GASTON COUNTY, N.C. -- Lumiere Medical Ministries, a Gastonia-based Christian charity will take part in the opening of a new 32-bed hospital in Haiti on Saturday.
Lumiere partnered with other groups to help fund, build and furnish the new hospital in Port Au Prince that will also house two operating suites.
"The hospital opening is a light of hope for the people," said Hank Hoskins, the president and CEO of Lumiere Ministries.
The group has been active in trying to solve the many problems faced by the Haitian people for years. After a massive earthquake last January, the group collected and sent down thousands of pounds of badly needed supplies. Lumiere was also instrumental in getting local doctors to go down and help in the days immediately following the quake.
The new King's Hospital will have furniture and equipment that was either donated or discounted by medical equipment firms from Gaston County.
It will be staffed primarily by doctors from the U.S. and Canada.
"They are not only going in and treating people and caring for people in need," Haskins said, "but they are also training and preparing doctors from Haiti for the future."
The new hospital is opening at a time when the newest concern in Haiti is an outbreak of Cholera.
"People are dehydrated and dying,” Haskins said. “It's sad."
Haskins, who will leave for Haiti himself on Thursday for the dedication, said he and the others involved with the group will always have hope for the long-suffering people of Haiti.
"There is hope but this is a hope built on faith."
