One of the key aspects of C2C’s innovative solution is our use of flexible infrastructure solutions – converted shipping containers. They are easily sourced, can be packed with all necessary inventory before they are shipped to their final location, and provide straightforward site installation.

For our patients, the container clinics are clean, durable enough to last many years, and allow for a respectful setting to receive care.

Shipping containers are a popular alternative to traditional construction. Many organizations have realized the benefits of retrofitting a container. One example is fellow Boston-based organization Freight Farms. Freight Farms “creates cloud-connected hydroponic farms made from insulated shipping containers”. Their network serves local food producers, ranging from restaurants to food entrepreneurs.

Flexible building solutions like shipping containers create endless possibilities for organizations serving populations in areas where construction is too difficult or time-consuming. From clinics to farms, even small-scale homes, retrofitted containers are highlighting the importance and convenience of flexible infrastructure.

Maya Angelou said, “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”

C2C is blessed to have friends like you. We are incredibly grateful that you have cheerfully and generously helped us provide thousands of families with quality, reliable care this year! A few highlights from 2014:

-Containers 2 Clinics became Care 2 Communities – choosing a refreshed identity that focuses on the valuable services we provide to families.

-In Camp Coq, Haiti, at our newest clinic’s first birthday, we celebrated more than 2,000 patient visits in just one year.

-Our partner in Port-au-Prince, Grace Children’s Hospital, has completed rebuilding after 2010’s disastrous earthquake. This wonderful progress means our container clinic can be moved to provide primary care to families in a new community in 2015.

-In Namibia, we have provided maternal and pediatric care to thousands of women and children, and are fully integrated into the Ministry of Health’s programming, including campaigns to educate school children about the dangers of early pregnancy. We even received a visit from Namibia’s President, Hifikepunye Pohamba!

-We implemented a new electronic medical records system that allows our clinicians to spend more time on patient care and less on paperwork.

-Three new Board members, Dave Adams, Ruthie Barker, and Marie Marthe Saint Cyr, joined us as ambassadors for our mission.

-Two generous anonymous donors offered to match gifts of up to $100,000 between November 1^st and the end of the year. Thanks to many of you, we are about halfway to achieving this goal, and hope to exceed it by the end of the year!

Thanks to your gifts, your support, and your sharing our mission with others, we are looking forward to an amazing 2015. In the coming year, we will launch two additional clinics in Northern Haiti, serving thousands of families who do not currently have access to high-quality care. Please watch for our e-newsletter next week for more updates, stories, and plans for 2015!

All of us at C2C are truly grateful for you and are wishing you a wonderfully happy Thanksgiving!

“Primary care treats the patient as a person, as a whole, in the context of their family and their environment”

The Global Health Blog, The Lancet, featured an article last month about private sector clinic models that are integrating the principles of patient-centered care into every aspect of the business model. The article highlighted the phenomenal work of C2C’s peer organizations in East Africa and India – a group of innovators called The Primary Care Learning Collaborative.

So many global health models and interventions focus on “vertical” issues like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. It is encouraging to see a resurgence of support for the urgency of primary care platforms. These models, like C2C in Haiti, are often the point-of-entry to the care system for vulnerable people and families. The health of our clients is impacted by so many factors, often exacerbated by poverty and the lack of education and economic opportunity. C2C responds to local health needs by drawing on a continuous feedback loop between the community and the clinic: we build relationships with community groups like churches and schools, foster dialogue and debate through our local clinic Steering Committee, and conduct ongoing patient satisfaction research.

At C2C clinics, we put just as much effort into caring for our clients as we do communicating with them. This approach is fundamental to effective primary care; we help Haitian families get well and stay healthy.

Care 2 Communities is excited to announce the arrival of our newest Board member, Marie Marthe Saint Cyr. Marie joins us as the C2C team plans for 2015 and the opening of our next two clinics in Haiti.

Marie currently serves as Executive Director of The Lambi Fund, a non-profit organization that works toward economic justice, democracy and alternative sustainable development in Haiti. She has been working at the grassroots level for many years. Prior to joining the Lambi Fund, Marie was the founding Executive Director of Iris House, a center for women with HIV/AIDS in Harlem. She also headed the New York AIDS Coalition, and served as the Deputy Commissioner of Human Rights for New York City.

“I am truly honored to be selected to join the board of C2C. It is a unique opportunity to model sustainable health care access for communities in need. What impressed me and urged me to follow C2C is the attention to community participation; the intent to impart responsibility versus a charity approach to the care given and the treatment of the consumer as an integral part of their care,” said Marie.