Dr. Gagne and Dr. O’Connell treating children at Haitian Orphanage

They walk among us. Through their loving work, they help to heal the world. Jean Houston calls them “Social Artists”, referring to those who bring focus, passion, skill, tireless dedication and fresh vision to the social arena.

Christian Gagne is a social artist, but he is better known in his own circles as a medical doctor. I am privileged to call him a friend. I personally witnessed the compassion and kindness that he infuses into his practice when he sat next to me, providing comfort as my husband (and his friend) passed away.

I watched his healing hands gently touch my husband and tend to his comfort in his remaining hours of life. Those same hands have healed thousands and have welcomed countless newborns into the world. It seemed appropriate to me that he would volunteer to work with an organization called, Team Canada Healing Hands (tchh.org).

Christian lives in Saint-Lazare, Quebec and has worked at Hawkesbury General Hospital for many years in general practice doing maternity, child care and emergency medicine. In early January of this year, he went to Haiti with the organization to help provide primary care, as well as to support and train the local medical staff. He was asked by long time friend and colleague, Dr. Colleen O’Connell, who is the founder and chair of Team Canada Healing Hands and physiatrist (rehabilitation specialist) in New Brunswick.

All his training and experience prepared him professionally for the journey he was about to take, but nothing could have prepared him emotionally for the experience.

Even though I knew Haiti was quite poor and the standard of living was not very good, I didn’t expect to see so many people living in tents, malnourished and such hardship. When you see it in person, well it is very difficult to put into words. I experienced so many emotions all at once.

Christian started his journey in Cap-Haïtien, the second most populated town in Haiti.“Even though it (Cap-Haïtien) wasn’t touched by the earthquake, the living conditions for many are horrendous. The sanitary conditions, access to proper medical care and medications were scarce. I think that so much needs to be done just so Haitians can have the things that we take for granted – food to eat, a roof over head and a way to make a living.”

The organization he went to Haiti with focuses on rehabilitation, in particular training of locals so they can provide medical services for their own population. He explained, “We visited orphanages to help with primary care and fit them with orthoses and mobility aids. Most of the children were given up by their parents, because they had a physical disability or they could not provide the necessities of life.”

When asked how he felt after visiting the orphanage, he replied, “I was amazed by the people looking after the children, by their faith and devotion to care for the ones no one else wanted to look after. One person was responsible for more than 15 physically challenged children. I was amazed, sad, and happy to help. I thought of my own children so many times.”

Christian is a husband (to my friend Lora) and a father of three young girls, aged 8, 6 and 3. He has a full plate at home and a busy work schedule. “I knew I couldn’t take a a lot of time to go away at this stage of my life, but I wanted to do something to help.” He humbly states, “It (his contribution) may be a drop in the bucket, but I think every bit helps.”

What he got in return was priceless. Christian speaks of the inspirational people he met along the way.

They are very resilient. Most people you talk to knew someone who was lost in the earthquake. They have so many reasons to be down, but they have a lot of pride, they are positive and full of hope.

Dr. Gagne training local staff at rehabilitation hospital in Cap-Haïtien

He worked in a hospital that was in the process of being built by Haiti Hospital Appeal. The tireless devotion of the two young professionals responsible for this project impressed him greatly.

He tells the story of one patient he met there. “He had 8 children and a wife. Everyone died (in the earthquake) except for him and now he is paraplegic. Yet, he had a smile on his face and tried hard to rehabilitate himself and go home. He lost everything. He could have given up, but instead he was working hard to rebuild his life.”

We can’t give up hope, Christian said. I hear people concerned that their donations aren’t getting to where they’re needed most, and I think that this is the worst thing that can happen. We can’t turn our backs on them now. Progress is being made.

To illustrate this point, he describes the work of Doctors without Borders. “During the recent cholera outbreak, they treated over 5,000 patients. At first the local authorities didn’t know how to control the epidemic. Together the doctors and local health care professionals provided medicine, rehydration, prompt medical care and help with sanitation to control the spread of the disease. Within 7 weeks the mortality rate dropped from 13% to 0.5%.”

When asked if this experience changed him in any way, he responded emphatically, “It can’t not change you! It changes your perspective. A lot of emotions are brought to the surface. They (his colleagues at Team Canada Healing Hands) say that nobody comes twice to Haiti. Some only come once, because they find the experience too hard or they feel unsafe. Most others come back repeatedly, because they enjoy the experience of helping. It feels good and so much needs to be done. I think I am in the second camp. If I am asked to go back, I’ll go.”

This is the part that we so often forget, and that was not missed by Christian. When we bring our gifts and passions out through our work, not only do we help to heal the world, but we heal and strengthen our own heart.

If you would like to help support the work mentioned in this article, please visit the websites of Team Canada Healing Hands www.tchh.org., and Haiti Hospital Appeal www.haitihospitalappeal.org.