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The REvive Jacmel medical center in Jacmel, Haiti, is not a typical construction project. It’s being led by a Portland plastic surgeon, and costing approximately $150,000 — close to $35,000 more than budgeted originally. Project planning began in 2013; completion is slated for 2016.

But now the collaborative effort has almost produced a building 鈥� finally.

鈥淚t’s been a long, strange trip, and we’ve had lots and lots of help from lots of different people,鈥� said Michael Workman,聽the Portlander who for the past three years has shepherded the effort to build the center. 鈥淚’ve never done anything like this before; I mean, I’m a private-practice plastic surgeon. I guess I was just looking for some way to help.鈥�

With walls up and roof trusses assembled and ready for installation, the REvive Jacmel dental and surgical center is now, literally, off the ground. Elections in Haiti caused delays.

鈥淭here were times when聽I thought, boy, we’re never going to get shovels in the ground,鈥� said Jim McKune, a retired general contractor and REvive聽Jacmel project team member.

On Jan. 12, 2010, Haiti was rocked by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that聽laid waste to the capital city of Port-au-Prince and outlying areas. By chance it was the same day as Associated General Contractors‘ annual meeting in Oregon. After watching news footage showing the devastation, an AGC聽committee convened and voted to聽send money to the people of Haiti. It committed $75,000 up front, and individuals contributed more.

As a recipient for the money was sought, it 鈥渟at there and sat there and sat there,鈥� McKune recalled. A land deal fell through and a designer pulled out. In time, students from the University of Oregon and Oregon State University were involved.

鈥淭he idea was to make this into a learning opportunity, so everybody benefits,鈥� said Dale Campbell, former AGC president.

KPFF Engineering and Waterleaf Architecture signed on, assisting designs and聽working with students. Then, about two years ago, the group聽identified a 5-acre property near a聽Children’s Hope orphanage, where a surgical and dental center could be built for the price in mind. Children’s Hope, a ministry of the First Baptist Church of Montgomery, Ala., donated the land. Scott Payne of Children’s Hope has supervised the project on site.

Two months ago, the shovels finally hit the ground. The floor聽has been聽poured and the walls put up. OSU students traveled there to assemble the roof trusses, which are under tarps and should聽be installed聽soon.

Workman first visited the affected area three years ago, and came across people dying who couldn’t afford surgery. He saw a woman who contracted gangrene following a foot amputation, and a聽boy with a hernia whose intestines protruded through his stomach. Many people in the affected area earn no more than $2 a day. Medical centers accept only cash and no insurance.
鈥淚n essence, for many people, there’s no medical care,鈥� he said.

Though there is a finish line of sorts in sight, Workman said the work won’t end when construction is complete. Next will come the matter of operating the full-time medical facility.

鈥淥ne thing you notice when you go there,鈥� he said, is 鈥渢here’s so much need.鈥�