Cayhiti's Initiatives:
Orthopedic Knee Replacement Surgery Program in Cameroon
"Imagine a country the size of California, the population of Florida where a person had to travel 7000 miles( distance from Florida to Alaska) for knee surgery."
Cameroon has a population of 22 million people. Currently, orthopedic surgical procedures on the knee are not provided anywhere in the country on a consistent basis. They are not offered in the surrounding countries including in Equatorial Guinea, and Tchad In 2023, while vacationing in Cameroon, we met with Dr. Henry Luma, the Director General of the Douala Reference Hospital. He told us that they have a well-trained orthopedic surgical staff. He informed us that the surgeons need additional training and that the population needs orthopedic surgical procedures for knees including for knee arthroscopy and knee replacement. We offered to help develop a sustainable knee orthopedic surgery program. With the assistance of Dr.Mark Petty, an excellent, and experienced Orthopedic surgeon in our community, we learned about orthopedic knee programs. Dr. Petty along with our Gainesville team undertook the ambitious process of establishing a sustainable orthopedic program in Cameroon. Our Gainesville team includes Mrs. Patricia Petty and Mr. David Petty. Our charity, Cayhiti incorporated reached out to and partnered with the Walk Strong foundation. The Walk Strong foundation is a non-profit global orthopedic surgery organization that has partnered with Signature Orthopaedics that is based in Australia to provide quality implants at an affordable price.
Technology Lab
Empowering youth through access to technology and educational resources in rural communities in Tiburon, Haiti.
In 2018, when we decided to place a technology lab in Tiburon, we were told that it was too remote(no electricity, no internet) and that it would not work.
Today, one of the children from the beginner’s class teaches technology in Tiburon. The children of Tiburon had no access to technology before 2018.
We headed a community based effort to create a computer laboratory with the support of Pastor Joseph Bellamy, Ecole Horeb Baptist of Bompas with 400 students. Laptops were donated by Gainesville Millhopper Montessori School refurbished by Mrs. Sylvia Aslainian, A4fp with educational materials purchased from Educa Vision with collaboration with the Gainesville Chapter of the Links, inc.
Since then, another center was created where eight schools were given access to to the technology lab and the materials.Currently, we are in the process of creating five satellite labs.
Health Clinic in Tiburon, Haiti
In 2017, we performed a needs assessment study in the city of Tiburon. It is located six hours from the capital in the Southwest portion of Haiti. We determined that the health center, dispensary Roger Paradis was underutilized. The 25,000 people who live in Tiburon preferred to travel elsewhere for health care or depended on occasional mobile clinics that visited the community. There were no physicians and no midwives. The care was provided by an experienced nurse and an experienced nurse's aid.
Since 2017, we paid the salary of a primary care physician and supported a nurse midwife. We have observed a 100 fold increase in utilization of the clinic and a five fold increase in institutional deliveries(compared to home deliveries) and an increase in the use of contraception. Institutional deliveries and the consistent use of contraception are important factors in the reduction of maternal, infant mortality.
We find that people who live in the mountains have difficulty making it to the center of the town where the clinic is located The proble with access will be greatly reduced upon completion of the health center that is centrally located.
Since 2017, we paid the salary of a primary care physician and supported a nurse midwife. We have observed a 100 fold increase in utilization of the clinic and a five fold increase in institutional deliveries(compared to home deliveries) and an increase in the use of contraception. Institutional deliveries and the consistent use of contraception are important factors in the reduction of maternal, infant mortality.
We find that people who live in the mountains have difficulty making it to the center of the town where the clinic is located The proble with access will be greatly reduced upon completion of the health center that is centrally located.
Ecosanitation
Partnering with Givelove, a non-profit, that promotes ecological training and composting to countries in the Carribean and Africa. The goal is to provide affordable toilet soultions, restore dignity and prevent the costly burden of diarrheal illness as a result inadequate sanitation.