Touched by poverty: Belle Meade woman finds her calling amid Haiti's poor

from The Tennessean

Faith in Action

"Mother Theresa" is 65, the mother of two and grandmother of one, the wife of a Nashville surgeon and a savior to Haiti's poor and AIDS-stricken.

"I'm totally humbled," says Theresa Patterson after admitting that many in that Caribbean nation call the Belle Meade homemaker and one-time interior design instructor by that near-holy nickname.

Since this devout Catholic devotes her energies to helping Haiti's poorest find first aid for their souls and bodies, the real Mother Teresa probably wouldn't mind.

Haiti may not be as hopeless as Calcutta's gutters, where the late Mother Teresa delivered faith and love. But it is a blighted land, and Nashville's Theresa pledged her love to its people on the day she arrived for her first visit 28 years ago: "I remember being absolutely appalled by the level of poverty down there. I also was struck by the humbleness and the gentleness of the people. I was hooked."

Crusader inspired her

Her compassionate fire was lighted by Harry Hosey in 1978, when he delivered a speech at her home church, St. Henry's. "He was on a one-man crusade to help Haiti," she says of the late gentleman from Old Hickory.

His devotion was born during a Caribbean cruise stop, when he and his wife ventured from the tourist areas of Port Au Prince and instead visited the slums. "When he saw the poverty, it changed him," says Theresa, adding that meeting him changed her. Shortly after that first encounter "I was on a plane going down to Haiti" to help him.

She joined him in "twinning" parishes from the Nashville diocese with their less fortunate brethren. St. Henry's became the first twinned parish. That program has expanded, with 350 U.S. Catholic churches involved in Haiti and an additional 42 involved in Central and Latin America. "Our concept is to build one-on-one relationships … with a parish community."

Many of her 78 trips to Haiti have been spent escorting parishioners from several states, infecting others with her love for the land where faith thrives despite "unspeakable poverty and devastating health care" and where "it is estimated 5 percent of the population has AIDS."

79th trip is special

The goal is to save bodies while reinforcing those souls. That's why she and her staff at the Visitation Hospital Foundation have been raising money for a clinic that's under construction in Petite Riviere de Nippes.

Her 79th trip, tentatively set for Jan. 18, will be monumental, since she will get her first look at the construction and meet with the regional director of health to begin plotting strategies for outreach.

By Sept. 1 the outpatient clinic, complete with radiology, pharmacy and lab facilities, will open.

But while the almost $400,000 for that clinic has been raised, "we have a long way to go," she says. It will cost at least another $1.2 million to fund the dream of adding a 75-bed hospital with surgical facilities. Then will come funding for satellite clinics throughout the land.

Even though she's far from finished with this campaign, she celebrates that the clinic that will administer doses of medicinal healing and God's grace, is rising, a lighthouse of hope in a sea of despair.

"It's going to be a dream that's finally come true," says Theresa. "I started working toward this in 1999."

When the surgical facility is completed, it's likely Dr. Warren Patterson, medical director of Baptist Hospital Wound Care Center, will make more visits. He's already used his talents to support his wife's mission by performing life-altering cleft palate and burn wound repairs in Haiti and others for patients brought here.

Theresa, whose trips total about three months per year in Haiti, has no plans for retiring. "I have a passion for what I'm doing. And I feel I have a responsibility as a Christian to actually be able to help those who are in need.