Haiti Article

Mission to Haiti and the Dominican Republic

By Peter Morgan, DC

Mission chiropractors adjust 25,000 people in 4 days.  Book of world records document the new world record event.

Mission-Chiropractic led a team of 32 chiropractors and 31 chiropractic students to the jungles and remote villages of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The 60 + were accompanied by a PBS film team and the world book of records. Mission-Chiropractic has brought the healing power of Chiropractic to hundreds upon hundreds of Haitians in the town of Ouanaminthe and thousands upon thousands of people in multiple Dominican Republic cities, villages and hill top towns. The Chiropractors had more than 30 teams. Each team consisted of a chiropractor, a chiropractic student and a mission guide. Dr. Herold and Dr. Doornick led 5 of the teams in Imber, Luperon, Caberette and the Puerta Plata region of the Dominican Republic. Dr. Morgan led 25 teams in Santiago, La Vega, Ranchito and San Francisco de Marqoris.  The rippling effects of this Chiropractic pebble dropping into the pond are just beginning.

Dr Peter Morgan, founder of  Mission-Chiropractic also had a meeting with the President of the Dominican Republic Presidente Leonel Fernandez. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the formation of a chiropractic school health center in the Dominican Republic. The Doctors made a special trip last January just to meet the president. Every day for 10 days during January their meeting was canceled. Finally after ten days the three Mission-Chiropractors met with the Presidents cabinet, the Secretary of Health and the Secretary of Education but not with the President. On the eleventh day the three chiropractors had to fly back to their practices in New York. The three returned to the Dominican Republic during the last week of March 2008. This was one week earlier than the rest of the 60 + Mission-Chiropractic team. Their purpose was to educate hospitals, schools and pastors about chiropractic. They also had to prepare for the mission and for the arrival of the 65 chiropractors and students.  On Sunday March 30, 2008 out of no where they received a call.  Dr.JC Doornick tells it best.  "Basically, we got "The Call" yesterday while sleeping at our hotel. President Doctor Leonel Fernandez Reyna of the Dominican Republic was to be at a press conference at 6pm to inaugurate a brand new hospital that we are working with to implement chiropractic and proactive/preventative health care. . Dr. Todd Herold has a brother in-law that works security for the President and facilitated the "meeting." Well, we basically waited 4 hours because he was mobbed with press and his motorcade was slowed down by traffic. Next thing we know, Todd's brother in law shows up and grab us by the arm and insist we follow him. We DID! All of a sudden these doors open up and we begin walking into an enormous Press Conference with thousands of people in attendance. As we marched into the large arena with music blaring, people were chanting "Presidente Leonel, Presidente Leonel. People were reaching, grabbing and trying to touch us as we proceeded up to the Deus. It felt like 110 degrees as the press were taking pictures. This was a nationally televised event and we realized that we were walking into it with the President and his cabinet. Unbelievable! We stood in the front for another two hours with the secret service agents in a private viewing area. PS: Todd and I gave them all adjustments while Pete photographed! After, the President was whisked away, we were maneuvered through side doors by security and we found ourselves in a private area where our meeting and the following picture was taken. It was now midnight as the President mentioned in perfect English how excited and thankful he was of our work here and it was awesome! Pete mentioned to him that we wanted to build a chiropractic school here in the Dominican Republic and he responded by saying "Go for it"

The next day the three chiropractors along with mission leader Jason O’Connor, DC lectured to group of over 50 medical residents, recent medical graduates and the heads of several medical departments at Morillo King Hospital in La Vega, Dominican Republic. The lecture was an introduction to chiropractic. The group explained the chiropractor’s role as primary health care providers centered on vertebral subluxation detection and correction. They discussed the possibility of bringing chiropractic to the country on a permanent basis. The Dominican Republic government and medical profession have embraced the concept 100%. Mission-Chiropractic has been in contact with two major U.S. chiropractic schools in regards to an international outreach program in the Dominican Republic.

Now on to Haiti

Jason O’Connor, DC, from Antioch, California was the primary Mission-Chiropractic organizer of the Haiti expedition and led the brave team of Chiropractors.  David Hecht, DC, from New York was another mission leader, and John Palmer, Chiropractic Student at Life University was the student leader.  “There was a lot of uncertainty on both sides (Haiti and Mission-Chiropractic) as to how this was going to work”, said Dr. O’Connor.  “I was organizing with people who have never received an adjustment, and who do not know what Chiropractic is.  I have never been to Haiti. I do not speak Creole. I was nervous and apprehensive regarding our physical safety. I was concerned about the sanitary conditions.  However since our mission was so important, I was willing to try. I trusted that the God would see that things would work out.  We were pleasantly surprised!”

The expansion to Haiti fits nicely into Mission-Chiropractic’s desire to bring the benefits of Chiropractic to people who cannot afford healthcare.  During the last trip, in October 2007, Dr. O’Connor was introduced by a Dominican friend to Rezene Tesfamariam, Director of Plan Haiti.  Plan International has donated $350,000 toward the construction of a kindergarten at Institution Univers, as school of 1,500 students in the town of Ouanaminthe, Haiti.  Understanding the objectives of Chiropractic, Rezene introduced Dr. O’Connor to Hugues Bastien, the founder of Institution Univers.  “That’s how it all began”, said Jason.  “I just wanted to help in any way that I could.  For me this is a perfect match—my love for the Dominican people and my love for Chiropractic—all wrapped up in an effort to serve and make things better for others.  Having lived in the D.R. for two years, I know how poor the country is.  I knew that Haiti was even worse off.”

Looking back on the trip, one can recognize some great lessons of life. 

Things usually look ugly before they get better.  Dr. O’Connor and his team almost decided to turn back when they got to the border and were told they couldn’t take their rental car across. They were weary, hungry and sweaty from their long trip from Puerta Plata to the Haitian border. Not to mention nervous, anxious and apprehensive.  They were receiving lots of offers from "strange" strangers to watch their rental car while they went across the river to Haiti.  Images of returning to a dismantled vehicle, or no vehicle at all ran through their minds.  “We couldn’t reach our contact person Mr. Hugues Bastien on the phone. We were stranded for hours.  We were stuck!”   The team told stories about their time waiting.  “Little children were coming from Haiti begging for money.  Several of them approached the car windows and we could see their skin riddled with all sorts of skin diseases, teeth that were decayed to the roots, and wearing filthy rags for clothes.  We could see across the border to the outskirts of a very poor town, very sparse vegetation, and garbage everywhere.”

Don’t give up!  The team reported that their minds began looking for every reason not to go forward.  But, just as they were beginning to make plans to leave, they received a call from Mr. Bastien.  He confirmed the fact that they couldn’t bring the vehicle across the border.  They felt even more insecure when he told them he might have a place where it could be left.  When Dr. Hect asked if it would be safe, Hugues just replied, “Trust me.”  Followed by an unsettling laugh.

“We really had no other choice, so we left our car, and the keys, and the team hopped into Hugues’ 4 wheel drive van and crossed into Ouanaminthe.  The Mission-Chiropractors were so happy that they endured the hardships and carried on with the mission.  “We would have missed out on a great opportunity to serve and the people who were expecting us would have been severely disappointed.”   Jason O’Connor also described the organization of the Medical Center.  “They had scheduled appointments with the people, just like a regular office.  They had scheduled 100 patients per hour, and people showed up consistently throughout the day.  We worked non-stop over seeing all the scheduled patients plus walk-ins for the days that we were in Ouanaminthe.  A good 12+ hours of solid work per day for each member of the team.”

To help with the language barrier, the Mission-Chiropractors had help from translators who delivered the Chiropractic story to educate the people as they waited.  Emphasis was placed on the vitalistic principle “That the power that made the body heals the body.”  The facility at Universe Medical Centre was built for all types of health providers, who can come and donate their time and talents to help the people.  There is a huge need for help.  The team was told that there is only one health provider in the region, a medical doctor. Only 25% of his time is actually spent seeing patients because of the administrative responsibilities he also carries. The 3 story Medical Centre is right off the town square, and is currently scheduling visits from doctors from other nations.

The team also expressed admiration for Hugues Bastien.  Hugues is one of 12 children. He is a well educated gentleman receiving an advanced Engineering degree in college His family immigrated to the United States.  All of his brothers and sisters continue to reside in the United States, but Hugues had a dream to build an educational center in his home town. The educators at the center would teach children how to prepare for opportunities, how to create opportunities and to take advantage of opportunities when they come along.  Little by little he began to build the school.  In the beginning he saved money by working as a taxi driver in New York.  Slowly but surely he worked and toiled on his dream. Finally Mr. Bastien’s dream came to realization.   Now there is a stunning educational facility that has 1,600 students.   This was the first time that any Chiropractors had visited the town.

Another facility is also nearing completion; it will be able to house teams of 50- 60 doctors who could stay for a week or longer.  With Hugues’ engineering background, he has taken his vision and turned it into reality.  Mission-Chiropractic was able to share in his joy as the fruits of his labor are beginning to show.  Speaking on behalf of the Chiropractic team, Dr. O’Connor stated “We were tremendously blessed by what we received from the experience in Ouanaminthe.  We went with one purpose, to give of ourselves.  We will never forget this!”

Back in the Dominican Republic the 30 teams were stationed all over the country. Many of the chiropractors were on their first mission trip but they all prepared for an incredibly powerful week of love and service, giving God's greatest gift to man "chiropractic".  Chiropractic to so many people that may not have ever had the opportunity to experience a chiropractic adjustment.  Teams were located in mountain villages, in city ghettos, in orphanages, nursing homes, prisons, baseball fields and villages that were devastated by a recent hurricane. Some teams adjusted as many as 1,000 people in a day. The average team adjusted 400 people a day. Almost every team adjusted all the students in each local school.  All types of people presented to our teams. Their were new born infants clutching their mothers breast, their were people over 100 years, people with hatchet wounds, people on crutches and wheel chairs, woman with bleeding goiters, people with huge tumors priests, pastors, ministers, curios passerby's would wander over, an endless procession of people with all kinds of ailments. All looking for a miracle from the chiropractic miracle workers. The chiropractors analyzed and adjusted solely for the purpose of removing nerve interference. As DD Palmer stated "Our mission is to reunite the physical with the spiritual". During a mission trip I was dropping a team of chiropractors to their destination. I had been stationed at this exact site on the last mission. I saw the pastor who I had previously spent a night with eating dinner at his house. We spoke about our wonderful night and I thanked him for helping us with our mission trip. As I was leaving three women came up to me and asked if I could adjust them. I told them that this was not my station and the young women chiropractors would take care of them. They replied “oh no doctor you have to take care of me. The last time you were here you created a miracle in my life. The other two women had the same story. One of the women had a tumor that went away, another had a goiter that went away and the third had digestive problems that were completely gone. I replied I did not perform any miracles. I am an instrument of the universe here to remove vertebral subluxations. This will allow the body to work better. Of course I had to adjust these three women. Each adjustment was accompanied by a hug and the love just poured forth.  I stayed awhile and helped the two young female chiropractors because hundreds of people had already come two hours early and were waiting. People cried, laughed, smiled and grinned after they get adjusted, however they all respected the sacred art of adjusting the spine. The damaging effects of vertebral subluxation are easily identifiable in the DR. Mission-Chiropractic is doing it's best to bring chiropractic to the DR on a permanent basis.  Chiropractic also rose over $5000 dollars on this trip and it was donated to the Casa de Oracion.

Look at what is in our Horizon. 600,000 people around the world need to be served in the next three years. We need your help.

We have at least 15,000 people in Trinidad to adjust in January 2009.  Get this:  We have a weekly radio show that airs in Trinidad. Mission-Chiropractic will have a one minute radio spot on the air every week in Trinidad. They will keep airing it until we get there in January.  We will be in serving in several Trinidad cities: Port of Spain, Chaguanas, Couva, San Francique and Mortuga. Thanks to Pastor Soto

Thanks to Pastor Soto we have over 100,000 people to be adjusted in churches in Mexico.

We have over 45,000 people to be adjusted in Jamaica. We have over 40,000 people to be adjusted in Argentina.

Thanks to Pastor Soto we have over 45,000 people to be adjusted in Guatamala.

Please join us on our next Mission-Chiropractic: