HAITI-BOUND: Dr. Alez Dauphin a native Haitian and Chief of Staff Anaesthesia at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton is the physician for the Haitian program. Each year, Headwaters Health Care Centre needs to replace or upgrade over $1 million of equipment that has reached the end of its useful life. Because the government does not provide funding for hospital equipment purchases, Headwaters relies on the generosity of local people to donate the funds needed.

However. not all equipment is replaced because it is worn out. From time to time, new equipment is needed because of technological or procedural changes. This sometimes leaves the challenge of retiring older equipment that is still serviceable.

Headwaters partners with St. Joseph's International Outreach program to donate used medical equipment to Port-au-Prince University Hospital in Haiti. Recently, Headwaters sent an ophthalmology chair, wheelchairs, patient beds, monitors, anesthesia equipment and two cautery units (Electro surgical equipment that coagulates blood to keep the operating field free of excess blood during surgery). International Outreach oversaw the transportation and delivery of the equipment, which was part of a larger 40-foot container of hospital equipment.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and University Hospital is the country's only public and university teaching hospital for more than 7 million people. It lacks basic resources and relies on donor assistance to meet the needs of its patients.

International Outreach is a not-for-profit organization funded by the Sisters of St. Joseph, Hamilton. This is the third donation Headwaters has made through St. Joseph's International Outreach program, which has included a 2003 donation to Uganda and a 2007 donation to Haiti.

"We are proud to participate in opportunities to ship equipment overseas," said Cholly Boland, Headwaters president and CEO. "Sharing our older equipment improves health care services for thousands of people in developing nations."