By Anna Skinner
Fishers resident Adam Robinson has traveled to Haiti through Northview Church ministry teams multiple times, but his next trip there will last three to five years.
Robinson, a paramedic with the Westfield Fire Dept., will work to develop a prehospital care system for the island and will be in charge of temporary leadership teams traveling to Haiti.
“When we were in Haiti, Nehemiah Vision Ministries was at the beginning stages of building a medical center that will have inpatient health care, a malnutrition clinic, operation rooms, labor and delivery, radiology and dentistry — it’s an all-encompassing clinic,” he said. “Being a paramedic, that really connected with me.”
On his campus tour of Nehemiah Vision Ministries, Robinson was taken into a warehouse that housed an ambulance that had been donated from America.
“When I saw it, it didn’t make sense because they don’t have EMS services in Haiti,” he said. “I asked, and they said someday they have hopes of establishing a prehospital care system. I have been a paramedic for 12 years and I felt, why not me?”
While Robinson will not be in charge of establishing the medical center, he will coordinate the short-term leadership teams visiting, assisting and staying at NVM from American colleges and churches.
“When we get down there, my primary job is going to be a team facilitator. I’m responsible for all short-term teams from the airport to time they leave,” he said. “I’ll be responsible for the logistics making sure they have all they need for the time they’re there.”
When he is not assisting teams, Robinson will help the medical director at NVM establish the prehospital care system from the ground up.
The infrastructure for a 9-1-1 system is not in place yet in Haiti, and Adam and his wife, Kristin, will need to do some creative problem solving to create one. Haiti is not equipped with an ambulatory service. The United Nations has vehicles for medical care, but Adam said Haiti does not operate on a governmental health care system like the United States.
“There’s a need for it. People walk for healthcare or have to pay for transportation and the funds aren’t there to be able to do that,” Kristin Robinson said. “There’s a need to be able to help people.”
All healthcare provided to Haitians at NVM is not free, but done at a severely discounted rate. Adam said that Haitians do not want free care; they want to be able to provide for their families.
“It gives them a pride to take care of themselves and families,” he said. “NVM is all about giving a hand up, not a handout. It’s a lot cheaper, but they still have to work for it so they can say they did that for their family.”
The Robinsons have two children currently in Hamilton Southeastern Schools that will travel to Haiti with them, and Kristin will home school the children.
Adam will continue to serve on the Westfield Fire Dept. until April 3, and the family leaves for Haiti on May 17.
Their first year is completely funded, and they need about $55,000 per year to fund their trip. Donations may be made at therobinsonsonmission.com.
Meet the Robinsons
Children: Connor, 5, and Samantha, 7.
Teams planned for Haiti missions: 46 in 2016 that Adam will facilitate, but more can always be added.
Family hobbies: Being outside, riding bikes, camping.
Children’s feelings for Haiti: “There’s some anxiety about not understanding where they are going to go and what it’ll be like, but they have excitement too about new things and new people,” Kristin said.
Family’s blog: therobinsonsonmission.com
