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C2C Participates in Community Writing Contest

Spelling bees and writing contests have gained popularity in schools throughout Haiti, and Care 2 Communities is thrilled to have sponsored a local writing contest in Camp Coq lipitor dosage.

The contest took place as part of preparation for the upcoming Parish Week Festivities (an annual, week-long celebration of the founding of the Parish of Marie Médiatrice, next door to C2C’s clinic). Students from various schools in the Northern area participated in the contest, sponsored by C2C and held at Bethesda School in Camp Coq.

C2C’s Lab Technician, Fusley Laguerre, and Nurse, Herlande Duvot, organized the contest, and students, parents and spectators were given a tour of our Camp Coq clinic before the contest began.

Following their tour, the students gathered at Bethesda School where the writing prompt (which had been kept secret to all, including the teachers) was revealed. The prompt was then read to the class, and each student had to write it down, word for word.

When the contest was over, all the students’ writing was read and graded carefully, accounting for proper spelling and accents (as the prompts are in French). First-, second- and third-place winners were announced to the community at the Parish Day Mass (winners pictured above).

C2C is proud to be a part of this vibrant community. Hosting events like this writing contest ensure that our neighbors know how important they – and Camp Coq – are to C2C and show our deep commitment to children and families.

C2C Intern, Leah Ciffolillo, shares her experience

I began volunteering weekly at C2C in the fall of 2013, and I’ve spent the past three weeks completing a more intensive internship with the organization. During my time here, I have worked on a number of projects with different members of the staff. My first project, which I worked on with my cousin and fellow intern, Kailah, involved helping organize an item drive at a nearby high school for kits for kids who visit the clinics in Haiti. The kits include items like coloring books, colored pencils, and stickers – a few small things to show kids that there are people thinking about them when they’re sick.

When I began my intensive internship a few weeks ago, I worked with Julia, C2C’s Global Programs Manager, to enter and help analyze data that came directly from the clinics. I also did a number of research projects, on topics including social media, TED talks and peer organizations in global health. I learned a great deal about non-profit work and business models.

Over the school year, I have seen immense growth at C2C in a short period of time. From the new office in Newton Centre, to the rebranding of Containers 2 Clinics to Care 2 Communities, and to the implementation of better technology at the Camp Coq Clinic, C2C has had an incredible year. I am heading to college in August, and although I won’t be able to continue my work with C2C, I can’t wait to see what they do and how they expand their programs.

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.

The Funding Network – USA Raises Funds for C2C!

Care 2 Communities’ Founder and President, Elizabeth Sheehan, and Board Member, Peter Urbanczyk, recently participated in The Funding Network (TFN) USA/NY’s spring event. C2C was delighted to receive an invitation!

Held in the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in New York City, TFN’s Spring Event brought together a number of donors and three non-profit organizations for a night of live crowdfunding. Donors listened as each organization – including C2C, The New Black, and the Reciprocity Foundation – presented their work. Elizabeth and Peter presented on behalf of C2C, explaining our work and goals for the future.

Following the presentations, donors participated in “auction-style” fundraising sessions, where anyone could raise his/her hand and give a minimum of $100 to the organization being “auctioned.”

The evening was a complete success, with more than $36,000 raised in total, $12,300 of which was awarded to C2C. Funding will be directed toward the new electronic medical record and data capture solution at our newest clinic in Camp Coq. Thank you to TFN and thank you to the donors who chose to support C2C!

Pictured above: Yoruba Richen from The New Black, C2C Board Member Peter Urbanczyk, C2C Founder Elizabeth Sheehan, and C2C supporter Matt Sheehan pictured at the TFN – New York event in March.

C2C’s Clinic in Namibia Receives Presidential Visit!

Namibian President, Hifikepunye Pohamba, recently visited C2C’s clinic in Namibia’s Democratic Resettlement Community (DRC) near the city of Swakopmund.

The President enjoyed spending time with Sister Elago, C2C’s Community Education Program Coordinator, as well as with Ministry of Health clinical staff members and clinic patients, too!

C2C is delighted to have President Pohamba’s support and looks forward to a strong partnership with the Namibian government for years to come! C2C especially thanks the Izumi Foundation for generous support that makes this partnership possible.

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.”

Care 2 Communities