30 Jan Oliam Richard Severely Injured in Fall in Haiti

A team from Canada is currently in Haiti doing construction work and ministry. Unfortunately, Pastor Oliam Richard, who leads the churches in Haiti, suffered severe injuries in a fall on Monday. He attempted to jump down from a height of about six feet and ended up breaking his wrist in three places, and his hip, which they originally thought was dislocated, turns out to be badly broken. He will require a hip replacement operation.

Joan Sider (center) with Esther and Oliam Richard.

The accident happened at what is called the “Hill Church.” Team members and some Haitian men had to carry Pastor Richard down to the bus. They spent two and a half hours looking for a doctor, with no success. The hospital in the town of Cayes couldn’t do anything for him. They tried to go to see some Cuban doctors Pastor Richard knows, but they were not at home. They went to the United Nations, who put them in touch with a nurse practioner. They visited a clinic, but there was no doctor at that time. They offered to keep Pastor Richard, but he declined. He was in considerable pain, but conscious and aware.

On Wednesday morning, the group planned to begin the six-hour bus journey to Port au Prince, the capital city. Upon arriving there Oliam’s wife, Esther, would begin investigating the possibility of taking her husband to France for medical treatment.

However, a wonderful opportunity arose on Tuesday night. The Mission clinic they were at suggested they try going to the Southern Baptist Mission Hospital, which is one of the best in the area. They hired an “ambulance,” which was little more than a van with a mattress on the floor and tires to lean up against.

Four times a year for one week, a team of doctors comes to this hospital from the United States. This happened to be one of those four weeks! Plus, one of the doctors is among the best Orthopaedic surgeons in North America! Definitely a God-thing.

After meeting with the doctors, they decided to have the surgery done there. A cast has already been put on Pastor Richard’s wrist. This injury is apparently the more difficult of the two problems, since three bones are broken quite badly.

Hopefully, on Thursday, Pastor Richard will have his hip operated on and they will have him up on his feet on Friday. Pastor Richard will remain in the hospital for ten days.

The cost for the operation will be about $5000 Haitian [$700 US]. There is no provision for food in the hospital. The Team will be going out to find a market to get food. Someone, likely Pastor Richard’s secretary, will need to cook the food at an outdoor fire.

Team Haiti will be going back to Cayes. They had already checked out of the hotel, but the hotel has rooms for them at a reasonable rate until Friday. From Saturday until their return to Toronto (as scheduled), they will stay in Port au Prince.