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Walsh Faculty Member Provides Insight into Trouble in Haiti

Tracey Herstich, APRN, DNP, CNP, Clinical Assistant Professor of Nursing at Walsh University, provided her expertise to several media outlets covering the U.S. missionaries kidnapped in Haiti.Tracey Herstich

Herstich first went to Haiti in 2011 while working for Akron Children’s Hospital. When she came to Walsh University fulltime, she continued making trips to Haiti with students wanting to serve.

That program has been on hold since 2018 due to civil unrest. Although she never felt she was in danger, things have changed.

On Saturday, October 16, 2021, a group of missionaries, some of whom are from Holmes County, Ohio, were snatched by the 400 Mawozo gang, which controls the Croix-des-Bouquets area east of the capital of Port-au-Prince. The abduction happened in the community of Ganthier, which lies in the gang’s area. It was blamed for the kidnapping of five priests and two nuns earlier this year.

News Coverage:

Gangs, Government Unrest Make Haiti More Dangerous for Missionaries, The Daily Record

Little details known about kidnapped NE Ohio-based, WKYC Channel 3

Missionaries kidnapped in Haiti have Northeast Ohio ties, WOIO Channel 19

Haiti, where Ohio nonprofit missionaries were kidnapped, suffers from civil unrest and extreme poverty, Walsh professor says, cleveland.com