Except for a few showers and some moderate wind, Newtown was spared by Hurricane Matthew earlier this month. But while many residents were monitoring the storm's track toward Connecticut, Sandy Hook resident Don Dinsmore was fearing the worst as Matthew decimated the island of Haiti, where a small but thriving medical clinic he helped build in the township of Beaulieu sat - directly in the storm's path.To learn more, visit hatianclinic.org or mail a check to Haitian Humanitarian Network, 31 Valley View Road, Newtown CT 06470.

The first Category 5 Atlantic hurricane since Felix in 2007 was responsible for killing more than 900 of its nearly 1,400 victims on Haiti alone since it hit the island with as many as nine hours of sustained winds in excess of 130 to 156 mph on October 4. In the ensuing weeks, Mr Dinsmore has had sketchy communications with the clinic and its founder, Jocelyne Degouvenain, who he originally met in 2003 while residing in Storrs.

That year, Ms Degouvenain, a nurse and a native of Beaulieu, started the Erline & Armelle Medical Clinic by renting space on the side of a villager's home. After relocating to the United States to further her graduate nursing studies a year later, Ms Degouvenain along with Mr Dinsmore helped form the Haitian Humanitarian Network (HHN) as a nonprofit Connecticut charity to assist and provide support for the clinic.

Ms Degouvenain was inspired to accomplish this goal after losing a close relative during childbirth in a very remote area of Haiti where her family lived and where no medical services were available.

According to Mr Dinsmore, the Erline & Armelle Clinic and Pharmacy is managed and run by a Haitian staff, with its credo being "Haitians serving Haitians."

The medical clinic and resident center buildings were designed and built by Haitians, also installing wiring for electric and plumbing for water when at that time there was none.

More recently, the facility has been pressed serving hundreds of villagers each month with medical services and support from its pharmacy. The clinic is staffed with two full-time nurses and a doctor, three days a week.

Like the rest of the island, Mr Dinsmore said Matthew devastated the communities all around Beaulieu, blowing away roofs and belongings, and in many cases entire homes. The clinic is also associated with a pediatric hospital, providing more services to the families in the village.

"This area of Haiti, west of Port Salut, is too remote to attract relief agencies, a place where water sources are scarce and there is no electrical service, nor transportation," he said in a release.

He was told as visitors walk up the steep hill from the Caribbean Sea on a dirt road leading to the clinic, they pass a home here and there. But as far as the eye can see up into the hills there is nothing resembling a village center.

"This is a very rural area of Southwest Haiti," he said. "Fortunately the clinic hurricane damage is reparable. The roof of the residence center was blown off and [we are] now looking to put up a temporary cover."

He said the residence center is needed to house some of the staff that lost their homes. Some of the facility's solar panels were blown off, but the remaining system still provides some electricity electric until full repairs can be made.

The water piping and water tank were also damaged, and are now also a priority for getting the clinic into normal operation.

"During the day the clinic is providing medical services and after hours many of the local residents bring their meager belongings and spend the night," Mr Dinsmore related. "One of our priorities is to provide a means to bring in food supplies and temporary shelter from the nearest city, Les Cayes, about 35 miles to the east. Our intention is to provide the local residents with the resources and means for them to rebuild their own homes. They are a resourceful people and we feel it is important they rebuild their own homes and communities."

The HHN board is made up of professional people that all hold Haiti close to their hearts, he stated. The board includes two doctors, three nurses, a PhD from Rhode Island College School of Nursing, a PhD biology professor from Rhode Island College, two with business backgrounds in engineering and management science.

For the past two years, nurses in the graduate program at Rhode Island College School of Nursing have partnered with and served at the clinic. This partnership has provided the nurses with third world country experiences while they provided the clinic with valued medical support.

The Sandy Hook residents ensure that all donations to HHN go to the operation and growth of the clinic, as the board is all volunteer. They would value any assistance neighbors and community members can offer to help rebuild the clinic and the community.