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United Nations Containers Leave Haiti

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united nations (u.n.) containers leaving on truck

The United Nations military are leaving Haiti.

Thousands of United Nations military personnel have been receiving chiropractic care over the last 4 years during Mission Life Internationals mission trips to Haiti. The Urugyuan military donated 20 bunk beds, 10 beds, 50 mattresses, cooking equipment, 3 containers filled with many other things to Mission Life International’s mission projects.   Dr. Morgan is spearheading the creation of a chiropractic school in Haiti that will be part of the Global Village of Hope. Mission Life International’s Global Village of Hope was founded in 2012 by Peter Morgan, DC; Gary Deutchman, DC; and Stephen Simonetti, DC. The Global Village of Hope began with a small school and orphanage in a small Haitian city called Ouanaminthe. The vision of the Global Village of Hope is multidimensional. The Global Village will include public grounds and a private campus in Ounaminthe, Haiti, with a small sister campus in Dajabon, Dominican Republic. Our public grounds will accommodate a public library, public athletic fields, public gardens, Chiropractic health center and a Christian church. Our private grounds will include a Christian University recognized by the Haitian Education Service. A clean potable water supply program and sports peer-to-peer education program. Campus housing will include several residence homes. (approximately $50,000 US for each home) Our Mission Life University will include the first Christian Chiropractic College; a College of Language and Arts, a Theological College, a Vocational College including auto mechanics, woodworking, electrical studies, plumbing, fine arts, computer science, tourism (travel/leisure), hygiene, sanitation, goal setting, small business, and astronomy.

During his 31-year career as a chiropractor, Peter Morgan, DC, has lead 79 teams who have adjusted millions of men, women, and children. 79 humanitarian trips over the past 15 years, many of them sponsored and promoted by the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA).Because of the devastating earthquakes that nearly destroyed Haiti in 2010, Dr. Morgan has focused particular attention on the island of Hispaniola. For the last 5 years Dr. Morgan, has taken 25 different teams of chiropractors and chiropractic students to URUBATT 2, the Haiti United Nations military base. Some teams with as many as 96 chiropractors. They also had the opportunity to examine and adjust 5 different commanders, 6 colonels, many majors, captains, lieutenants, sergeants and thousands of military personal from Uruguay, Peru and Brazil who were stationed at this base over the last 5 years.

Mission LIfe International Group Photo“One of the key goals of the WCA is to develop, promote, and support humanitarian programs that reach out to populations that, due to geographic or economic factors, cannot access chiropractic care. During the past two decades, Dr. Morgan been involved in mission trips from remote villages in Tibet to overcrowded tenements in the United States. Dr. Morgan states “We want to deliver Chiropractic care around the world even in remote areas in developing countries.

Dr. Morgan states that his teams also had the opportunity to teach the “Straighten up America” program to the military from three countries. As a member of the WCA Board of Governors, Dr. Morgan works closely with Haitian health and government officials, as well as the departments within the United Nations. In December 1998, the WCA was named an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI). Dr. Morgan has been the lead chiropractic representative for the last 7 years. Part of Dr. Morgan’s job is to make sure the chiropractic profession is educated on the global need for health care in general and chiropractic in particular. Dr. Morgan also serves as President of Mission Life International and as an International committee officer for the International Chiropractic Association.

Dr. Morgan added that, “At schools, we teach Straighten Up America and check all the children. Our team sees approximately 6,000 people a day – 6,000 people a day for 8 days. We not only check and adjust the people, we tell the chiropractic story to groups of 50 at a time. This is some awesome and fun work. Giving for the sake of giving, giving out of our own abundance. Using the blessing that God bestowed upon us – our healing hands.”

Before he embarks on another mission, he makes a plea of his own, for food, clothing, money, and support of any kind to help our people and in the construction of the village of hope and chiropractic school. “Dr. Morgan thanks all the people who have donated to our Mission Life International orphanage over the years, especially to the 3,900 chiropractors who have joined our trips over the last 15 years on these 79 chiropractic mission trips.

To learn more about these missions, or to sign up for an upcoming trip, visit chiromissions.com or missionlifeinternational.com or call 646-323-9254.

The current United Nations personnel who are leaving Haiti consist of 8.720 soldiers and 3, 550 police, supported by 510 international staff, 1.214 national staff, and 231 UN volunteers.

WCA mission update… Returning to Haiti

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by Peter H. Morgan, DC

The World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA) has coordinated and supported a number of humanitarian chiropractic mission trips in 2013, including a return visit by chiropractors to Haiti. The trip took place in October and involved a team of 55 DCs.

The effort was definitely in keeping with the new mission statement of the World Chiropractic Alliance, which states that the organization is dedicated to:  “develop, promote and support humanitarian programs that reach out to populations that, due to geographic or economic factors, cannot access chiropractic care.”

Although team members stayed at a Four-Star hotel on a beautiful white sand beach, with a view of the mountains behind them, the trip was anything but a fun vacation.

Each morning, we rose at seven, grabbed a quick breakfast, and were out the door in a half hour’s time. In two rented buses and three SUVs, we fanned out to reach 20 different destinations.

The group was divided into 10 smaller teams, with each unit going to a school in the morning and a church in the afternoon. At each school, we taught the “Straighten Up America” program and checked about 250 children. When we pulled up at the churches, thousands of people were usually lined up waiting to be adjusted.

Each 10-person unit cared for as many as 600 people a day, meaning the whole mission team saw more than 6,000 people a day for four days straight. We not only check and adjust each individual, we tell the chiropractic story to groups of 50 at a time. This is awesome and fun work. Giving for the sake of giving, giving out of our own abundance, using the blessing that God bestowed upon us: our healing hands.

It’s been nearly two years since the devastating earthquake hit the island in January 2010. In many ways, little has changed since then and, in some ways, things have actually gotten worse. There was a cholera outbreak in the quake’s aftermath, and other diseases run rampant as well. During each trip we’ve made to Haiti in the years since the earthquake, we adjust many with cholera. At one orphanage, all 100+ children I see have fungal infections on their heads. Some have never owned a toothbrush.

Exhausted, this trip’s mission team members returned to the hotel each evening to share a meal and swap stories of the miracles we’d witnessed that day. Then we’d hold an impromptu chiropractic philosophy roundtable, and even teach and review chiropractic technique.

I’m back in New York now, but I get phone calls and e-mails from Haiti every day. “Please don’t forget us. Please help us,” they plead. I tell them we won’t forget. Ever. And we’ll be back to help. Again and again, until we bring chiropractic healing to every one of the people in that area.

(Peter Morgan, DC, is head of Mission Chiropractic, and has led dozens of chiropractic humanitarian missions to developing nations. He is the chairman of the World Chiropractic Alliance Council on Humanitarian Efforts. Dr. Morgan and Tim Merrick, DC, serve as the WCA’s NGO representatives affiliated with the United Nations Department of Public Information.)

WCA mission adjusts 60,000 in 7 days

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In March, a team of 22 chiropractors — joined by 51 chiropractic students — made a powerful impact on the lives of approximately 60,000 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic during a humanitarian mission sponsored by the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA) and Mission Life International.

Leading the group was Peter Morgan, DC, the WCA’s representative to the United Nations Department of Public Information Non-Governmental Organization section. It was his 12th mission to Haiti since the devastating earthquake in January 2010.

“This is an area of the world where countless numbers of orphans roam streets paved with garbage. There are thousands of homeless people,” Dr. Morgan noted. “Continuing to respond to the critical needs of this devastated country, each chiropractor brought two suitcases filled with toothpaste, tooth brushes, soap, shampoo, pencils, and small notebooks for the children. More than 7,000 pounds of items we take for granted in the United States, were distributed to children in lands where such goods are needed desperately.”

After serving for four days in Haiti, the team traveled to the Dominican Republic, where they were met by the students. Together they traveled into the jungles and remote villages, bringing chiropractic care to residents in the cities of Ouanaminthe and Cape Haiti.

“The blessed hands continued with thousands of adjustments in other Dominican Republic cities, villages and hilltop towns,” Morgan said. “We’re making slow but steady progress in the most impoverished nation in the western hemisphere.”

One of Morgan’s patients, a famous Haitian actor known as “Boss Massel,” traveled with the doctors for a while, as did Dr. Eddy Delaleu, the only chiropractor in Haiti, and Alex, who runs an orphanage on the island nation.

“Each morning we would drive the bus into Haiti and adjust all the orphans throughout the city. We visited five different orphanages and adjusted about 2,000 people every day at three different churches,” Morgan recalled. They made their “headquarters” in a town named La Vejia DaJabon, where “the horses are not tied down, 200 cows will pass by every hour and herds of sheep pass every two hours. We adjusted everyone in this town as well as all the people they brought from other towns,” he added.

After adjusting such large numbers of people each day, the group would meet in the evening for classes held by Steve Simonetti, DC, past president of the Congress of Chiropractic State Organizations and Gary Deutchman, DC, founder of the Scoliosis Care Foundation.

The group also held a philosophy meeting, where Drs. Simonetti, Deutchman, and Morgan were speakers along with Drs. Bradley Rauch and Ronald Sinagra.

“The following morning, we divided up into 20 different teams and headed out on four buses. Each team had a translator from the local English school and at each site we also had a team coordinator,” Morgan related. “So our team of 70 grew to a team of 110 plus the four bus drivers. On Thursday and Friday mornings, we adjusted in schools. Every school had between 400 and 700 students, teachers, and bus drivers. We averaged 600 adjustments at each school. We checked and adjusted approximately 12,000 children on Thursday and 12,000 children on Friday.”

At one school, Morgan got permission for chiropractic student and team member Sebastian Colon to give a chiropractic talk during a conference with about 100 teachers. The response was so positive that the young man ended up arranging for similar talks to be given to 25 schools during the next mission trip!

By the time the 7-day mission ended, Morgan estimated that some 60,000 people had been adjusted, including a blind man whose sight was restored after an adjustment by Dr. Sinagra. “He was totally blind,” Morgan explained. “After his adjustment the man’s eyes became watery and he began to see shadows. This was witnessed by the chiropractic students and the other people who were waiting to get adjusted.”

Although they lived in the homes of local residents while in Haiti, the group did include a stay at a 5-star resort hotel in the Dominican Republic. “They have more than 1,500 employees, with their own heliport, a harbor filled with yachts and the biggest waterfront Casino on the island, Morgan noted. “For the next trip, we’ve arranged for every employee to be checked and adjusted. It’s amazing that just a few miles away from this incredible beach front resort is a land of immense poverty.”

Before he’d even landed back in the US, Morgan was planning future missions.

“We’ve been tremendously blessed by God for being born in the USA and our greatest blessing of all is our gift of healing hands. What our chiropractic missionaries received from the experience in Haiti is beyond words. We went to Haiti and the Dominican Republic with one purpose, to give of ourselves. We’ll never forget this!”

DCs helping in Haiti

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The new mission statement by the World Chiropractic Alliance puts an emphasis on humanitarian work around the world, re-dedicating itself to “ Develop, promote and support humanitarian programs that reach out to populations that, due to geographic or economic factors, cannot access chiropractic care,”

We’re obviously not the only ones recognizing the desperate need for chiropractic care as well as basic health care, food, water, clothing and shelter. That’s why the chiropractic profession continues to have a strong presence in Haiti, redoubling its humanitarian and relief efforts in the wake of the January 12, 2010 earthquake that left some 300,000 people dead and more than 1.5 million homeless.

Around the world, chiropractors have demonstrated compassion and generosity in a wide variety of ways, from fundraising by individual practices to ambitious on-site mission work.

Among a few of the many efforts:

Mission Chiropractic—Peter Morgan, DC, reports that the humanitarian group has already made four trips to Haiti this year. They returned just days after the earthquake and helped install water purification units to bring fresh water to a small village that was nearly totally destroyed in the disaster. They continue to provide chiropractic care at the Mission Chiropractic Clinic in Port Au Prince, are rebuilding a school and church, building a homeless shelter, and continue to distribute water and food. “The people in this community begged us to not forget them. We will not,” pledged Dr. Morgan. The group is the process of helping to open a chiropractic-based orphanage called Organisation Des Families Pour La Croissance Des Enfants Demunis: Mission Pour La Vie Internacionale. (Mission Life International: Family Organization for Orphaned Children). For more information, visit www.mission-chiropractic.com.

Heather Jones, DC—When ChiroMission put together a team of 36 chiropractors to provide chiropractic adjustments to anyone in Haiti who needed them (including medical doctors and nurses who were there as part of other relief efforts), Canadian chiropractor Heather Jones, DC, didn’t hesitate. “I was amazed at how everyone worked together to help each other,” she told her local newspaper, which ran a feature on her experience. “I will never forget the children. Even with these tough conditions, there was joy in their eyes. All they wanted was to hold my hand and to hug me.” The team also brought donations of food, clothing and other much needed supplies.

Rennie Statler, DC—This Danbury, Conn., chiropractor received an e-mail asking him to help out on a Stepping Stones mission trip to Haiti shortly after the earthquake. Within 45 minutes, he had made plane reservations and arranged for another doctor to cover his office. In addition to distributing rice and water in Port-au-Prince, the team set up adjusting tables and was immediately surrounded by a crowd of some 300 people wanting the healing only DCs can give.

The Martineau Chiropractic Clinics—In England, the Devon-based clinics held a raffle to raise funds for the Haitian victims, giving away prizes such as a free chiropractic session, a massage and even Pilates instruction. Plus, they matched all the money raised by the raffle!

Cheryl van der Mark, DC—The Ontario, Canada doctor sold her practice to devote herself full time to work in Haiti, where she has been living for the past two years. After surviving the quake, she decided to accept an offer to manage the Mission of Hope Haiti health care facilities. Now, she oversees an outpatient clinic staffed by Haitians, orthopedic surgery, prosthetics laboratory, and an in-patient ward—not to mention working to build a new hospital! An article in the Oakville Beaver newspaper noted that, in addition to all this, she also provides chiropractic care to Haitians and North American doctors working in Haiti. “I’m doing a lot of hands on and a lot of administration at the same time,” she stated in the article. “There’s no set hours. We’re working pretty much round the clock and on weekends as well. We live on the compound where the clinic is, so working has been improvised.”

Tzu Chi International—The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation continues to provide health care to Haitian survivors. Unlike many medical organizations, Tzu Chi provides a wide variety of health services, including oriental medicine, dental services, and chiropractic care. So far, since the earthquake, volunteers have made 13 trips to Haiti, most recently providing school supplies to children along with health care.

Shannon Johnson, DC—Dr. Johnson left his Greenup, Ky., practice for more than a week to work with Angel Missions Haiti, a non-profit medical and education group. As he told local reporters at WOWK-TV, “They were just in so much pain and hurt and there’s no help. I felt I needed to go and I spoke to my wife and asked if she cared if I volunteered and she said no, you need to go.”

Elliott Chiropractic Center—The Canonsburg, Penn., practice sponsored a four-mile relief walk, where participants paid $10 to participate. All proceeds went to benefit the earthquake victims in Haiti. In addition to the walk, Elliott offered free services to new patients who donate $20 to the relief effort.

The list goes on and on

“The World Chiropractic Alliance applauds these efforts and encourages all DCs to look for opportunities to help whenever a crisis hits, whether it’s in their hometown or across the globe,” said Terry A. Rondberg, DC, founder and president of the World Chiropractic Alliance.

WCA sponsors Haiti relief mission

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In response to the emergency in Haiti, the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA) sponsored a special Mission-Chiropractic trip to the devastated country in January 2010.

Headed by Peter Morgan, DC, the team of 15 chiropractors and support staff flew to Haiti on Jan. 20 and spent five days delivering chiropractic care, first aid, and humanitarian relief to residents in an area close to Port Au Prince. In addition, the team distributed food and installed vital water filtration systems, which allowed people access to clean water for the first time since the Jan. 12 earthquake. The systems were donated by Connecticut-based KX Technologies.

Dr. Morgan, a long-time WCA member, is the founder and head of Mission-Chiropractic and has extensive emergency relief experience, including organizing efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack in New York. He and his volunteers had just returned from a regular chiropractic mission trip to Haiti on Monday, January 11 — one day before the earthquake destroyed much of the country and killed as many as 230,000 people.

Morgan’s team joined up with a group of volunteers headed by Herman Mendoza, founder of Stepping Stones Ministries. The two groups received clearance from the Haitian Consulate General in New York to provide relief assistance.

Because there were no available living accommodations in the area, the team was housed by one of Morgan’s patients in the area, chiropractic advocate and Haitian citizen Saurel Charles.

“We installed five water filtration systems in five different locations,” Morgan reported upon his return. “These systems will be used to provide clean drinking water to entire communities. Among the recipients was a makeshift hospital in the rubble of the worst hit section in Port Au Prince. A community ambulance service that was nearly totally destroyed, as was the house of the Pastor in the community that we adopted.”

Upon arrival, the chiropractic team rented three large SUVs and filled them with food and water as well as chiropractic tables.

“We adjusted a few thousand people in tent-city refugee camps around the corner from the Capitol building,” Morgan explained. “The next day, we ventured into the fields behind the US Embassy, where we offered low-tech bandaging and wound care. We adjusted hundreds of people who were living in makeshift tents constructed with sticks and bed sheets.

“As we worked on these people, they begged us for food and water stating, ‘We have not had a drink of water in many days. We need food and water!”

Throughout the trip, the team filled and emptied the SUVs again and again, bringing as much food and water as they could to the desperate people, giving adjustments whenever possible.

“Two associates of our team served in the hospitals assisting in amputations and delivering babies,” Morgan added.

The water filtration systems were a particular blessing to the people. Many people who survived the initial earthquake have since died from diseases contracted by drinking contaminated water.

According to one AP report, “Nearly a month after the quake, respiratory infections, malnutrition, diarrhea from waterborne diseases and a lack of appropriate food for young children may be the biggest killers, health workers say.”

Ironically, generous but ill-informed donors had shipped in huge quantities of powered infant formula, which was useless or dangerous due to the lack of clean water and access to sterilized bottles.

The neighborhood targeted by Morgan and his team, near their host’s home, was almost completely destroyed.

“The school, church, and most homes are gone,” he said. “We have decided to adopt this community. Our mission is to provide full time chiropractic at this location. We also intend to rebuild the school, church, and many homes. We would like to build a shelter at the home of Saurel Charles. We intend to continue to distribute water and food. The people in this community begged us to not forget them. We will not. Our plans are to have two-to-three full time chiropractors at this site until our mission is accomplished. We are asking the chiropractic profession to support our mission.”

WCA sponsored mission takes chiropractic to Haiti once more

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Hundreds of military personnel get adjusted

Submitted by the World Chiropractic Alliance

During his 28-year career as a chiropractor, Peter Morgan, DC, has adjusted thousands of men, women, and children, but– unlike most of his colleagues — he often doesn’t even know their names. That’s because he cared for them during one of the 59 humanitarian trips he has made over the past 11 years, many of them sponsored and promoted by the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA).

“One of the key goals of the WCA is to develop, promote, and support humanitarian programs that reach out to populations that, due to geographic or economic factors, cannot access chiropractic care,” explained Terry A. Rondberg, DC, founder and president of the WCA. “During the past decades, we’ve been involved in mission trips from remote villages in Tibet to overcrowded tenements in the United States. We go where chiropractic is needed and people like Dr. Morgan are the heroes who get it there.”

Because of the devastating earthquakes that nearly destroyed Haiti in 2010, Morgan has focused particular attention on that country. This year, he took a team of 45 chiropractors and chiropractic students to URUBATT 2, the Haiti United Nations military base. They also had the opportunity to examine and adjust the entire 395 Uruguay military personal stationed at this base.

Some of the team stayed at the Mission Life International Chiropractic Orphanage in Haiti and others had the opportunity to teach the “Straighten up America” program to supervisors at the Codevi factory supervisors. Codevi — which manufactures clothing for Calvin Klein, Lee Jeans, and Timberland shoes — employs more than 10,000 Haitian citizens. “We examined and adjusted many of these employees and have been approached to create the largest chiropractic research study ever performed,” Morgan noted.

As a member of the WCA Board of Governors, Morgan works closely with Haitian health and government officials, as well as the departments within the United Nations. In December 1998, the WCA was named an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI). Part of his job is to make sure the chiropractic profession is educated on the global need for health care in general and chiropractic in particular.

Morgan also serves as President of Mission Life International and as an International committee officer for the International Federation of Chiropractors and Organizations.

Traveling with him on recent humanitarian missions has been Gary Deutchman, DC, President Scoliosis Care Foundation, Vice President Mission Life International, DPI/NGO Chiropractic Representative to the United Nations, Past District President  NY Chiropractic Council and Stephen Simonetti, DC, Vice President Mission Life International, DPI/NGO Chiropractic Representative to the United Nations,  Past President Congress of State Chiropractic Organizations, Past President NY Chiropractic Council .

After their stay in Haiti, the team spent four days in the Dominican Republic, where a team of dedicated Dominican chiropractic advocates generated widespread publicity, spotlighting the mission on television and radio.

“We got word to more than 50 pastors and priests throughout the North Coast of the Dominican Republic. When we arrived at the churches, thousands of people were lined up waiting to be adjusted,” the New York-based doctor explained.

He added that, “At the schools, we teach Straighten Up America and check all the children. Our team sees approximately 6,000 people a day – 6,000 people a day for 8 days. We not only check and adjust the people, we tell the chiropractic story to groups of 50 at a time. This is some awesome and fun work. Giving for the sake of giving, giving out of our own abundance. Using the blessing that God bestowed upon us – our healing hands.”

He’s back in New York now, but receives daily phone calls and e-mails from Haiti, all echoing their pleas of “… don’t forget us… help us… please, please.” He’s often awakened in the middle of the night. “A nightmare?” he asks. “No, a Haitian reality.”

Before he embarks on another mission, he makes a plea of his own, for food, clothing, money, and support of any kind. “We thank all the people who have donated to our Mission Life International orphanage over the years, especially to the 2,500 chiropractors who have joined me over the last 11 years on these 59 chiropractic mission trips.”

To learn more about these missions, or to sign up for an upcoming trip, visit missionlifeinternational.com or call 404-786-2014.

SIDEBAR:

In addition to his own pleas, Dr. Morgan was asked by Colonel Raul Passarino, the United Nations Military Commander in Haiti – who has been under chiropractic care for many years—to pass the following information along to all his fellow chiropractors.

The mission of the United Nations for the stabilization of Haiti, called Minustah, was launched in 1993 and ran from 1994 to 2001.

In 2004 there was political crisis in Haiti with an armed outbreak. That’s when the United Nations Haitian police was created.  President Aristide left the country. On the 29th of February, the acting president assumed power and requested United Nations assistance, authorizing the entry of United Nations troops in Haiti.

The Security Council approved the recommendations of the secretary general for the installation of a multidimensional mission, and the Minustah mandate was established to secure and stable environment in which the political process can develop. To strengthen Haiti’s governmental institutions and assist in the reinstatement of the rules of law, as well as promote and protect human rights.

The current United Nations personnel deployed in Haiti consist of 8.720 soldiers and 3, 550 police, supported by 510 international staff, 1.214 national staff, and 231 UN volunteers.