Category Archives: Clinic Opening

C2C OPENS SECOND PUBLIC-PRIVATE CLINIC IN HAITI’S NORTHERN DEPARTMENT

C2C recently held a grand opening to celebrate adding a new clinic to our network as part of our expanding Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the Haitian Ministry of Health in northern Haiti. This newly upgraded clinic opened its doors to treat vulnerable families who live or work in Bayeux and its surrounding communities. This is the 5th clinic in C2C’s growing network and the second clinic we have rehabilitated and re-opened in partnership with Haiti’s government. We collaborate closely with the Ministry to improve patient outcomes, service quality and operational excellence across all C2C clinics. The partnership is thriving in the northern department and will soon expand to other regions in Haiti.

We kicked off Opening Day at Bayeux by offering free immunizations for infants at the clinic which was met with enthusiasm and a large participation from families in the community. We also invited local government leaders and representatives from the Northern Department at the Haitian Ministry of Health. All attendees got the opportunity to take a tour of the clinic and learn about its new and wide-ranging services.

Community members gather to celebrate the grand opening of the Bayeux clinic

Patients wait in front of the clinic for immunizations and physician consultations

Stay tuned as we bring you more information about the Bayeux clinic’s progress and patient stories! In the coming months, you will also learn more about how C2C plans to add more PPP clinics to our growing network of clinics in Haiti.

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Clinic Launch Series: Part 4 of 5- Why a Public-Private Partnership?

In Haiti, over 80% of the population is living below the poverty line – that’s over 8 million people in need of economic opportunity, education, and human services. Social challenges of this magnitude cannot be tackled in isolation.Working together, the public and private sectors can catalyze development across the country. At C2C, we believe that the health sector is in desperate need of transformation and that a public-private partnership model has the power to give “new life” to flagging public health facilities. The Haitian Ministry of health agrees and has endorsed our work:

“C2C has demonstrated over many years that they hold the highest standards for quality and affordability. Their clinics are models of operational excellence and I believe that C2C’s operating model can transform public sector clinics across Haiti. C2C is a valued partner of the Haitian Ministry of Health,” said Dr. Ernst-Robert Jasmin, Director of the Northern Department, Haitian Ministry of Health

Step Four: Partner with the government to transform struggling public clinics and improve health outcomes for poor families

Starting with the Sinek clinic, our growing network of clinics will leverage the assets the Ministry of Health already has in place – infrastructure, trained personnel, and a commitment to data collection – by taking that system to the next level to fill the gaps that break down care delivery and undermine access and quality.

Our partnership with the Haitian Ministry of Health will double patient volume, ensure timely vaccination coverage for all children in the Sinek community, triple the pharmacy stock, and add diagnostics capacity on-site.

Rehabilitating the new clinic site at Sinek

Clinic Launch Series: Part 3 of 5- Meet the Staff of the Sinek Clinic

While a newly-renovated space, electronic medical records, and a stocked pharmacy are key components of a thriving community clinic, nothing is more important than the motivated and talented clinical staff who deliver care to patients each day. In our effort to rehabilitate government clinics, C2C will recruit, hire and train clinic personnel as needed. Fortunately, in Sinek, we inherit an extraordinary team of long-standing public employees who are excited about the management transformation that will give them the tools they need to deliver high-quality primary care.

Step Three: Staffing the clinic with talented, supported medical personnel

Meet Carmelle, the current Nurse Manager at the Sinek clinic. She has worked at the clinic for 11 years and has done everything in her power to care for patients. But the Ministry of Health as virtually no resources to support Carmelle in her efforts, so she has had to juggle competing demands: clinical care, inventory management, financial management, home-based care for tuberculosis patients, medical records and countless other functions. Carmelle is hopeful of change:

“For me, this partnership between C2C and the Ministry of Health can finally change things for the better in Sinek,” she says. “By coming together, we’ll build up the clinic to serve the local people with what they need. I’ve tried, but I need support. The arrival of C2C means that I won’t have worry about having supplies or medications for my patients. I won’t have to worry about leaving the clinic to go to town to find medicine to stock the shelves. C2C will make my life easier and I will have more time to give to my patients. I will get to do my job.”

Carmelle’s commitment to the clinic’s success and to the community of Sinek is evident. She shares her excitement for the community:“Finally, the people of Sinek will have access to health services. Usually, they have to travel to Limbé [the nearest town, 45 minutes away by car] for health services because the clinic here just isn’t able to take care of them. Now that C2C is here, the Sinek clinic will be able to take care of its own community.”

Meet the Camp Coq Clinic Staff!

C2C is truly excited to introduce our new clinic staff in Camp Coq! Each lives in the community they are now serving, and they are thrilled to be part of C2C’s new clinic – working to make health care more accessible in Northern Haiti.

After a competitive recruitment process, these individuals were chosen to lead service delivery at the C2C Camp Coq clinic. Dr. Francois Lukenson, a general physician, and Ms. Herlande Duvot, a nurse, will provide consultation and care to our patients. Mr. Fusley Laguerre is an experienced laboratory technician, who will manage all of the diagnostic services at the clinic. Ms. Jocelyne Joseph, an auxiliary nurse, will greet patients, check them in and take medical histories, and manage patient flow.

All four individuals have impressive resumés and bring significant experience to their new positions.

Dr. Lukenson has served patients in Northern Haiti for more than a decade. He previously worked for Médecins Sans Frontières, Caritas, and Hôpital St. Jean, and has traveled to Montreal twice for trainings in mental health and family medicine. His passion is community health, and he has experience managing HIV/AIDS, TB and cholera treatment programs. Dr. Francois hails from the northern community of Pilate and completed his social service at Saint Louis du Nord. He completed his medical training in the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy at Université D’Etat D’Haïti.

Ms. Duvot is a qualified nurse who completed her Bachelor of Nursing degree at the School of Nursing, Our Lady of Wisdom (EINDS), in Cap-Haitien, Haiti in 2010. She has completed post-graduate training in many topics, including HIV/AIDS, diabetes care, infectious disease, and blood transfusion safety. Nurse Herlande has worked at a number of hospitals and clinics across the northern region since 2007 and has gained notable skills in managing malnutrition programs, caring for people with cholera, and in health education and hygiene promotion.

Mr. Laguerre is a licensed lab technician with extensive technical and management experience in diagnostics. Since 2007, he has been employed at l’Hôpital Espérance de Pilate, most recently as the head of laboratory. He completed his social service in 2006 at Hôpital de la Grande Rivière du Nord. Mr. Laguerre completed his education in 2005 and obtained a degree from École Nationale de Technologie Médicale du Cap-Haitien. As a trainee at a national PEPFAR site, Mr. Laguerre received extensive training through the Haitian Ministry of Health, the Clinton Foundation, and Catholic Relief Services.

Ms. Joseph has worked as an auxiliary nurse since she completed her initial training at École Bethesda de Fort Liberté in 2003. She has worked in Camp Coq before, and is from Northern Haiti. She enjoys talking with patients and learning about their health histories, and is looking forward to being part of the clinic team – working together to achieve a goal.

C2C is already so impressed with these staff members in action, and is eager to share more of their stories with you in the future.

Day Two, and the Patients are Still Lining Up!

Please meet Joice. She has lived in Camp Coq for most of her 68 years, surrounded by family members – of which she says she has “a lot and then some!”
She is thrilled the clinic opened near her home, as she used to have to hire a motorcycle taxi to take her to the nearest medical facility in Limbé.
She said, “I’m not scared to take the motos, but I’m very happy I can see a doctor now without the ride.”

Camp Coq Clinic Opens!

More than 200 people joined us for the new clinic’s Opening Day Ceremony! Many, many more photos to come. An enormous thank you to all who supported this amazing effort – and to those who joined us today! We can’t wait to share more news from Camp Coq!

Community Health Workers Spreading the Word

Over the last two weeks, C2C’s Community Health Workers (or CHWs) have been visiting their Camp Coq neighbors, sharing news of the clinic opening, talking through the services that will soon be available, answering questions about the clinic opening later this month, and receiving valuable feedback from the community. Each CHW visits an average of 20 households per day, often gathering a crowd of interested neighbors. These three women have visited more than 500 homes already, and will continue reaching out to the community in advance of the clinic opening.

CHWs have a very important job: they serve as “ambassadors” to the community of Camp Coq. All long-time residents of the town, our CHWs are attuned to the health needs and concerns of fellow community members and they are well-positioned to provide advice and counsel, as well as to screen for early warnings of health risks. Soon, the CHWs will be educating the community on important health topics from clean water and nutrition to safe pregnancy and sexual health.

However, before the clinic opens for business, the CHWs have a unique and important role: they are educating community members about the new services that will soon be available. We call this process “social marketing,” because it is a patient-centered, supportive form of information sharing. The CHWs carry information both ways – talking through the clinic offerings with families and also sharing the unique needs of families with clinical staff.

Because the C2C clinic will be the first full-service, high-quality health facility in the community, people have questions about how the clinic will run: What can services can they expect at the clinic? How much will services cost? How can the clinic help when their children are sick? In the course of their social marketing duties, CHWs visit households and have the opportunity to discuss these questions with families, while at the same time encouraging healthy behaviors and habits.

CHWs have been trained to carry out this social marketing role for the next 6 weeks, traveling from household to household, encouraging dialogue, answering questions, and preparing the community for the exciting changes that are coming soon!

Steering Committee Members are Ambassadors to the Community

The local Steering Committee is a central part of C2C’s approach to sustainable health care services. In Camp Coq, we have recruited 11 community members to join the committee and they meet regularly to advise C2C on everything from local health needs and priorities to the clinic staffing model and pricing.

Members of the Steering Committee serve as links between C2C and the community – acting as C2C’s ambassadors to the community as well as bringing the voice of the community to C2C. It is vital that membership be diverse. We are delighted that both the Catholic and Baptist churches, teachers from local schools, the former mayor, local women’s groups, and micro-credit organizations are represented on the current Committee.

With the clinic opening scheduled for late August, the Steering Committee is busy planning important engagement events, including community orientation sessions and a launch celebration to welcome the clinic to the community. The Steering Committee will welcome community members to the clinic for tours of the facility and the chance to meet the doctor, nurse, lab technician and auxiliary nurse who will staff the clinic.

The Steering Committee is a valued part of the C2C model, and we rely on their wisdom and advice to most effectively serve the community. Over time, they will continue to advise C2C about how to tailor our service offerings to meet local needs.

Meet the New C2C Community Health Workers

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.”

Clinic Arrives in Camp Coq!

Clinic containers are in place in Camp Coq and Community Health Workers are on-staff! Next steps – hiring clinical staff, unpacking, opening to serve the community…

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