Hôpital Sacré Coeur (Hospital Sacred Heart) at only 73 beds is the largest private hospital in northern Haiti, located in the small village of Milot. Established over 25 years ago, Hôpital Sacré Coeur is an exemplary partnership between the American aid group, CRUDEM Foundation, and the local community it serves. It’s mission? To provide the best possible health care for the people of Haiti.
Thankfully... mercifully, Milot is spared major damage with no loss of life. The hospital is operational and awaits an influx of patients who will eventually lose their limbs to amputation then will face a lifetime of challenges in this underdeveloped country whose geography and civilization are not at all welcoming to living life disabled.
How does a hospital with only three full time doctors, two operating rooms and a delivery room prepare to handle a tragedy of this scale?
Be an Angel and donate to the CRUDEM Foundation that supports the Hôpital Sacré Coeur! There is a Haitian proverb that says “Men anpil chay pa lou” – Many hands make the load lighter. With your generous support this incredible work that has been achieved over the past 25 years can continue into the future.
Make a Donation Now!Dr. John Lovejoy Jr., a retired orthopedic surgeon from Florida, has graciously volunteered at Hôpital Sacré Coeur for over 10 years. Immediately following the quake, he enlists his son, Dr. John Lovejoy III – an orthopedic surgeon at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC – to help him organize a U.S. response team. Efficiently, but not without difficulty, they find private transportation and pull together another surgeon, two nurses and a physician’s assistant to arrive in Milot only four days after the quake.
The documentary, filmed from unique camera access to the hospital, volunteers and patients through four separate trips, will delve into the logistics of converting an overloaded hospital into an expanded M*A*S*H unit and using a nearby school for triage and post operative treatment. In just one week the medical team performed over 180 surgeries and saw over 400 injured patients. Methodically, examination rooms were transformed into surgical suites and eventually six operating rooms were up and running concurrently. Meanwhile, a 40-foot shipping container was outfitted as a mobile
prosthetic unit and shipped to the hospital to provide post-operativecare, physical therapy and artificial limbs necessary for recovery, but almost impossible to obtain in Haiti.
The film will also introduce you to some of the most amazing Haitian people you would never have met otherwise. For the most part, they are not despondent or mournful – but uplifted and grateful for their lives having been saved. And their lust for life is contagious.
The filmmakers hope to increase public awareness of the hospital, the hardships
facing the country and the funding needs of the CRUDEM Foundation to continue to provide medical treatment to the sick and injured so that as a generation of amputees grows up, they can be adequately cared and provided for. This commitment is without a doubt long-term. Most importantly, Angels of Milot, Haiti’s Aftershock, tells the story of an appropriately named hospital, amazingly in tact after a devastating event. This special place of healing was and is positioned for greatness – thanks to the help of an expert medical team with a heart for healing – and the resilient and generous spirit of the people of Haiti.
Executive Producer, Ellen Lovejoy has served as SVP of Sales and Programming for Target Entertainment Group since 2002. She has dealt extensively with both buyers and commissioners at US network and cable broadcasters, most recently forging deals with HBO, National Geographic, Investigation Discovery and Masterpiece Theater on PBS.
Award winning cinematographer, Bernardo Santana III is a native of Puerto Rico, who began his career in Panama. He has extensive experience in news, documentaries, and features, including filming with coalition forces in the Iraq War.
Tony Haines is the president of Florida-based Digital Video Arts production company and has been producing award-winning programming for 30 years. His documentary work on the Water’s Journey series, nationally distributed on PBS in recent years, helped to establish a new paradigm for presenting environmental water issues and conservation. He is also an Emmy-award winning editor for the Lillehammer, Norway Olympics on CBS and ABC’s Prime Time Live.
As executive producer and writer for Florida-based Digital Video Arts, Adams excels in documentary-style projects that feature conversational soundbites and storytelling. Her ability to conduct interviews and write narrative script to affect emotion and illicit change has positioned her as integral to the success of the advertising, corporate and non-profit videos in her repertoire since beginning in the industry in 1987.
Britt's instinctive abilities with sound and graphics were one of the creative cornerstones of Digital Video Arts’ success. Overseeing the creative aspects of graphics, sound and interactive media he is always pushing the quality and innovation of the product at DVA. Over the last 16 years, Britt has worked with a number of high-profile clients such as Ford, Winn-Dixie, MTV, First Union, The Florida Lottery and many more.
