I don’t remember the exact year, but when the plans were started for an outpatient clinic in Saintard, Missionary Phyllis Newby and local Pastor Jean Marie Louis Jean suggested we start discussing the details with a Haitian physician. I was certainly open to their leading, and they both suggested a meeting with Dr. Ernst Pady, who had helped them out on several occasions. Shortly thereafter, a trip was arranged to go to his office in Port au Prince. From that meeting (circa 2000), Dr. Pady became an integral part of the opening and continuance of the Saintard clinic, which eventually became the 24/7 Hôpital L’Eglise de Dieu Réformée de Saintard. I learned so much from Dr. Pady, and along the way I kept learning more and more about his personal journey.
Born in 1958 in Gonaives, Haiti, Dr. Pady was stricken with polio when he was quite young. His ability to walk without leg braces and canes was taken from him, but his mother encouraged him to continue to use his mind and the rest of his God-given abilities to help other people who might have challenges like he had. The plan had been launched for Dr. Pady to overcome!
After completing his pediatric residency and accepting a staff position at a government hospital in Haiti, Dr. Pady continued his education in both Germany and France, giving him a unique perspective on pediatric care. He not only returned to Haiti to help teach at the university hospital, but he opened his own private clinic near downtown Port au Prince, and to further education for children, helped fund and organize an elementary school in his Port au Prince neighborhood. This part of his overcoming nature was already well established before he even agreed to help us start the facility in Saintard.
With his guidance, a few years and hundreds of hours of paperwork and meetings, the clinic opened in Saintard in July 2005, with Dr. Pady as the first employee. As the clinic grew, Dr. Pady helped find other physicians, nurses, and radiology technicians to assist in expanding clinic services, while continuing to see a portion of the patient load each week. From 2005 until October 2020, Dr. Pady continued to see patients weekly at the facility. In October 2020, he suffered a stroke, which left him debilitated and unable to speak or communicate sufficiently to work his normal shift. With his speech starting to slowly recover, Dr. Pady still would drive the 1 ½ – 2 hours to make sure all was well at the hospital. Last Friday (February 26th) he made his observational visit, gave me a thumbs up, smiled and went on his way. He was again overcoming his latest obstacle in life.
On Sunday, February 28, while at his home in Port au Prince, Dr. Ernst Pady had a knock on his door from a young patient who had a cut which needed to be sutured. He got in his car and went to his Port au Prince office to get the supplies to help the young patient. While awaiting his friend to open the gate to park near his office, a car pulled up near Dr. Pady’s car, and 7 armed men attempted to kidnap him. Unable to speak clearly and unable to move quickly or freely out of his vehicle due to his polio-stricken legs, we believe the kidnappers deemed him uncooperative. He was brutally murdered that morning, while doing what he had done for so many years: helping a child.
I don’t understand all of the details leading to the increased kidnappings and senseless killings in Haiti, but I do know that none of that should overshadow the good done by Dr. Ernst Pady. We know that the help he gave and the love he shared is greater than the hate that took his life. May this man who overcame great obstacles in his life give us encouragement to overcome the obstacles facing Haiti, and yes, the whole world at this time. Your story will continue to be told, Dr. Pady, and with God’s help we will do our best to overcome this world—one obstacle at a time.
Rest in peace, my friend!
A memorial gift can be given toward several pediatric-based projects and toward pediatric care in his memory at the hospital. Go to our Donate page, select “In memory of” from the drop down menu, and type in “Dr. Pady.”