Youngstown group celebrates milestone in assistance to Haiti

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A Youngstown-based nonprofit is celebrating a milestone anniversary in its efforts to provide medical assistance to Haitians amid the country’s turbulence with gang violence and increased poverty.

Brown Horse Projects (BHP) is honoring the 5th anniversary of its BHP Medical Clinic in Balan, Haiti, next month with the launch of a fundraising campaign . The campaign aims to raise $50,000, which will go toward continuing clinic services, as well as purchasing medication and supplies.

The clinic has cared for over 11,000 patients since its inception in 2019, offering services ranging from general check-ups and lab testing to specialized care for chronic conditions and maternal health.

Katie Swain co-founded the project, along with her sister, and now serves as director on the all-volunteer board. She said the clinic charges a minimal fee of 500 Gourde, which is around $3.80 in U.S. currency, to cover the patients’ visits, medications and lab costs. Swain said that does not sustain operational costs, which she estimates to be around $11,000-$12,000 per month.

“We have done several larger fundraising events, we try to do that every other year, and so as medication prices have skyrocketed and the need there is increasing because of other closed clinics, our needs there have outgrown what our current donor level is,” Swain said.

Swain said many of the other surrounding clinics have closed and this anniversary is a celebration of Brown Horse Projects’ continued work.

“It has been very consistent in a time when things in Haiti have been very inconsistent, so just its presence and the fact that we’ve been able to grow — we started with a staff of five and now we are at 13, we were open two days a week, now we’re at five — for other people to see that there’s growth and there’s consistency,” Swain said. “It really has provided hope to people who have been facing a country without a government for two years.”

The clinic is operated by an all-Haitian staff and supported by locals in Youngstown through fundraising, the provision of medical education and resources, and travel to Haiti, when possible, to provide medical care and consultation.

In addition to the clinic in Balan, the Brown Horse team visits Haitian villages in the Dominican Republic. Swain said their group is planning one or two trips to the Dominican Republic next year, and anyone who is interested in taking part can send in an application on their website .

Over the past five years, the clinic has provided essential medical services to thousands of patients, many of whom had no previous access to healthcare. BHP reports that Haiti is the poorest country with 58.5% of its population living under the national poverty line and 60% of Haitians living on $2 or less per day.

Swain says it is the generosity of donors that sustains the operation and that she is grateful.

“We’re a small nonprofit and we support a small clinic in Haiti. … Our neighbors here, people that live in our neighborhood and the greater Youngstown area are the reason in which our neighbors in Haiti are able to be seen and treated.”

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