Why is NOVA’s budget 124,000 for our clinic in Haiti?
In December 2015, NOVA’s Board of Directors voted on and approved the 2016 budget. We project that to keep our clinic in Haiti operating for the next year we will need $124,000.
What does this $124,000 figure provide? What makes it up? Why is it higher than last year’s budget? What does it not include? These are great questions and NOVA would like to provide some information to our donors.
What does $124,000 donated by our supporters provide?
This money, donated by the generosity of our supporters, offers a fully staffed medical team which provides primary medical care at our two clinic locations in Southwest Haiti: Cavaillon and Boileau. Our staff works five days per week throughout the year. NOVA also stocks and maintains a fully stocked pharmacy for our patients. It also pays the maintenance, security and general expenses of our building, which includes the first floor medical clinic and second floor residence for our visiting missionaries. With just $124,000, NOVA Hope for Haiti is making a major positive impact on the health and wellbeing of the people we serve in Haiti.
What is included in the $124,000?
Staff Salaries – $71,000
Staff salaries in Haiti comprise the largest piece of the budget. We have a staff of 17 employees in Haiti. Our medical staff includes two doctors, four nurses, a pharmacist and two lab technicians. In addition we have two security guards, a gardener and a janitor. We recently hired a clinic administrator to assist with the non-medical operation of the clinic and to assist the Board of Directors with reporting. While this total may seem low compared to US salaries, NOVA pays its staff a competitive rate, including all payroll taxes.
Medication – $25,000
The next largest single portion of the budget is the medication that we provide to our clinic. This provides enough medication for our staff to use and for our volunteer missionary teams twice per year. We are able to keep this cost so low because we order our medication from an organization in Europe that only supplies non-profit NGO’s around the world. The logistics of ordering medicine from Europe, having it shipped to Haiti, clearing it through customs and shipping it to our clinic four hours from Port au Prince is daunting. But thanks to the extreme dedication and effort by our Medical Director, Dr. Charles Kordula, our clinic’s pharmacy is one of the best stocked pharmacies in southern Haiti and he does it on a shoe-string budget.
Oversight missions – $6,000
We have also allocated a small amount, $6,000, to cover the costs of sending two oversight teams to our clinic each year to observe and develop our staff and make sure that they are running our clinic according to the standards of care that our medical volunteers have deemed appropriate. NOVA Hope for Haiti is directly involved with our staff and operation to ensure that our operations in Haiti are running correctly. These non-medical missions are essential to make sure that our donors’ financial contributions are being spent appropriately and we are providing the best possible medical care.
Clinic supplies, maintenance and operation expenses $15,500
We have budgeted $15,500 for items such laboratory supplies, office supplies, gas for the generator, garbage removal, building maintenance and repairs, etc.
Hospital emergency transport/care for patients $2,000
We allocate $2,000 to assist certain patients who we treat at our clinic go to the hospital when we need to refer them and they cannot afford the hospital cost.
Clinic insurance – $5,000
To insure our building and staff in Haiti is about $5,000 annually.
As you can see, just the operations of our clinic in Haiti runs NOVA $124,000
Why is this budget higher than last year?
This budget is higher than last year for a few very good reasons.
First, NOVA hired a second physician in Haiti this year. The patient load at our clinic was too much for one physician to handle alone and so we needed a second doctor on staff. This also makes sure the clinic can run when our staff takes their vacation time. Our US volunteer physicians concurred that it is better medical practice to have a colleague on staff to consult with than to be all alone providing care.
Second, we hired an office manager in Haiti who is bi-lingual. This is another key position on staff and an investment in the future of NOVA. There are many non-medical aspects to properly running a clinic and this it is very difficult doing this in another country. While most of the administrative responsibilities for running NOVA are handled by volunteer members of the Board, particularly Solanges Toussaint, Joseph Nuzzi, Jan Mansley and Charles Kordula.. it was necessary for our staff doctor in Haiti, Dr. Nixon Altenord to do a great deal of the clinic administrative work and reporting. We needed to dedicate his time to providing medical care without these interferences. NOVA has grown immensely in the past two years and the Board of Trustees felt it necessary at this time to have a dedicated bi-lingual professional on the ground in Haiti to help us run the organization.
Finally, we also allocated $5,000 more this year for medications over last year.
What does the $124,000 not include?
This budget does not include the volunteer medical missions that NOVA currently sends twice per year. An average volunteer medical mission is about 22-24 people and cost about $25,000. The missions, however, are self-funding because each volunteer is asked to cover their costs of travel, food, etc.
These figures are included in NOVA’s overall annual budget but they are not included in the money we try to raise at our annual fundraiser. Our missionaries either donate the money to cover their costs themselves, or raise the money they need themselves from friends and family. Of course, if we were able to raise more than that $124,000 we need to run our clinic in Haiti all year, we would love to set up scholarships for volunteers who want to help in Haiti and would be valuable to our mission but cannot afford to come.
Also not included are the budget items related to the usual expenses of running a 501c3 organization: insurance, fundraising, marketing, postage expenses for mailings throughout the year, accounting and bookkeeping expenses, etc. which are approximately $16,000.
All of this is available in NOVA’s annual budget in detail. Our intention with this article was to give our donors an understanding of why we are seeking to raise at least $124,000 at this year’s Annual Casino Night.
