Father and son MD’s heading to Haiti
By Mary Ann Price
L-R: Dr. Peter Coombs, Marilyn Lowney, Dr. Jeremiah Lowney, Dr. Richard Levrault Jr. and volunteer/donor Mark Sullivan in front of Klinik Pep de Bondye-A (Clinic of the People of God)
Dr. Richard Levrault has been involved with providing medical services and improving daily life for the people of Haiti for more than 25 years. His brother-in-law, Dr. Jerry Lowney, founded Haitian Health Foundation (HHF) in 1982 to provide medical and dental services, food, supplies and educational opportunities to the people of Jérémie, a city in southwest Haiti located about an hour by plane from the capital, Port-au-Prince. HHF also aids over 100 rural mountain villages.
Levrault, a member of the Canton Board of Health, is an HHF donor and has a foster family in Haiti. But his long-distance relationship with the Haitian people will become very personal in May when he and his son, Dr. Richard Levrault Jr., travel to Haiti along with other medical personnel to spend a week in Jérémie treating patients. Levrault decided to make the trip after his son talked to him about his own experience in Jérémie.
“He called me and said, ‘Dad, it was a wonderful experience. I want to go back and I want you to go with me,’” Levrault said.
Levrault Jr. traveled to Haiti at the urging of his wife, Kristi, a nurse who had visited the country on a humanitarian trip.
“He said, ‘I didn’t really think that I was doing a lot, but the people are so appreciative,’” his father said. “I thought, ‘It’s time to go.’”
HHF built a clinic in Jérémie, Klinik Pep De Bondye (Clinic of the People of God), which is run by nuns and supervised by physicians. Most of the medical staff consists of students from medical colleges who do clinical rotations, as well as doctors, dentists and nurses from other countries who donate their time. Levrault explained that he and the other clinic volunteers set up tents in nearby villages and will provide basic care for patients’ needs according to the problems they present. HHF also provides dental care.
“I’m looking forward to the trip,” Levrault said. “It’s going to be a really different experience.” He studied French in school and has been looking through a Creole translation book that his son used in Haiti.
Levrault is hoping to make an even greater difference in the lives of the people of Jérémie. He and his wife, Mary Lowney Levrault, are hosting a fundraiser for HHF at the Canton Town Club on Saturday, April 5, from 7 p.m. to midnight. The evening includes a DJ, music, pizza and raffles for prizes such as bicycles, tickets to Red Sox games, gift baskets, gift certificates to local restaurants and hair salons, and golf packages. Tickets are $35 and may be purchased by calling 781-828-0237. Tickets will also be available at the door.
The mission of HHF is to improve the health and well-being of the poor, the sick and the infirm of Jérémie and to break the bonds of poverty, which tie so many Haitians to a life of great deprivation. Donations by check to HHF should be made payable to the Haitian Health Foundation and sent to Dr. Richard Levrault, 44 Walnut Street, Canton, MA 02021. For more information about the work of HHF, go to www.haitianhealthfoundation.org.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=24789
Posted by Mary Ann Price
on Mar 27 2014. Filed under News.
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