Category Archives: In the USA

April is Conference month: Skoll World Forum, Innovations in Healthcare, and Global Health & Innovation

April was a busy month for C2C! With preparations underway to open the newest clinic in our network, it was all hands on deck. At the same time, C2C staff was thrilled to participate in the following conferences last month:

Skoll World Forum:
Elizabeth Sheehan, C2C President & Co-Founder, attended the 2018 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, England. The highly-anticipated week-long event brought together social entrepreneurs from around the world to discuss and tackle the world’s most pressing problems such as the role of technology in improving health outcomes and lifting people out of poverty.
A key takeaway came from one session in particular, “Emerging Technologies: Shifting the Path from Poverty to Prosperity”. The discussion debated how the impact of rapid technological change on developing countries can benefit the poorest populations. Our friends at LivingGoods, who were part of this session, is looking at how technological innovations can improve health outcomes. They also explained that “there are many hurdles to overcome in using mobile technology to provide health advice and support. It is essential that services are designed to take these factors into account and find ways around these obstacles“. Other expert panelists agreed that emerging technology and its impact were just too simplified and should address the communities they are meant to serve.

Innovations in Healthcare Annual Forum:
Allison Howard-Berry, C2C Executive Director & Co-Founder, attended the 2018 Innovations in Healthcare (IiH) Annual Forum in Washington, DC. This two-day annual gathering brings together innovators and leaders in the social, private, and public sector to collaborate and exchange ideas and insights to support the scale and impact of promising healthcare innovations.
IiH introduced their new 2018 cohort who focus on care delivery, as they shared their strategies to ensure that the diverse populations they work with have access to affordable, high-quality healthcare. Congratulations to Biofourmis, Living Goods, OneWorld Health, and Reina Madre!

The Global Health & Innovation Conference:
Unite for Sight’s 2018 Global Health & Innovation Conference is the leading global health conference held at Yale University in New Haven, CT. This thought-leading conference convenes leaders, changemakers, and participants from all sectors of global health, international development, and social entrepreneurship.Catherine Guillou-Ouellette, C2C Program Manager in Haiti, flew in to participate and hear from various panels such as one by Jeffrey Sachs, Economist and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, titled “How Health For All Is Within Our Grasp”. He gave a powerful presentation about prioritizing the strengthening of national public health systems in poor countries. We are happy to hear that Mr. Sacks is making a compelling case for what C2C is doing on the ground in Haiti through our strategic Public-Private Partnership with Haiti’s Health Ministry.

As C2C’s newest clinic gears up for the grand opening, we are grateful for the opportunity to keep learning and applying successful and effective strategies to continue expanding access to health services for vulnerable communities in Haiti!

C2C Wins Henry Schein Cares Silver Medal

Bill Barr, Vice President, Medical Marketing, Henry Schein, Inc.; Stanley Bergman, Chairman and CEO, Henry Schein, Inc.;
Dr. Samuel Bernard, C2C Chief Operating Officer; Racha Yehia, C2C Clinic Operations Manager; Jennifer Kim Field, Vice President,
Global Social Responsibility, Henry Schein, Inc.; Brad Connett, President, U.S. Medical Group, Henry Schein, Inc.

Dear Friends,

We are excited to share that C2C was awarded the Silver Medal in the Medical category of the third annual Henry Schein Cares Medal program, which took place at the Henry Schein Medical’s National Sales Meeting on April 12 in San Antonio, Texas.

C2C was recognized for its commitment to provide high-quality, low-cost health care to vulnerable families in northern Haiti. C2C clinics demonstrate that access to basic care, prevention education, and community support can be transformative and can save lives.

The Henry Schein Cares Program honors organizations from the fields of oral health, animal health, and medicine that demonstrate excellence in expanding access to care for the underserved. Stanley M. Bergman, Henry Schein’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, presented the medals to C2C and two other organizations, The Night Ministry (Chicago, Illinois) and Community Volunteers in Medicine, Inc. (West Chester, Pennsylvania). You can read the full press release here.

Thank you Henry Schein Cares for your commitment to helping C2C continue to provide access to care for vulnerable families in Haiti!

Marching for Women Worldwide

On an unseasonably warm Saturday morning on the Boston Common, I joined 195,000+ other concerned Americans to show support and solidarity for the principles of the Women’s March. Digging deep into our revolutionary roots (some called it the Boston She Party), we sang, carried signs and basked in the sea of sisterhood. We did not march as sore losers in the political election but stood together to protect fundamental human rights and that includes the rights of all women.

Ten days earlier, I joined a film crew in Haiti to document the story of C2C’s head nurse, Herlande Duvot. As one of the first C2C employees in northern Haiti, Herlande’s success story has been an integral part of C2C’s success story. She is a clinician and a thought leader, helping us build a sustainable model for community health. A cornerstone of C2C’s mission is access to reproductive health care and Herlande manages C2C’s family planning and women’s health programs – the very services that are under threat in the U.S. Although the Haitian Ministry of Health tries to provide free family planning products to its population, it often falls short due to transportation, supply, and logistical issues. This is where C2C steps in: we prioritize family planning for women and ensure that health care services, education, and products are available to both women and men.

On January 21^st, I locked arms with women I had never met on one side and members of my faith community on the other. I felt supported in doing the hard work of protecting fundamental rights in a changing world. I have always known that women in Haiti want the same opportunities we want for our children here in the U.S., but when they struggle to access family planning services, choices can be hard. So as I marched to protect the rights of my daughter, myself, and millions of other Americans, I also marched for women in Haiti knowing that polices made in the U.S. will trickle down to affect them too and we will continue to march until all women can keep their bodies safe and protected.

C2C Founder, Elizabeth Sheehan, featured in Boston Business Journal

We are thrilled that our Founder, Elizabeth Sheehan, has been recognized by the Boston Business Journal as one of their WomenUp. Here, from the feature article, a quote from Elizabeth:

“In international issues of any kind, we need to be patient. Humble. We don’t know what the resource-poor need; we need to listen to them. We really have to turn the table around and collaborate, and understand how communities operate, before you have a solution for them. And be prepared to fail. Failing is where you have your best learning.”

Boston Business Journal subscribers can read the article in full, here.

C2C Selebrasyon Presented by the Eliassen Group – A Celebration of Haitian Music and Cuisine – Raised More than $50,000!

Thanks so much to all the sponsors and the sell-out crowd at Selebrasyon 2015, who helped C2C raise more than $50,000 to support our programs in Haiti!

Guests heard about C2C’s amazing programs in Haiti – serving thousands of families in the North – from Founder, Elizabeth Sheehan, and COO, Allison Howard-Berry. They also danced to Haitian music by Tiz Kompa, enjoyed authentic Haitian food by Sunrise Caribbean Cuisine, perused the auction filled with Haitian arts and crafts, and won stays in three vacation spots. These amazing holidays included a week in a beautiful home in Turkey (donated anonymously), and weekends in homes in New Hampshire (donated by Lynn Hamlin and Tom Maxwell) and Massachusetts (donated by Gerald and Maureen Sheehan).

The event will support C2C’s programs in Haiti, including clinics in Camp Coq, Acul du Nord, and more to open soon!

C2C Partners with the Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI) to Present Public Discussion: Best Practices for Providing and Funding Sustainable Services

How do organizations deliver high-quality primary care that remains affordable and accessible to the poor while operating with a long-term plan for financial success? What role do donors and social impact investors play in supporting sustainable and market-based solutions to global issues?

Earlier this month, C2C, CHMI, and Eliza Petrow, Senior Advisor at JC Flowers Foundation and World Education, welcomed more than 40 panelists and guests gathered in Boston for a two-part discussion of these questions and more.

Part I of the discussion, led by Donika Dimovska of CHMI, focused on the importance of primary care worldwide, and highlighted pressing priorities for health care providers. Donika emphasized sharing of best practices through vehicles like CHMI’s Primary Care Collaborative and CHMI’s Primary Care Innovators Handbook (in which C2C is featured).

Donika and panelists, Allison Howard-Berry of C2C, Melissa Menke of Access Afya, and Fiona Walsh of Last Mile Health, spoke at length about the importance of primary care within health systems worldwide and the importance of finding appropriate and sustainable funding streams, including revenue from patient fees. In this way, organizations can ensure their ability to continue providing care to poor families without the risks that come with fully-philanthropic funding.

Part II of the discussion showcased the potential for donor and investor involvement in supporting market-based solutions to poverty internationally and domestically. Moderator, Anne Stetson, of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, spoke with panelists, Maggi Alexander of the Philanthropic Initiative, Tom Haslett of Central Square Foundation, Susan Musinsky of the Social Innovation Forum, and Ambassador (ret.) John Simon of Total Impact Capital.

Panelists emphasized trends over the last decade in building market-based solutions to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues: access to health care, financial inclusion, education inequality, and inadequate housing. They discussed philanthropic approaches to solving challenges – how one might apply philanthropic capital to encourage market-based solutions, thereby fueling real and lasting change.

C2C thanks CHMI and all the panelists for sharing this great learning experience with Boston!

C2C Awarded Learning Grant From The Center For Health Market Innovations

C2C is honored to have been selected as a recipient of a “Learning Exchange” grant from the Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)! CHMI is an organization that promotes programs, policies and practices that make quality health care delivered by private organizations affordable and accessible to the world’s poor. The goal of the Learning Exchange grant is to allow organizations, like C2C, to collaborate and share insight and experience about our shared efforts to increase access to health services. During the grant period, C2C will collaborate with <a class="profileLink" href="http://www.accessafya sites.com/” target=”_blank” data-gt=”{"entity_id":"270807483024993","entity_path":"WebComposerUploadController"}” data-hovercard=”/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=270807483024993″>Access Afya, an innovative health delivery model in Kenya.

The C2C Board Is Growing!

Our team continues to grow! Care 2 Communities is thrilled to announce our newest Board member, Nicole Sahin. Nicole joins us as we prepare for the May opening of our newest clinic, in Acul du Nord, Haiti.

Nicole is CEO and Founder of Globalization Partners, a company that breaks down barriers to global business by making it easy for companies to hire overseas. She has spent her career helping technology companies, universities and nonprofits launch new operations in more than 80 countries. Nicole was recently nominated for EY 2015 Entrepreneur of the Year award.

With her drive to support self-sustaining philanthropic endeavors, Nicole lead a team of women to co-found a school for children in rural Cambodia. The school enabled local kids to leap over the digital divide by providing access to internet technology, solar electricity and English language teachers.

Said Nicole, “I’ve spent my entire career doing international work and am always cautious working in developing countries with changing political systems. I joined Care 2 Communities after careful due diligence because I personally know and trust the Board of Directors and founding team; because our business model has a focus on sustainability and community self-sufficiency; and because I want to play some small role in propelling the world toward a time when all people have access to excellent healthcare. I’m delighted to share in this mission with my friends and colleagues at C2C.”

C2C Board Continues To Grow

Our Board of Directors is growing! Care 2 Communities is proud to announce our newest board member, Mona Eliassen. Mona joins as our first new board member for 2015, and will be jumping right into planning efforts as we work toward our newest clinic opening in Northern Haiti this spring!

Considered an industry leader in technology staffing solutions, Mona is the founder of Eliassen Group, a technology staffing and consulting firm. Mona has worked with clients ranging from small startups to Fortune 1000 companies. She was listed as one of Boston Magazine’s “Power: 100 Women Who Run This Town” in 2003, and has been inducted into the Women’s Business “Hall of Fame”.

Mona said, “I am excited to join the Board of C2C, an innovative organization with an inspiring founder, Elizabeth Sheehan. I had the opportunity to visit Haiti last year to see first-hand C2C’s impact in communities they serve, and was impressed with both the business model and the buy-in from the community. I knew that my donation would be used efficiently to provide quality services for families in Haiti, and now I’m delighted to dedicate my time to this mission, as well.”

C2C Celebrates Success With Friends!

More than 70 people joined C2C this week for the organization’s annual fall event, which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to build sustainable health care for Haitians over the past three years.

C2C’s friends and supporters gathered to hear updates from our Haiti Country Manager, Dr. Jean Eric Calvaire as well as the organization’s plans to open two new clinics in Northern Haiti in 2015.

A big thank you to our hosts, Ruthie and Jeffrey Barker, Miriam and Thomas Christof, Holly Clifford, Victoria and Northrup Knox, Jr., Alison and Bob Murchison, Mary and David Powers, and Elizabeth Sheehan, who did an amazing job creating an enjoyable and informative evening.

Two anonymous funders have generously pledged to match up to $100,000 in gifts through the end of the year. If you donate now, your gift will be doubled. We hope all our friends will help us meet this challenge, and support us as we work to bring sustainable primary care to communities in the developing world.

Check out our Facebook page to see more pictures from the event!

Care 2 Communities