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Coronavirus Response
In light of the recommendations from our state and local leaders regarding large gatherings and COVID-19/Coronavirus, we have made the decision to postpone Spring Session and the Dream Team happy hour event until we feel that we can safely and responsibly host these events.
We know that this is likely disappointing, yet expected news.
We want to make sure that we preserve everyone’s health and safety in these unique times, and would like to humbly suggest three things.
Most importantly, we urge you to draw near to God. It’s easy to listen to the current news and feel anxious, fearful, and even hopeless at times. We urge you to remember that our ultimate hope is in Jesus, especially in times of trial. We can take it all to Him and trust that He is good.
Secondly, we want to remind you to treat each other well. As Fred Rogers reminds us, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
Last and not least, we urge you to research and follow the CDC guidelines and listen to the recommendations of local, state, and national officials. The CDC has published coronavirus resources that are available at this link.
We believe that Spring Session and the content at the event are important, so we are currently working through our options regarding rescheduling, and/or delivering that content online. We will share more information soon. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
We are thankful for each of you, and as we often say in our office, “We are in this adventure together.”
- PKF Team
Quarterly News. Q4, 2019
Every quarter we collect and share some of our favorite stories from our work in Pittsburgh and Cap Haitian. The end of the year offers a time to reflect, and as we celebrated the holiday season together, we felt an overwhelming sense of thankfulness. We’re thankful for the ways we continue to see God work in students’ lives here in Pittsburgh and Cap-Haitien, Haiti.
Every quarter we collect and share some of our favorite stories from our work in Pittsburgh and Cap Haitian. The end of the year offers a time to reflect, and as we celebrated the holiday season together, we felt an overwhelming sense of thankfulness. We’re thankful for the ways we continue to see God work in students’ lives here in Pittsburgh and Cap-Haitien, Haiti.
Alongside thankfulness, we are excitedly anticipating what 2020 will bring, and what we’ll be able to accomplish together.
CHIDA Turns 2
In November of 2019, we celebrated the second anniversary of the opening of Centre Hospitalier D’IDADEE (CHIDA). CHIDA is the hospital that the PKF Medical Director, Dr. Wislyn, oversees just down the street from the IDADEE campus. If you’ve had the chance to visit in person, you immediately see the difference that Dr. Wislyn and his staff are making in their patients’ lives. The campus bustles with activity: Pharmacists filling prescriptions, lab technicians running tests, the first cry of a newborn baby, doctors and nurses taking time to sit and pray with their patients. The emergency room is either just below or just above “maximum” capacity. (At CHIDA, there is always room to care for one more patient.)
It Takes HOW MANY Pieces of Pizza Hut to Pull Off Laurelville Mud Weekends?
It can feel disingenuous to say every year that the most recent season of camp was “the best ever,” but that’s just how it feels! This year, Thanksgiving was so late that we fit all four weekends of Laurelville in before the holidays officially started. At the end of November, we wrapped up the 56th year of Laurelville Mud Weekends. The entire month was full of crazy games, singing and dancing, football tournaments, too much pizza (3,964 slices to be precise), and MUD.
Over four weekends, we invited 1,496 students and leaders to have the best weekend of the year and learn about a God who loves them unconditionally.
In our leaders’ meetings, we talk a lot at about faithfulness and fruitfulness. God calls us to be faithful to Him but doesn’t promise that we’re going to see the fruit of our faithfulness. Even still, camps like Surf City and Laurelville continue to be moments where we recognize the fruit that comes from faithful ministry. At the final leaders meeting each weekend, leaders had the opportunity to share how they saw God move in their students’ lives over the weekend. They shared story after story of students accepting Christ for the first time or rededicating themselves to a life with Jesus.
Needless to say, we had ALOT to be thankful for as we went into Thanksgiving and Christmas.
What We Read in 2019
We asked our staff what their favorite books of 2019 were. It's been a long time since any of us have had to write a proper book report, so bear with us. Here are the PKF Staff's favorite books of 2019.
At the Players 4 Kids Gala this year, we launched our Someone Like You project. We set out to show that the students we serve in Pittsburgh and Cap Haitian have a lot in common. The food, language, and weather all change (what we’d give for a sunny Haitian day during this gloomy Pittsburgh winter), but in both Pittsburgh and Haiti, kids are pretty similar. They play the same sports and enjoy the same things. They either really enjoy school, or don’t find it all that interesting.
Most importantly, they share the same hopes and dreams for life. That’s the common thread in all of our work. Empowering and equipping students to live life to its fullest, in relationship with Jesus Christ.
We are in this adventure together,
PKF Staff
CHIDA Turns 2. 2019 Year in Review.
We asked Dr. Wislyn to share some statistics, as well as his thoughts and reflections from 2019. In many ways, 2019 had high highs and low lows. You’ll see the steadfast faithfulness of Dr. Wislyn and the staff to their patients in the face of a tumultuous civil and political landscape. Protests and gas shortages effectively shut down much of the country for months (Peyi Locked).
Community health workers meet in CHIDA’s conference room.
In November of 2019, we celebrated the second anniversary of the opening of Centre Hospitalier D’IDADEE (CHIDA). CHIDA is the hospital that the PKF Medical Director, Dr. Wislyn, oversees just down the street from the IDADEE campus. If you’ve had the chance to visit in person, you immediately see the difference that Dr. Wislyn and his staff are making in their patients’ lives. The campus bustles with activity: Pharmacists filling prescriptions, lab technicians running tests, the first cry of a newborn baby, doctors and nurses taking time to sit and pray with their patients. The emergency room is either just below or just above “maximum” capacity. (At CHIDA, there is always room to care for one more patient.)
We asked Dr. Wislyn to share some statistics, as well as his thoughts and reflections from 2019. In many ways, 2019 had high highs and low lows. You’ll see the steadfast faithfulness of Dr. Wislyn and the staff to their patients in the face of a tumultuous civil and political landscape. Protests and gas shortages effectively shut down much of the country for months (Peyi Locked).
Highlights of Dr. Wislyn’s report include the delivery of 117 newborn babies, and the continued growth of the Community Health program, which provides preventative and maintenance care for people in the community, significantly reducing the need for emergency care.
CENTRE HOSPITALIER D’IDADEE (CHIDA)
DIRECTION MEDICALE
RAPPORT DE STATISTIQUE 2019
Our desire at CHIDA is to breathe new life into the Haitian health system. We are engaged in the fight for quality health care for the neediest and inspired by the spirit of sharing the love of Christ.
2019 was a challenging year. The protests and the “Peyi Locked” situation created problems such as energy shortages and difficult travel conditions for more than three months. But with the help of God, and the unconditional support of our partners, we were able to continue offering quality medical care to everyone.
The most common illnesses that our doctors see are intestinal infections (typhoid, worms), hypertension, gastritis, pneumonia, and diabetes. Community health workers provide treatment for issues in the field, such as malnourishment. They also encourage pregnant women to deliver their babies at CHIDA, which decreases the number of women who die while giving birth.
In 2019 we:
Treated more than 11,000 people this year.
Treated 908 kids experiencing severe malnutrition
Delivered 117 babies
Worked with 724 families in our family program
Staff statistics
137 people work at CHIDA
47 people work in the community program
We are serving about 23,000 people in the local community and expanding to other communities as news about our work spreads
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The cost for medical care at CHIDA is just $10 and covers everything from medication to overnight stays. From the start, Dr. Wislyn and his team determined that no one, regardless of whether they can pay or not (87% of patients cannot), would ever be denied medical care.
Two years later, Dr. Wislyn and his staff remain dedicated to providing quality health care for some of the most vulnerable of Haiti. With your support, we're able to stand with them ensuring that they have the means and resources to continue providing that care.