Premature Twins Airlifted to NICU

At around 9am, HEI/SBH Medical Director, Dr. Bernard, received a call from a hospital in Gressier, just outside of Port au Prince. Twins, a boy and a girl, were born 32 weeks premature, and the local Hospital was unequipped to provide proper care for the high-risk patients. Doctors in Gressier, a town more than 4 hours from Fond des Blancs, knew of SBH’s fully functioning NICU and its highly-trained staff.

Haiti Air Ambulance, a non-profit organization that transports patients between hospitals, landed in a field just outside of SBH. Without a mobile incubator, a nurse sat with the two babies swaddled on her lap. Our ambulance whisked the premature twins to the NICU, where our team immediately began work.

The twins’ mother, who was given the pseudonym “Sue Witt”, passed away from hemorrhage after giving birth. She had not received any prenatal care. This is sadly the reality for far too many expectant mothers in Haiti.

Haley and Liam Witt, as they are named for now, will need at least six weeks in our NICU. We hope that family members will come forward to claim the newborns and tell us more about their mother. But if this does not happen, our hospital staff feels confident that the twins will find a loving home once they are healthy and able.