Category Archives: Haiti

New doctor joins Camp Coq team

C2C is excited to welcome our newest team member, Dr. Youveline Preval. Dr. Preval will serve as clinic doctor for our Camp Coq, Haiti clinic, bringing expansive leadership and management experience with her.

Dr. Preval earned her medical degree from the Université Notre Dame d’Haïti in 2012. She completed her training and internships with Hôpital Justinien in Cap-Haitien, Haiti.

Following her internships, she was a Program Assistant for CONALD (Commission National de Lutte Contre La Drogue), Haiti’s national commission for the fight against drugs. As Program Assistant, Dr. Preval organized logistics for the head of Haiti’s North-East Department. She also supervised and trained nurses and social workers to work effectively with patients with drug addictions, and their families.

At C2C, Dr. Preval will devote most of her time to caring for patients and their families, but will also manage other clinic staff.

Dr. Jean-Eric Calvaire, C2C’s Haiti Country Manager, said, “Dr. Preval has a very strong history of managing and training, and she is looking forward to serving the community in Camp Coq.”

We look forward to growing our services in Camp Coq under Dr. Preval’s leadership!

Travelogue from C2C Founder Elizabeth Sheehan

As I landed in Cap-Haitien last week, the rain began to fall so hard and fast it was three inches deep in only 15 minutes. Over the next five days of traveling between Cap-Haitien and C2C’s clinic in Camp Coq, I would come to understand just how challenging transport can be during Haiti’s rainy season.

Leaving Cap Haitian in rush hour traffic is always challenging, but the heavy rain worsened things. Massive rivers of water, mud and garbage from the hills ran into the roads and created deep, irregular potholes.

City congestion eventually gave way to steep green mountains and a rushing river. As we neared C2C’s clinic in Camp Coq, I couldn’t stop thinking of how difficult it must be for our patients to travel on those roads. Most travel via local tap-taps (Haitian shared taxis) or – more likely – on the back of a tiny motorcycle. Transportation is expensive, and distances to other medical facilities can be quite long.

When we arrived, the waiting room was busy with women, small children and older men waiting to be seen. C2C’s head nurse, Herlande Duvot, stopped to greet us before quickly returning to treating patients, prescribing medications from the pharmacy and sending for results from the on-site laboratory.

I met an older woman who had come in with her 11-year-old grandson (pictured above). He had been sick for many weeks, and was dehydrated and in pain. He was seen quickly by Nurse Duvot and sent to the lab for diagnostic tests. I felt confident that the lab tech and nurse had the tools and medication they needed to treat this young boy properly.

I felt proud that the C2C clinic is in the community – providing access to quality health care, laboratory, and pharmacy without an expensive, treacherous motorcycle ride through the rain and mud. Talking with this grandmother made it clear to me that we are making an enormous difference in her life and the lives of others in Camp Coq.

New Technology to Improve Clinic Experience

C2C is happy to announce we have begun Phase 1 of a technology upgrade at our Camp Coq clinic. We’ve partnered with Vecna Cares, a Cambridge-based organization, which provides training and technology to support and strengthen health systems in underserved areas. This partnership was made possible, in part, by a gift from The Funding Network.

Earlier this month, C2C’s Global Programs Manager Julia Maxwell, along with Vecna Cares’ Executive Director Deborah Theobald and Program Manager Emily Wang, flew down to Camp Coq, Haiti to set up the new CliniPAK system at the C2C clinic. The CliniPAK (Clinical Patient Administration Kit) will allow C2C’s team of doctors, nurses and community health workers to record and report data on a patient’s visit, diagnoses, and prescriptions, using laptops and tablets.

“The clinic staff is incredibly excited about the implementation of the Vecna system. As soon as they started training on the system, they realized just how much more time they would have to focus on patients instead of paperwork,” said Maxwell.

C2C clinic staff will now be able to track the medical histories of thousands of patients, giving us the opportunity to make more effective clinical decisions, build strong long-term relationships with our patients, and spot community health trends that warrant attention. Noticeable trends will lead to tailored health education sessions and home visits by C2C’s Community Health Workers (CHWs).

Later this year, the CHWs will also begin using CliniPAK in the field. Phase 2 of this project will include CliniPAK Lite programs for CHWs, which will allow for more efficient surveys and home follow-up visits as well as capture data from health education sessions in the community.

Executive Director, Jessica Somol, on her most recent visit to Camp Coq

Haiti. For many in the international community, the name invokes images of chaos, disaster, poverty, corruption and an unhealthy reliance on foreign aid. C2C has been working in Haiti since 2010 and has opened two clinics there, one in urban Port-au-Prince after the earthquake and one in northern Camp Coq, a lush, rural village with a subsistence-based community. I recently spent some time with our clinical team there and had the opportunity to shadow our community health workers (CHWs) during their home visits in the neighborhoods surrounding the clinic. Despite the language barrier, it was overwhelmingly apparent that the people we serve in Camp Coq are poor and sick from preventable and treatable illnesses and eager for better health. The people we met asked questions, had story after story about an illness in the household that required time-consuming and expensive travel to the health facilities 40 minutes away by taxi and all were hopeful that the C2C clinic located in Camp Coq would reduce the burden they experience daily of poor health.

It is incumbent on us, on our amazing, dedicated, 100% Haitian clinical team in Camp Coq to a) price our services as low as possible while striving for long-term financial sustainability, b) do all that we can to educate the community about the importance of childhood immunizations, chronic care maintenance and family planning and c) deliver high-quality, personal health care to each and every patient that comes to our clinic. From what I saw in my brief visit to Camp Coq, we have the team in place to achieve all these things and consequently improve the health of the overall community. Using a basic market-driven approach, with customer-service, consistency and operational efficiency as core tenets, C2C can build a sustainable primary care model that helps meet the health care demands of the Haitian population, one community at a time.

C2C partners with VisionSpring

In February 2014, C2C’s newest clinic in Camp Coq, Haiti, began selling off-the-shelf eyeglasses to residents in the community. Leveraging the well-established success of VisionSpring’s model (www.visionspring.org), the C2C team is optimistic that we are not only offering a high-impact service to the local community but could add as much as 5% in additional revenue each year to help offset annual clinic operational expenses. With the help of VisionSpring’s materials, all staff members were trained on how to conduct a simple eye test to help customers determine which power magnification they needed in their eyeglasses. Now glasses are available for sale at an affordable price both at the clinic and through community health workers who travel door-to-door with health education and information about the clinic’s services.

Camp Coq Priest a True Community Resource

The local Steering Committee is a central part of C2C’s approach to sustainable health care services. In Camp Coq, 11 community members regularly advise C2C on everything from local health needs and priorities to clinic hours and pricing. C2C relies on all of the local Steering Committee members in Camp Coq, but especially Father Delva, who is the parish priest for the church near the C2C clinic in Camp Coq.

He has worked in Camp Coq for several years, and is extremely involved in the community. He is seen as a resource for everyone – not just his own parishioners. Father Delva is an extraordinary ambassador to the community, and he goes above and beyond even what other Steering Committee members do. He ensures we get a good price for fuel for the generators and other supplies we purchase from the community; he visibly supports the clinic and encourages others to do the same.

Father Delva has observed the need for a clinic first-hand, and he said, “We waited for this clinic for a very long time. I know the community is excited useful content. As a priest, I go where they send me, but I know the work I am doing here with C2C will continue even if I have to go.” Other Steering Committee members all contribute in different ways, and we are grateful. As part of our most recent clinic assessment, one of our Steering Committee members said, “The way you ask people their ideas, the way you organize things and collaborate with us – it’s a positive thing.”

Kits for Kids and Moms

This past fall, C2C began a new project: Kits for Kids and Moms. Our aim is to create item drives to be held at middle schools and high schools so we can provide basic toiletry and medical supplies for Mothers and their children when they visit our clinics in Haiti.

The items we are collecting range from simple children’s toys to personal hygiene items, such as toothbrushes and soap. We will also be collecting items for new mothers, such as baby powder and swaddling clothes. Our clinic staff will hand out these kits to our waiting patients, improving the experience.

Leah and Kailah, community-minded cousins serving as C2C interns since last fall, have put together a list of approved items as well as instructions for completing a drive of your own. This packet will be mailed to schools in the surrounding area, so that students interested in helping have the opportunity to do so. If you or someone you know is interested, please contact C2C at 617-559-1032 or info[at]care2communities[dot]org.

So far, Charles River School and the Needham High School French Club are collecting items and assembling Kits for Kids and Moms. We look forward to working with many other groups in the coming months.

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!

Care 2 Communities