Operation USA began working with the Port-au-Prince based NGO L’Athletique d’Haiti following the hurricanes that hit the Caribbean in the fall of 2008. The series of storms paired with a 50% rise in food costs exacerbated the already dire circumstance, leaving many impoverished Haitians without access to basic food and nutrition. Malnutrition was at crisis level for those most vulnerable, especially children.

L’Athletique d’Haiti (LADH) is an after-school sports program that serves children from ages 6 to 17 in Cité Soleil and Bel Air, the poorest slums in Port-au-Prince. In a country where soccer is a national obsession, the lack of sports programs deprives young people of the opportunity to acquire self esteem, discipline and dedication—the skills developed through playing sports. The program additionally offers a nutritious daily meal and transportation to its participants.

To address the increased demand created by the hurricanes, Operation USA contributed to the funding of a new cafeteria for the facility. Additionally, OpUSA provided LADH with a grant to support their food program which serves children from some of the most destitute areas of Port-au-Prince and surrounding provinces.

In the wake of the January 2010 earthquake, the needs grew…

PROJECT UPDATE:

The facilities at L’Athletique d’Haiti sustained some damage in the earthquake–however, a large number of the children and families the program supported suffered tremendously. Many of those who survived lost their homes.

The two soccer fields at LADH housed as many as 500 families, sheltered in self-made or donated tents. They were provided food and water, alongside medical care. Under the guidance of LADH’s inspiring founder Boby Duval, massive food distributions were undertaken for those living on site.

Operation USA is currently working with LADH to address both current and long-term needs. LADH has expanded its sports offerings beyond soccer—and now boxing, basketball and track are also offered. Engaging the kids in a safe environment, LADH continues to strive to keep the youth away from drugs and gangs in Cite Soleil. LADH continues to provide one meal a day to each child—and is in the process of adding an on-site organic garden, hen houses and compost program to be more sustainable and provide better support this effort.

JULIE ANDREWS, OPERATION USA FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER APPEALS FOR SUPPORT FOR EAST AFRICAN DROUGHT & FAMINE VICTIMS

LOS ANGELES, CA (August 15, 2011)— A message from Julie Andrews, Operation USA Founding Board Member:

“Like many of you, I’ve been watching the developing story of yet another famine in East Africa. The images of mothers walking across a hundred miles of desert with their emaciated children is haunting.

I was privileged to be part of a massive relief effort in the mid-1980s which focused on Ethiopia and 7 neighboring countries. Millions of lives were at risk; but millions were saved by timely shipments of essential aid and a global commitment to help those in need.

I hope you’ll join us at Operation USA as we do our part once again.”

HOW TO HELP: 

Donate now

Text AID to 50555 and donate $10 to Operation USA’s disaster relief efforts.

Donations can also be made by phone at 1.800.678.7255 or, by check made out to Operation USA, 7421 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036.

Corporate donations of bulk quantities of disaster-appropriate supplies are also being requested. Air miles can also be donated to Operation USA through United Airlines Charity Miles program at www.united.com.

About Operation USA
Operation USA is working to send emergency aid to East Africa as part of relief efforts responding to the worst drought to hit the region in 60 years. The UN has officially declared famine in parts of southern Somalia—regions of Lower Shabelle and southern Bakool. It is predicted that the entire South of Somalia will face famine within the next two months. Operation USA is working to assess unmet needs on the ground, with its initial response focusing on water resource needs in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camps. The Dadaab camps are reported to receive as many as 1,300 refugees a day, the majority fleeing war-torn Somalia. The world’s largest such site, these camps house almost 400,000 displaced people in three camps originally designated for 90,000. Operation USA first worked in Somalia in 1980, and was particularly active in response to the famine in East Africa from 1984-85.



Media Contact: 

Alison Deknatel
Director, Communications

323.413.2353
adeknatel@opusa.org


Richard Walden
President & CEO
Operation USA
323.413.2353
rwalden@opusa.org

Nonprofit community clinics provide healthcare to all people, regardless of their ability to pay. They serve the uninsured, working poor, high risk and vulnerable populations. But the demand for their services is increasing just as their funding is decreasing. For over 29 years, Operation USA has provided supplies, equipment and medicines—free of charge—to community clinics and health centers throughout California.

Operation USA’s California Clinics Supply Program provides, on average, more than $5 million worth of materials each year. Over 100 nonprofit agencies are served throughout the state that provide clinical, mental health and/or social service care to men, women, and children in need. Partnering with manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers, donated products are shipped directly to the clinics based on their current needs.

Operation USA maintains a 24,000 sq. ft California Board of Pharmacy-licensed warehouse at the Port of Los Angeles where donated items are received, staged and stored.

Operation USA Open Warehouse events are held regularly for partner clinics who are invited to ’shop’ at the warehouse and select, free of charge, useful items from the inventory. These events allow the clinics to interact with each other as well as learn more about the donating companies.

Operation USA’s California Clinics Supply Program continues with thanks to many generous supporters. Product donors include: Brother’s Brother Foundation, Heart to Heart International, Kaiser Permanente, DAVA Pharmaceuticals, King Pharmaceuticals, McKesson, Mitsubishi, and others.  The California Community Foundation, The California Endowment, Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield Foundation, McKesson Foundation, San Francisco Community Foundation, California Healthcare Foundation and The Lincy Foundation, among others, provide financial support.

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Situation Overview

The Ministry of Public Health (MSPP) reports the latest statistics on the cholera epidemic as 1,034 deaths and 16,799 hospitalised cases according to data collected up to 14 November. To date, cases have been confirmed in the Artibonite, Centre, North, Northwest, Northeast, South and West departments. To respond to needs of cholera patients, 30 cholera treatment centres (CTCs) and 27 cholera treatment units (CTUs) are operational across the country as well as a number of rehydration stations where oral rehydration salts are distributed.

Civil unrest in Cap Haitian on 15 – 16 November has slowed cholera prevention and treatment supplies from reaching the area in the past two days. The Nord Department is currently experiencing a case fatality rate of 7.5 per cent, which is the highest in Haiti. Prevention of cholera transmission through water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives has also been affected. Oxfam reports suspension of a project to chlorinate water for 300,000 people living in and around Cap Haitian until the violence subsides. A nearby World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse was looted of 500 metric tonnes of food and subsequently burned. WHO/PAHO reports that cholera training of health professionals has halted while noting the lack of public information materials available to sensitize the population in prevention of cholera.

Humanitarian Needs and Response

Health
In metropolitan Port-au-Prince, cases of cholera have been confirmed in six of seven communes. Nine CTCs are operational, with an estimated bed capacity of 600-1,000. Médecins du Monde -Canada is operating three mobile clinics which serve a population of 45,000 people in 14 camps in Cite Soleil as well as 55,000 people who live in areas surrounding the camps. Health cluster partners are particularly concerned with cholera cases increasing in Cite Soleil due to poor sanitation, lack of access to clean water and crowded living conditions.

Nationwide, 30 CTCs operated by health cluster partners treat patients daily with estimated bed capacity of 1,600-2,000 beds. There are 27 smaller cholera treatment centres, across the country CTUs often established to compliment CTCs or hospitals where the prevalence of cholera requires treatment of 40 patients or less.

The establishment of new CTCs and increasing beds in existing CTCs are planned as is the construction of additional rehydration stations.

Health experts estimate needing 15 nurses for every doctor. Nurses, nurses’ aides and cleaners are all needed urgently. In the department of Artibonite, departmental health authorities have stated the need for 260 “community health workers” who can administer oral rehydration salts and help with cleaning and disinfecting areas where patients in communities are being cared for.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) is training volunteers in Léogane and Jacmel over the next two weeks and be accompanied by the distribution of 20,000 informational leaflets and 10,000 jerry cans and bars of soap and 1.5 million water purification tablets (Aquatabs) for 20,000 households for 30 days.

Distribution of water purification tablets, oral rehydration salts/zinc by ACTED and Action Contre la Faim in Artibonite have so far covered an estimated 130,000 people out of a total target of 450,000. DINEPA, the water and sanitation directorate has made available trucks and equipment for de-sludging latrines at CTCs pending a memorandum of understanding with WHO, the MSPP and the IFRC. As a prevention measure, the Netherlands Red Cross together with the Haitian Red Cross in the South East & West Department is working to contain the spread of cholera through hygiene promotion and Jerry Cans, soap, and water tablets distribution.

As part of its scaled-up hygiene promotion and cholera prevention efforts, the American Red Cross will have 82 health promoters working this week on health messaging in public places across Pétion-Ville, including markets, churches and bus stations. In its first two weeks of this scaled-up programming, the American Red Cross trained more than 220 promoters in hygiene promotion and cholera prevention, who then worked in a total of 41 camps. In the first phase, the promoters were deployed to a total of 34 camps

Gaps & constraints
Reports that water purification tablets are being eaten and oral rehydration salts taken as a means to prevent cholera transmission demonstrate for the further need to sensitize the population on the use of such materials.

Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM)
CCCM carried out sensitization activities in 170 camps throughout the earthquake affected communes to inform the people on how to prevent the disease. As of 15 November, CCCM partners have assessed 75 sites of the 89 identified by the Ministry of Health as potential sites for Cholera Treatment Units (CTU) implementation. CCCM partners continue to distribute hygiene kits across IDP camps and 1 million water purification tablets to Cite Soleil in the coming days.

Two rounds of SMS messages to over 120,000 households respectively with information on cholera prevention and treatment were sent by CCCM partners during the weekend. To date, CCCM partners have assessed 75 sites of the 89 identified by the Ministry of Health as potential sites for Cholera Treatment Units (CTU) implementation.

Food
WFP has assisted over 3,600 beneficiaries with 71,598 meals-ready-to-eat (MREs), 0.67 metric tonnes of high energy biscuits (HEB) and 4.3 metric tonnes of dry rations as part of the cholera response. WFP met with the head of the public hospital in Les Cayes yesterday to discuss possible food support to patients, hospital staff and caretakers. WFP has distributed to schools in affected areas 2,037,420 water purification tablets in Gonaives and 496,500 in Hinche. Soap will be distributed this week. WFP plans to distribute a total of 8,342,550 water purification tablets in schools to 278,085 children in affected areas and then expand to reach 941,411 children in schools in all non-affected areas with 28,242,330 tablets.

Education
The education cluster continues to focus on the response to cholera in schools. To date, cluster partners have conducted sensitization in 634 schools: 120 schools in Artibonite, 106 in Centre, 170 in the West, 122 in the Southeast and 116 in Northeast, with different forms of interventions. The Cluster partners are also advancing with the quick planning of the cholera response: more than 10,000 schools will be covered with various types of interventions, being almost 50% of the total school network in the country. The Ministry of Education and representatives from WASH and health clusters are to discuss the strategy on the cholera response in schools.

Logistics
Following advocacy by the logistics cluster, the Government of Haiti is considering the re-implementation of special procedures for incoming humanitarian cargo that were initiated after the earthquake, to allow relief items to be imported quickly. These new customs clearance procedures have been signed by the Prime Minister this week. The endorsement by the Ministry of Finance is pending.

CHOLERA OUTBREAK IN HAITI: OPERATION USA READIES AID

LOS ANGELES, CA (October 28, 2010)— Los Angeles-based International relief agency Operation USA announced today that it will direct sanitary and disease prevention materials to partners in the City of Jacmel and Port-au-Prince in response to the cholera outbreak that brought over 300 deaths and as many as 4,900 confirmed cases to Haiti this week.

This is the first cholera outbreak in Haiti in 50 years. To date, the outbreak has been contained to the central rural regions around the Artibonite River, 60 miles north of the capital. Though there are reports that the number of new cases is stabilizing, the outbreak still poses a severe threat to densely populated Port-Au-Prince—and beyond. Cholera is a bacterial infection that causes severe diarrhea and dehydration—spread through contaminated drinking water, or foods that have been washed in contaminated water. Without immediate diagnosis and treatment cholera can quickly be fatal. With thousands of still displaced Haitians living in densely populated conditions with poor sanitation and limited access to clean water, this outbreak will remain a concern for some time to come.

Operation USA is appealing for donations of funds from the public and corporate donations in bulk of health care and sanitation materials, including antibiotics and water purification supplies.

HOW TO HELP:

Donate online at www.opusa.org, by phone at 1.800.678.7255 or, by check made out to Operation USA, 3617 Hayden Ave, Suite A, Culver City, CA 90232.  Text “AID” to 50555 and donate $10 to OpUSA’s Haiti relief efforts.

About Operation USA’s work in Haiti

Operation USA responded rapidly to the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, shipping emergency aid within days of the disaster. Numerous long-term recovery projects are currently underway, with an emphasis on education, healthcare, youth programs, livelihood and social services. Operation USA estimates that it has sent over $5.5 million in donated medical, energy, food and shelter supplies to Haiti to date getting essential pharmaceuticals, medical, emergency and shelter supplies, generators and light towers, as well as medical personnel to partner agencies on the ground in Port-au-Prince, as well as the equally hard-hit city of Jacmel. Operation USA has focused a good portion of its relief and recovery efforts in Jacmel—knowing it can make a significant impact in this smaller and somewhat overlooked community. The agencies largest project, the rebuilding of the public school Ecole Nationale JM Henriquez in Jacmel, is currently under construction.

Recipients/Partners include:
L’Athletique d’Haiti, Artists for Peace and Justice, Centre de Sante (Petit-Goave), The City of Jacmel, Hands and Feet (Jacmel), Mission Ranch Medical Clinic (Citi Soleil), Partners in Health, Project Medishare/University of Miami and St. Damien’s Pediatric Hospital/St. Luke’s Schools.

###

Media Contact:

Alison Deknatel, Director of Communications, Operation USA
310.838.3455 or adeknatel@opusa.org

Operation USA has continued to invest in the future of the region’s children by funding afterschool programs and mental health initiatives that are designed to bring stability to their fragile lives. The Awesome Girls Mentoring Program, a long-term partner, offers afterschool programming for at-risk girls that gives them a place of safety and shelter, as well as provides a nurturing environment where they have the simple freedom to be children again.

The Children’s Bureau of New Orleans (CBNO) was founded in 1892 to provide specialized programs for children and families in the greater New Orleans area, with an emphasis on mental health, child welfare and advocacy. The devastation wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was particularly acute for the children of New Orleans. CBNO has been a local leader in providing mental health care for children and families in low socio-economic status with pre-existing problems that were exacerbated by the devastation.

Operation USA was a major responder to Hurricane Mitch throughout its impact area (Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador). After an initial airlift of medical and shelter supplies, Operation USA began a series of projects to restore people’s lives. Through this work, Santa Rosa was discovered—a small village of about 70 families near Nicaragua’s frontier with Honduras, originally set up in 1984 as a resettlement camp to move villagers out of a war zone. Santa Rosa had always functioned at a bare subsistence level—and Mitch nearly destroyed the village.

Our approach in Santa Rosa was to first guarantee the very survival of Santa Rosa’s residents by providing them with food, shelter, access to water and medical assistance. In the years which followed, Operation USA built a village health clinic, a common kitchen, a pre-school, an irrigation system, a micro-hydropower electrical system, a connection to the national power grid, a library, a computer training center, a recreational park and several outbuildings used by the villagers to house a series of microcredit projects.

Operation USA has made a long-term commitment to the village of Santa Rosa, which, over the years, has been transformed from a disaster site to a healthy, productive, self-sustaining community.

Operation USA used the Santa Rosa development model to assist the village of Kalladi, Sri Lanka recover and regain its livelihood after the devastation of the December 2004 tsunami. These village projects are two of Operation USA’s largest long-term development projects.

Operation USA responded to the disaster rapidly with an airlift of medical supplies. Additional support was provided to rebuild homes, a prosthetics clinic, a health clinic and a community center.

Focusing on a remote mountainous area that was likely to be overlooked by other aid agencies, Operation USA committed to the long-term recovery process in the village of Moldhara, located in the Bagh District of Kashmir. The village sits 5,000 ft above sea level, and its 1,000+ families were heavily impacted by the disaster.

In listening to the overall needs of the community in a series of meetings, a need to address a high maternal mortality rate in the village became apparent. Operation USA provided the community with an ambulance, allowing for the much-needed ability to transport patients with complicated pregnancies to larger hospitals. The maintenance costs of the vehicle and the driver’s salary continue to be provided to the community.

Further community interaction determined that a health clinic was another essential need for the village.  This Basic Health Unit will provide primary health care to the residents of the village, with a particular focus on women’s reproductive health. The clinic is currently under construction and is slated to open in late 2010.

In addition, Operation USA continues to partner with Murshid Hospital/Chal Foundation, supplying medical aid in support of their maternal/child health programming throughout Pakistan.

The hurricane caused extensive and severe damage in Louisiana and Mississippi, with New Orleans clearly the hardest hit area. A break in the levee system caused massive flooding throughout most of the city. Preliminary damage estimates for the region were well in excess of $100 billion; over 1,800 people died; and it is reported that as many as 275,000 homes were lost.

Less than a month later, Hurricane Rita made landfall on the southern coast of Louisiana and Texas. Rita caused $11.3 billion in damage and was the third Category 5 hurricane of the historic 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. While Rita remained well to the south and west of New Orleans, more parts of the levee wall were breached causing major reflooding in New Orleans.

An impoverished region before the storm, the impact of Katrina and Rita added a devastating hurdle to the already taxed social services system in both Louisiana and Mississippi. As first responders to the area, Operation USA rapidly sent a wide range of emergency supplies to community-based clinics in both rural and urban areas.

To address the needs of Katrina victims in the immediate aftermath of the storm, Operation USA focused our resources on community health clinics. Having over 27 years of experience supporting low-income health programs, OpUSA provided an initial $8 million in supplies and $700,000 in cash grants to Gulf Coast clinics. These resources ensured the clinics’ continuity of operations and allowed them to provide critical disaster relief and social services. Ultimately, Operation USA’s donors were enormously generous following this disaster—allowing us to donate a total of over $17 million in medical supplies and more than $2 million in grants to over 50 local clinics and community organizations

While the natural devastation and the egregious human errors have been well documented, the will and determination of Gulf Coast residents affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita continues to inspire as they rebuild their lives and revive their communities. Although there has been significant progress in much of the region, many residents are still struggling to reconstruct their lives. Operation USA continues to respond to unmet needs.