Author Archives: Allison Howard-Berry

C2C's New Partnership with Direct Relief International!

C2C is very excited to announce a new partnership with Direct Relief International in Haiti! Direct Relief works to strengthen healthcare systems in high-need areas and to increase people’s access to adequate care. They work in seventy countries around the world, including Haiti, in an effort to achieve their mission of improving healthcare globally.

C2C and Direct Relief share a commitment to providing patients with the medicine and supplies they need to stay healthy. By partnering with Direct Relief, C2C will ensure that our supply chain is strong and reliable: part of the promise we make to all our patients. We’re honored to be working with Direct Relief in Haiti and look forward to sharing more news about the partnership in the months ahead.

C2C Introduces New Medical Device for Community Health Workers

We have recently introduced the Vital Signs CradleLife device, a first of its kind vital signs monitor, into our clinical work in Haiti! This new handheld device recently developed by researchers from Guy’s and St. Thomas’ and King’s College London measures the blood pressure and pulse of pregnant women, helping to detect early high blood pressure caused by preeclampsia or eclampsia as a women’s risk of shock due to post-partum bleeding.

According to the WHO around 800 women die during pregnancy and childbirth everyday. 99% of these deaths occur in low and middle-income countries such as Haiti. C2C’s strives to incorporate the most innovative medical tools and protocols to strengthen our antenatal care services. In resource-poor communities, closely monitoring blood pressure is absolutely essential to safe pregnancy.

The CradleLife device is accurate and easy-to-use by all levels of healthcare workers. It provides visual alerts emphasising that action must be taken for women presenting with at-risk hypertensive readings.

C2C is using this innovative, low-cost technology to improve the health care of our patients. We are very excited to have introduced this new device and look forward to the impact it will have on the health of our patients!

Expanded Services Brings Jump in Patient Volume

2016 is off to a busy start for C2C. In the past two months, our patient volume has increased by 89% across our two clinic sites in Northern Haiti! In March alone we served over 1,000 patients with clinical services, including primary care, specialty antenatal care, and community-based health screenings.

The C2C clinic model partners directly with communities and we nurture and respect the feedback loop that we have with our patients. This year, we heard our patients speaking loud and clear: expanded services and more affordability. We’ve provided exactly that and the results have been very exciting!

Offering free maternal health care to pregnant women was very important to the families of Camp Coq and Acul du Nord and so we expanded our services to meet that need— helping to ensure that expectant mothers have comprehensive care during pregnancy, access to safe birthing support, and post-natal and infant care.

We’re on track to serve 10,000 patients in 2016— and to double that number in 2017. Stay tuned to our blog to learn more about new programs to expand family planning coverage, childhood vaccinations, and to ensure that school-age child are healthy and thriving!

New OB/GYN Joins the Team as Participation in Maternal Health Program Grows

Six months after launching a comprehensive Maternal Health Program at our clinics in Northern Haiti, the program is expanding! Through this initiative, pregnant women can partake in unlimited prenatal visits, as well as receive labs, pharmaceuticals and ultrasounds, all for free. In February, a new OB/GYN, Dr. Jude Marcel Thal, joined our team to lead this program, and to consult with any other patients who might need to see an OB/GYN.

For Dr. Thal, being an OB/GYN has always been his dream. He’s always admired doctors who can help a pregnant woman take care of her baby. After receiving his medical degree from the Latin American School of Medicine, in Cuba, Dr. Thal returned to Haiti to receive his obstetrics training at the Justinien University Hospital in Cap Haitien, located in the Northern Department of Haiti, where C2C operates. He worked as an OB/GYN at two other hospitals prior to joining C2C this year.

Dr. Thal says, “Many women in these communities aren’t seeing an OB/GYN…and things can go wrong [without prenatal care]. Something simple can happen, but if the woman ignores it, it can become a major threat to her and her baby.”

As C2C’s OB/GYN, Dr. Thal rotates between our Camp Coq and Acul du Nord clinics, providing pre and post natal consultations, prescribing diagnostics and pharmaceuticals, and performing ultrasounds, all offered free of charge to the woman.

“C2C’s Maternal Health Program is very good, especially because of the area we’re located in. Women in this area don’t really have the financial means to see an OB/GYN, they often tell me this. They benefit greatly from getting their consultation, medications, and ultrasound for free,” said Dr. Thal.

C2C have served over 600 pregnant women since launching this program, and we hope to double the number of women enrolled in the program by the end of 2016.

International Women’s Day Event Provides Free Health Screenings for 100 Women in Northern Haiti

March 8^th marked International Women’s Day, a time to bring attention to the global fight for women’s rights and gender equality. This year, in recognition of this important day, we hosted a special program at our Camp Coq, Haiti clinic. Our clinicians provided 100 women from the surrounding communities with free HIV and PAP testing.

Partnering with Borgnes Hospital, our clinical staff spent the day providing these two crucial tests to women of all ages. Both cancer and HIV/AIDS remain among the top ten causes of premature death in Haiti. While these tests can be lifesaving, paying for them can be a struggle for many women in the farming communities of the north.

At C2C we seek to provide the best primary care for women and their families. In 2015, 68% of patients at our clinics in Northern Haiti were female. They receive quality care from our clinic staff, which is 83% female itself.

C2C truly believes that healthy women are vital to healthy families and communities lipitor generic. Through our primary care, our community health screenings, and our free maternal health program, we strive to serve as many women in the communities of Northern Haiti as possible!

Care 2 Communities Responds to Zika Virus Concern in Haiti

Over the past couple weeks the mosquito-borne virus known as Zika has become a hot topic, not only in the health world, but in the global media as well. In response to an outbreak of cases across the Americas, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika a global public health emergency. With all the concern surrounding this outbreak, we wanted to share some information about the virus, as well as what Care 2 Communities is doing in response in Haiti.

Zika is spread by mosquitos and, for most who contract the virus, symptoms are usually mild to moderate and can include fever, headache, and muscle and joint pain. There is no vaccine, and no cure, however, eighty percent of people that become infected show no symptoms, and those that do are usually better within a week.

The major concern lies in a possible connection between the Zika virus in pregnant women and microcephaly in newborns. While this connection has yet to be definitively proven, the possibility is strong, and pregnant women in countries with the virus must take extra precautions.

The first cases of Zika were confirmed in Haiti in January and the Haitian Ministry of Health is in the process of developing a coordinated national response view it. While C2C has yet to treat any patients presenting with the virus, we work in close partnership with the Ministry of Health and will adopt national protocols when they are established.

In the meantime, we are committed to helping to protect all pregnant women that are enrolled in C2C’s antenatal care program, over 600 women and growing, by distributing insect repellent and education about the dangers of standing pools of water as mosquito breeding grounds. Additionally, Zika prevention awareness meetings will be incorporated into the weekly Community Health program. C2C’s focus is on promoting messages of prevention to vulnerable people and ensuring that pregnant patients are as protected as possible.

C2C founder, Elizabeth Sheehan, and C2C supporters featured in Holy Cross Magazine

We’re so excited that the Holy Cross Magazine has featured our Founder Elizabeth Sheehan, along with several other Holy Cross Alums and C2C supporters in their 50th volume!
Here, from the article, a quote from Elizabeth:

“The Holy Cross community really took a leap with me,” says Elizabeth Sheehan ’82. “Alums have become some of our longest and strongest supporters.”

Read the article in full, here.

Updated Technology Ensures Accurate Data and Response to Community Needs

C2C believes accurate, timely data are vitally important to our provision of the best possible health care to families in Haiti. In the spring of 2014 launched an electronic medical records system at our Camp Coq clinic. The system was an enormous upgrade from the paper systems our clinical team had used previously. As our clinic opened in Acul du Nord clinic, the system was already in place for the new team, and will also roll out with each new clinic opening in 2016.

As our clinics and services grow, C2C ensures our technology grows with us. Various updates to the system have included tablet surveys and GPS capabilities for our Community Health Workers, inventory updates to manage the pharmaceutical and laboratory supplies. These updates allow our staff to respond efficiently to community needs, understand patient satisfaction and challenges, and prevent stockouts in our pharmacy (thereby saving patients time and travel).

According to C2C’s Global Programs Manager, Julia Maxwell, “We always strive to ensure we are responding to community needs, and we count on our technology to provide accurate data on our patients as well as our business metrics. Additionally, clinical staff have the opportunity – rare in Haitian clinical settings – to receive computer and business management coaching and practice.”

Mobile DJs and Radio Ads Spread the Word in Haiti

At our newest clinic in Acul du Nord, Haiti, which opened in May, our staff reach out constantly to increase community awareness of our quality and services. C2C uses tried and true marketing methods – radio ads, community/church announcements, and word of mouth – and has also taken advantage of a medium that is more unique to Haiti – mobile DJs.

Recently, our Haitian team members joined four loyal C2C patients at a community radio station in Acul du Nord. They discussed and recorded patients’ reasons for selecting C2C as their primary care provider. The recordings will be used in three new radio commercials that will air throughout the area. These ads will be aired on the radio, as well as through mobile DJs. These mobile DJs drive cars or trucks with loud sound systems through communities. They air commercials and announcements for residents who might not have access to radios.

Claudia, a patient who has visited the Acul du Nord clinic a number of times since it opened in May, will be featured in the new commercial. She said, “The reason I like C2C better than other clinics is because when I go to C2C, I know I will get results, which is not necessarily true at other places. Before my consultation at the C2C clinic I had several illnesses. After the consultation, all of them were cured.”

C2C has previously had great success with these types of public announcement ads; however, we are looking forward to featuring patient voices for the first time!

What's in a Tagline?

We’re all familiar with taglines: a short phrase or slogan that seeks to convey information about a business or brand to potential customers. Taglines try to convey something extra about a brand’s “essence” – its core identity or appeal to the consumer. In the Haitian marketplace, this familiar marketing technique is used to sell everything from Coca-Cola to cell phone services.

At C2C, we’re applying the same principles to marketing our health services in the communities we serve. We interviewed dozens of C2C’s patients and community members to understand one simple question: What is the most important thing when you choose your health care provider?

The answers were overwhelmingly similar: people want to feel that their local clinic cares about them. At C2C clinics, we do lots of things to communicate to our patients that we care: our clinicians are welcoming and attentive; our pharmacy is always stocked; and we follow-up with patients 3 days after a visit to ensure that they are feeling better.

These simple actions set C2C apart. And we wanted a tagline to reflect that! We selected the Creole tagline to accompany our logo: “Sante’w se priyorite’n —- Your health is our priority”. And for C2C this isn’t just a tagline on a clinic sign; it defines our patient experience.

Care 2 Communities