C2C is delighted to announce that Loudrige Declasse, Louinise Odysse (pictured above, right, with Haiti Country Director, Dr. Jean-Eric Calvaire), and Jorane Pierre (pictured above, left) have been hired to serve as Community Health Workers (CHWs) based out of the Camp Coq clinic. These women were selected from a pool of more than 30 local applicants who attended two application sessions (pictured below).
Loudrige, Jorane, and Louinise will provide a variety of important services to the community, including door-to-door outreach, general health and hygiene education, nutrition and breastfeeding counseling, in-home follow-up visits, and education sessions in the clinic and the community. They will also serve as links between the clinical staff and the community. We look forward to sharing stories with you in the future; in the meantime, we would like to introduce them!
Loudrige Declasse is C2C’s youngest CHW. She lost her mother in her last year of high school, and had to drop out to support herself. She became a substitute teacher for younger children, and used savings from that job to start her own small business selling cosmetics at Camp Coq’s weekly market. She says, “People in Camp Coq are unhealthy because they have no one to teach them to be better. As a CHW, I can share what I learn and help people take responsibility for their health.”
Louinise Odysse is in her late 30s, and lives in Camp Coq with her 10-year-old son. She began training as a nurse years ago, and credits Florence Nightingale as her inspiration. Her favorite part about her new job is that she will be able to help people make better health decisions through education. She says, “People don’t have the information they need to stay healthy. When cholera came to the country, they didn’t know they needed to be careful of their water and food to stay well. CHWs can help.”
Jorane Pierre is in her mid-thirties. She always wanted to be a nurse, but could not afford the training when her father died. She has worked in health care before, volunteering with the Ministry of Health during immunization campaigns, and loves to help people keep their children healthy. She and her husband live in Camp Coq with their two little girls, and she says, “CHWs will take responsibility to help community members address health issues together. The biggest health problem in Camp Coq is that we have not had a facility, and now we are changing that.”