Heat in Haiti: Spoelstra, Mourning & Hardaway Help UM's Hospital

Makeshift field hospital getting new building in Port-au-Prince

Though there are signs of normalcy in the streets of Port-au-Prince just five months after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake leveled the city, a sea of white and blue tent cities sitting on dirt lots are a reminder that Haiti's journey to recovery is far from over.

The glimmer of hope, the mainstay, is UM/Project Medishare's field hospital, which continues to see more than 500 patients a day thanks to a rotating group of doctors, nurses, physical therapists and other volunteers.

This past Saturday, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra along with Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway presented a check for $25,000 to the University of Miami's not-for-profit organization that has been committed to improving the quality of healthcare in Haiti since 1994.

"This is going to be ongoing process to rebuild," Mourning said.

This week also marks a huge milestone.  The makeshift hospital, that was put together just days after the quake, is getting dismantled. The hospital is moving from the grounds of the airport to the the heart of downtown into a permanent facility.

"This week we are moving to an older community hospital," Project Medishare's co-founder Dr. Barth Green said.

Upgrades to the existing building will include an emergency room, operating room, prosthetics lab, rehabilitation center, a pediatric intensive care unit, and a neonatal intensive care unit.  The Bernard Mevs hospital will be home to the Caribbean country's' first critical care hospital.

Project Medishare says it will need $18 million to run the hospital for the next 18 months.   Some of the money will go to training local doctors and nurses to make them self-sufficient.  

"There's been a lot of progress, but Haiti has a long way to go," Mourning acknowledges.  

He hopes the world doesn't forget the needs here, once the cameras are turned off.

If you want to donate to the Haiti relief effort, go to www.projectmedishare.org.

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