Waiting for Care - Closest to the clinic when the medical team arrived, these women didn't need to wait very long to see a doctor. They had already waited half the night.
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Photographer Statement
For twenty-three years I’ve been a professional photographer and photojournalist living in Portland, Oregon. I specialize in location photography and the majority of my income generating work is with small and medium sized businesses. For the past seven years I've taken one month a year to photograph for non-profits working in developing countries and helping populations in critical need.
In October 2007, an unexpected assignment took me to Rwanda to photograph the programs of the Portland, Oregon based Itafari foundation. My life perspective was changed forever. Since then I’ve been to Rwanda three times and Kenya once. The past two years I spent the month of November in Haiti. All of the photography I do on these trips is donated to the pertinent NGO’s.
This November, 2013, will be my third trip to Haiti with the HACAOT medical team. After a week in the medical clinic, I’ll travel to Port Au Prince to continue a project with a youth development program, L’Athlitique d’Haiti, which serves 2,000 children and their families in the slum area of Cite Soleil. From there I’ll travel to an agricultural-reforestation project run by Mercy Corps, in the mountainous village of Ti Bwa. The trip will conclude back in Port Au Prince doing work with the JP/Human Rights Organization.
I believe we all have the ability to make a positive impact on our planet, and with my experience as a photographer and small business owner I’m determined to make a difference.
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Affiliated NGO
ASSIST Rwanda
Clinton Foundation
Clinton Global Initiative
Haitian Caribbean American Organization of Texas
Itafari Foundation
JP/Human Rights organization
L'Athletique d'Haiti
Little Sisters of Saint Therese
Mercy Corps
Makindu Childrens Center
Oregon Community Foundation
Partners in Health
Right 2 Dream
“The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough to those who have little.”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
“In many parts of this globe the opposite of poverty is not wealth.
In too many places the opposite of poverty is justice.”
- Bryan Stevenson
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
- Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu
“What I do understand is that if your neighbor is screwed, you’ve got to help him”
- Sean Penn
“It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”
- Hubert H. Humphrey
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
- Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu
Waiting for care is a photographic essay of people waiting to be treated at a one day mobile medical clinic in the village of Dondon, Haiti. All the photographs were taken November 9th, 2011.
Living in abject poverty and lacking access to basic healthcare, over a thousand people showed up for a chance to see one of four doctors traveling with a U.S. based medical team. When the team arrived just after sunrise, 500 people were already waiting for care. By 10am the crowd swelled to more than 1000. At the end of the day 445 people saw a doctor. The rest went home untreated.
The past two years I accompanied this medical team from the Haitian Caribbean American Organization of Texas (HACAOT), for a one week mission to northern Haiti. The work they accomplish is astounding. In five days approximately 1500 people receive medical treatment. Equally astounding are the number of people who show up for a chance to see a doctor, and how long they spend waiting for care.
Waiting for care is a photographic essay of people waiting to be treated at a one day mobile medical clinic in the village of Dondon, Haiti. All the photographs were taken November 9th, 2011.
Living in abject poverty and lacking access to basic healthcare, over a thousand people showed up for a chance to see one of four doctors traveling with a U.S. based medical team. When the team arrived just after sunrise, 500 people were already waiting for care. By 10am the crowd swelled to more than 1000. At the end of the day 445 people saw a doctor. The rest went home untreated.
The past two years I accompanied this medical team from the Haitian Caribbean American Organization of Texas (HACAOT), for a one week mission to northern Haiti. The work they accomplish is astounding. In five days approximately 1500 people receive medical treatment. Equally astounding are the number of people who show up for a chance to see a doctor, and how long they spend waiting for care.
For twenty-three years I’ve been a professional photographer and photojournalist living in Portland, Oregon. I specialize in location photography and the majority of my income generating work is with small and medium sized businesses. For the past seven years I've taken one month a year to photograph for non-profits working in developing countries and helping populations in critical need.
In October 2007, an unexpected assignment took me to Rwanda to photograph the programs of the Portland, Oregon based Itafari foundation. My life perspective was changed forever. Since then I’ve been to Rwanda three times and Kenya once. The past two years I spent the month of November in Haiti. All of the photography I do on these trips is donated to the pertinent NGO’s.
This November, 2013, will be my third trip to Haiti with the HACAOT medical team. After a week in the medical clinic, I’ll travel to Port Au Prince to continue a project with a youth development program, L’Athlitique d’Haiti, which serves 2,000 children and their families in the slum area of Cite Soleil. From there I’ll travel to an agricultural-reforestation project run by Mercy Corps, in the mountainous village of Ti Bwa. The trip will conclude back in Port Au Prince doing work with the JP/Human Rights Organization.
I believe we all have the ability to make a positive impact on our planet, and with my experience as a photographer and small business owner I’m determined to make a difference.
ASSIST Rwanda
Clinton Foundation
Clinton Global Initiative
Haitian Caribbean American Organization of Texas
Itafari Foundation
JP/Human Rights organization
L'Athletique d'Haiti
Little Sisters of Saint Therese
Mercy Corps
Makindu Childrens Center
Oregon Community Foundation
Partners in Health
Right 2 Dream
“The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough to those who have little.”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
“In many parts of this globe the opposite of poverty is not wealth.
In too many places the opposite of poverty is justice.”
- Bryan Stevenson
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
- Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu
“What I do understand is that if your neighbor is screwed, you’ve got to help him”
- Sean Penn
“It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”
- Hubert H. Humphrey
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
- Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - Closest to the clinic when the medical team arrived, these women didn't need to wait very long to see a doctor. They had already waited half the night.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - There were over 500 people waiting to see one of the four doctors when the group arrived shortly after sunrise. Soon there would be no place close to sit and rest. As the team set up, the crowd pushed forward and the stairway leading to the clinic was packed, standing room only.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - By 10 am there were well over 1,000 people outside the clinic. As the day wore on the crowds remained dense, and hot. With few places to sit, resting on one another was the best one could do for a little relief.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - Mothers with babies, the elderly, and anyone in visible distress were given priority to see a doctor. This little girl had an infected wound on her left hand. It was cleaned and bandaged. When mother and child were finished, they left with antibiotics to ensure the infection wouldn't return.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - Most of the people waited all day, with less than half getting a chance to see a doctor. This woman went home untreated. In most rural areas of Haiti, there is no access to proper medical care.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - A young girl rests easy after being examined by a doctor. She's almost through the clinic. Everything looked good and the final wait was at the pharmacy for a worm pill.
When illness is present in places like Dondon, the majority of cases are upper respiratory and gastro-intestinal problems, and malaria. In the United States, these types of ailments can usually be treated with a quick trip to a local pharmacy and inexpensive over-the-counter medicines. In Haiti, almost all of these ailments go untreated and proper medicine is extremely scarce. Further complications arise and death is all too common, especially among the young and elderly.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - Most of the people in the village of Dondon have never seen a medical doctor, and most of those who came to the medical clinic on this hot Wednesday in November, still haven't. By mid-afternoon the people farthest from the clinic entrance were told there wouldn't be time to see one of the doctors. They still stayed, they still hoped, and at dark they went home.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - Before seeing a doctor, patients are signed in at the triage area of the clinic. A medical history is taken, then their temperature, blood pressure, pulse and weight. Children between 4 and 12 will receive a topical fluoride applied to their teeth. Then they move to the treatment area to wait for a doctor and examination.
After the exam if additional information is needed the patient will be directed to a lab area where blood and urine samples can be used to identify other ailments. These range from typical age related diseases like hypertension and diabetes, to more uncommon cases of typhus, liver disease, and HIV/AIDS.
The final part of the clinic is the pharmacy. If needed, patients may go home with anything from Tylenol and Ibuprofen, to antibiotics, blood pressure medication, topical ointments, baby formula and bottles, and more.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - All this little girl and her father will remember about the clinic is they came, they waited, and they went home.
With clean water scarce due to a nationwide cholera epidemic, almost every person in Dondon is dehydrated with a related elevated pulse.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - The days are long for both this elderly patient and the medical team.
That morning the seventeen members from out of town woke up at 5:15am, had breakfast, and left their Cap Haitian base by 6:00am. Nine local medical professionals joined the caravan of four vehicles loaded tight with people, equipment and supplies, for the one hour drive to Dondon. From the time we arrived to the time we left, the only breaks were for going to the bathroom and a quick bite of food. When we left that night it was 6:00pm and dark. Four hundred and forty-five patients had gone through the clinic.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - Many people looked lost in the crowd. As a photographer, working in these settings is heart wrenching. Keeping well composed can be difficult. When I feel myself slipping I do all I can to focus on outcomes.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care - The man behind the woman in the hat was the last to enter the clinic. It was already getting dark. With no electricity, we held flashlights for the doctors to finish his exam.
Adam Bacher | Waiting for Care - Haiti Mobile Medical Clinic | Haiti
Waiting for Care – 77 people are visible in this photograph (or parts of them on the margins). A small sample of the crowds left waiting for care in Dondon, Haiti; November 9th, 2011.
