Haitian earthquake survivors recovering in the city of brotherly love

	Wilner Pierre suffered substantial injuries during the earthquake that have left him paralyzed from the waist down. "That doesn't bother me much because I have met a lot of people who have the same condition but they do whatever they want, they go to school and learn," says Wilner. Like Seleine, he was brought to Philadelphia to receive care not available in Haiti.

"It is due to the grace of people who helped me that I can even sit here and talk about my children,” says Seleine Gay.

Seleine was one of 19 Haitians injured by the earthquake who were brought to Philadelphia by Partners In Health (PIH) to receive medical care. All of these patients would have most likely died within 24 hours had it not been for the generosity of several medical facilities in the Philadelphia area.

Seleine received treatment from doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania after her leg was crushed during the tremors. Though her condition was critical in the days following the earthquake, she is now doing well and living with a group of other Right To Health Care (RTHC) patients in Germantown, PA, as they recover from their injuries.

Last month, Seleine was fitted for a prosthetic leg.  "I love it because, with it, I can stand and walk again," she says. But, she misses her family, having left behind a husband and three children under the age of 12 in Haiti.

Learn more about Seleine and her fellow earthquake survivors now living in the Philadelphia area on a segment by Philadelphia’s ABC affiliate, WPBI. 

For more than 20 years, the RTHC program has served patients with medical needs too complex to be treated in the countries where we work. PIH collaborates with US-based hospitals, clinicians, and families to provide each patient the specialized care needed for a successful recovery.

Read more about RTHC’s response to the January 12 earthquake.