In 2012, Dr. Dan Scoppetta, a Bristol CT native, began his work in Haiti. The week-long mission trips were to Dame-Marie, Haiti on the far side of the Grand Anse district. Dan was a general surgeon on a team of 16 medical volunteers from St. Francis Medical Center in Hartford, CT. The team evaluated hundreds of patients and performed operations as needed. The general surgery included hernia repair, mastectomy, excision of soft tissue masses, skin grafts, and thyroidectomy for goiter.

Dan’s travel to Dame-Marie brought him through Jeremie, by plane from Port au Prince, en route to Dame-Marie. The medical teams consisted of 16 people because that was the capacity for passengers in the plane. On the return trips home, the volunteers laid over in Jeremie, and spent Friday evenings at Bette Gebrian’s place, Tamarin Place Charmant, in Jeremie. This respite meant showers, flushing toilets, comfortable beds, good meals, electricity, even Wi-Fi access and relaxation. After many trips Dan got to know Bette and her life’s work. Ironically, Bette, like Dan, is a Bristol, CT native, whose family’s farm was located where ESPN headquarters now stand. Following her nursing training, she travelled to Jeremie, fell in love, married Edwin Magloire, built a family, built a home, and built a resort, high on the mountainside overlooking Jeremie. She is an anthropologist who is affiliated with the University of Connecticut. As a nurse, she had a long productive association with a local health foundation in Jeremie. Her work as a nurse influenced countless lives in the area. Her advocacy for many local causes continues to strongly influence and change the lives of the people of Jeremie and the region. Dan affectionately, refers to these lives as “Bette’s Children of Jeremie.” 

During one of Dan’s trips, the team transferred an infant in need of a blood transfusion from the hospital in Dame-Marie to the hospital in Jeremie. Dan took the opportunity to explore St. Antoine Hospital in Jeremie. He entered the surgical wing and viewed the operating rooms, finding them more modern that he expected. 

Dan was introduced to the on-duty nursing staff who proceeded to show him the patients on the ward. The first room had a mix of patients mostly recovering from amputation. The second ward room was dark. As Dan approached, he first could smell the typical odor of rotting flesh. As he reached the doorway, he could see a woman with a very advanced breast cancer. The cancer had consumed her breast, leaving her in pain with a malodorous chest wound. There was no surgical procedure that could benefit her. Dan reached out to touch her shoulder, to show her he was not repelled by her condition. He reviewed her wound care with her nurses and made some suggestions. As Dan was leaving, she grasped his arm and, in her language, foreign to Dan, she said “thank you”. Dan thought that he had done so little. The woman’s name was Mathilde.

That night, Dan felt like he was struck by a lightning bolt. He could not get the image of that woman out of his mind. He knew then that he had to do something more.

With Bette’s help and a little cash, they were also able to get her some food, at least. Through Bette’s efforts, Mathilde was brought to the hospice of the Missionaries of Charity. The sisters tended to her wound care and treated her pain. She reconciled with her family and they visited her. After a short time, she died peacefully, in the company of her family. She was 52. 

In 2016, Bette asked Dan if he would come to Jeremie and help develop a general surgical program at the hospital. Bette had women in need of breast surgery through the Grand Anse Women’s Health Program. Through this program women are examined, some undergo ultrasound scanning, some have an ultrasound guided tissue biopsy. These biopsies are evaluated by pathologist in the US for accurate diagnosis of breast cancer. These women are counseled and assisted by the Grand Anse Women’s Health Program, obtaining further care in Jeremie or elsewhere in Haiti or outside the country. There were other men and women in need of surgical care as well. 

In June of 2016 Dan visited with Bette, and all those involved at the hospital in Jeremie, to plan and begin preparations for a general surgical program. In November of 2016, Dr. Dan Scoppetta and Dr. Jim Sayre travelled to Jeremie for their first surgical mission. The Grand Anse Surgical Project (GASP) is born.