Most of the VBS team is home (read Nancy's email summary).


Board members (below at future site of the Leogane Family Health & Research Center) are starting to return to North Carolina, and the PTSD group is also coming back today. Duke Engage and remaining Duke graduate students will all be home by Saturday evening.


NEW Pictures - and more to come soon as our travelers arrive back in the USA.

TEAM UPDATES FROM HAITI ( 22 July 2010)
The tropical low that brought heavy rains to Haiti has moved on and our US Haitian travelers are now experiencing beautiful weather.

VBS: The VBS group is walking in and out of Fondwa each day (a vigorous hike!) and that each day, they're working with a different age group at the Fondwa school. Thursday is the last day of VBS.

Duke Engage: The Duke Engage team is having a wonderful hike, accompanied by FHM Chairman David Walmer, in the La Visite National Park, containing the highest mountains in Haiti. They arrive in Jacmel Thursday afternoon.

VBS TEAM ARRIVES SAFELY IN HAITI ( 19 July 2010)
Justin Davis, FHM's mission team coordinator, writes that the Vacation Bible Team arrived safely in Haiti on Saturday. Read his entire email written on Sunday.

27 FHMers in HAITI ( 16 July 2010)
Twenty-seven people from the US are in Haiti in the next two weeks, serving with FHM. All will return back to the States by the end of July.

Watch this website and FHM's blog (assuming Internet access) for details.

The groups include:

• FHM's annual Vacation Bible School team (12 participants)
• FHM Board chair David Walmer, who will lead the Duke Engage Team on a two day hike through Haiti's highest mountains. He will join Shilpa Agrawal, Julia Chapman, and Julie Rivo and their coordinator, Hannah Meador (5 participants)
• FHM staff member Nicole Tinfo and two PTSD experts who are investigating the possibility of doing training for Haitian medical staff
• FHM's board of directors who are meeting with FHM's Haitian partners and staff (4 joining 2 already in Haiti)
• Safe Motherhood program leader Marnie Cooper-Priest who istalking with midwives and other healthcare professionals to assess their needs/suggestions.
• Duke Global Health Masters' degree candidates Genevieve Wolpert and Jackie Ndirangu will be completing their summer projects.
• Missy Owen, FHM's onsite coordinator, who is helping all of these people get where they need to be, explaining and orienting all.

6 MONTHS SINCE THE QUAKE ( 12 July 2010)
Lots of news specials are airing this week to mark the 6 month mark since the January 12 earthquake. Read the interim recovery plan for all of Haiti.

FHM's donors have contributed over $531K for earthquake relief in Blanchard, Leogane and Fondwa. Get an update on FHM's relief efforts and learn about interim structures, new facilities, and on-going plans including the new 2nd floor of the Leogane Clinic, above.

MICHAEL CHAPPELL JOINS FHM; HANNAH MEADOR ON TO GRAD SCHOOL ( 6 July 2010)
FHM's Durham office welcomed Michael Chappell on July 1 as special projects coordinator. Michael replaces Hannah Meador who is spending the summer in Haiti with Duke Engage. Hannah will be going on to graduate school in the fall semester, working on an MPH at UNC-Chapel Hill.

A May 2010 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, Michael's background is public anthropology. He will be taking on communications and volunteer coordination projects with FHM.