She’s like a ray of sunshine that brightens even the darkest corners of a room.
Laucia is a nurse in the rural village of Bernard, Haiti, and has a smile so infectious you can’t help but smile in return.
But if you saw the health clinic that Laucia runs, you might wonder how she’s able to find such joy.
Bernard, Haiti – Beyond the End of the Road
Bernard sits on a remote mountaintop in southern Haiti. Many villages in the area are poor, lacking latrines, clean water, and proper health facilities.
During the rainy seasons she sees and treats a lot of fever, flu, and chronic coughs, but her most frequent visitors are little children. Children in Bernard often fall ill with intestinal worms, and Laucia has seen many a distended belly boiling with parasites in her time as a nurse. Unsafe drinking water, a lack of hygiene, and leaking latrines all contribute to intestinal worms.
Laucia and The 44-Cent Cure
A mother herself, Laucia offers a kind smile and a gentle hand to everyone who visits her clinic.
Last Spring, the village of Bernard received the 44-Cent Cure, and mothers came from far and wide to Laucia’s clinic – some carrying children on their backs.
Prepped with white gloves to match the white pill that would cure a child of worms, Laucia distributed the 44-cent cure into the children’s waiting hands.
You could practically feel the excitement and tentative hope in the little schoolroom where Laucia began her distribution.
She treated each child with love and respect, carefully explaining to them and their mom or dad how to check for the worms after their child ingests the pill.
“I love being a nurse because I like to help people.”
A few days after giving a child the cure, she follows-up by calling their home or village to make sure the worms have been expelled.
Intestinal worms not only cause nausea and diarrhea, but lead to a loss of appetite, stunted growth, and constant pain. Children cannot attend school due to the pain and since the worms steal all a child’s nutrients, many do not make it into adulthood.
Knowing what a precious gift she holds, it’s Laucia’s hope that each and every child who comes to her clinic will be cured of this terrible sickness.
The Road to Transformation
Laucia also holds training for parents and teaches them how to help their kids and family stay healthy. She teaches them the proper ways to clean their food, wash their hands before eating, and many other helpful hygiene tips.
But to effectively stop the parasites, villages like Bernard need to start at the source – with clean water.
For three years Laucia has dedicated her life to serving the people and children of Bernard. Find out how you can help a village like Bernard and give nurses like Laucia the hope their communities so desperately need.