Our Mission
The Grand Anse Surgery Project (GASP) is a group of health professionals who think holistically and passionately about society’s obligation to provide quality surgical care for all. This advocacy is rooted in the direct voices and experiences of Haitians who have suffered from lack of surgical care.
“SEA” of Dreams
Surgery-Education-Autonomy
This is a picture of one of the first mastectomies performed by the local surgical team and by Grand Anse Surgery Project volunteer surgeons in Jeremie, Haiti. The picture represents the three major goals of the GASP organization; surgical support, clinical education and local autonomy. It captures how eager the local surgical team is to learn and how much the GASP volunteers enjoy teaching. It is a silent celebration of another woman who will now live to work, care for her children and watch them grow. Finally, it is a physical expression of the dream that someday there will be a full time in-country surgical service in Jeremie, where every woman diagnosed with breast cancer will have an opportunity to become a cancer survivor and not a cancer victim.
Our Goal
GASP’s primary goal is to support and develop a surgical service in Jeremie that can meet the needs of the community and be self-sustaining. GASP intends to support this goal directly and by consultation until the program is self-sufficient and our Haitian surgical partners tell us that we are no longer needed.
Our Objectives
To develop a general surgery program at St. Antoine Hospital, Jeremie, Haiti, a hospital serving 500,000
To work with the medical professionals at St. Antoine’s Hospital on how to care for major general surgery patients, including pre-operative and post-operative surgical techniques and care
To work with and support the Grand Anse Women’s Special Health Program
To collaborate with other local hospitals, local medical foundations, local medical administrators and others to create relationships and enhance patient care
To create “sister” hospitals in the U.S. to create relationships and enhance patient care
Our Impact
Safe, accessible, affordable surgical care for the residents of Jeremie, Haiti and the surrounding area
Hands on training of frontline surgical staff is improving their skills and providing better care for patients
Lives have been saved and people have been able to get back to work and support themselves and their families