One month after the grand opening of the Sinek clinic and, though its impact isn’t fully defined yet, we can clearly see that the community is happy to see its doors open. We began to experience a daily high volume of patients right on opening day. Sinek, the 4th clinic in C2C’s growing network of community clinics, is surrounded by a population of nearly 20,000 people. Prior to its re-opening, the community lacked access to reliable, high-quality medical services.

We recently sat down with C2C’s Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Samuel Bernard, to reflect on the journey of re-opening the Sinek clinic, its success in such a short period of time, and to discuss C2C’s model evolution towards a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Dr. Samuel told us that he was very excited about C2C’s partnership with Haiti’s Ministry of Health (MSPP) and, in particular, the renovation of failing public clinics. This partnership gives us the ability to breathe “new life” into these existing clinics. Dr. Jasmin, the Director of the Northern Department at the Haitian Ministry of Health, was just as thrilled as we were to embark on this mutually-beneficial journey.

Dr. Bernard shares his reflections about embarking on the PPP journey that begins with the grand opening of Sinek:

Addressing Concerns:

We knew Sinek was the right place to start, considering the clinic wasn’t functional: patients never saw a doctor- only a nurse assistant and did not have any meds, exams, or lab tests to offer. At the same time, we knew we had to tackle a mountain of challenges before opening day. Despite the best efforts of the government to staff and equip a public clinic in Sinek, there simply was not enough public funding to pay salaries, secure the supply chain, or provide electricity or running water.

In order to tackle the internal issues and operations of the clinic, we had to address the many external challenges, such as:

• Sourcing construction materials that weren’t available in Haiti
• Assessing the community and understanding what types of services they need
• Educating the community about C2C’s model and how it differs from the public clinics

Grand Opening:

Community members were excited and happy to see the changes to the clinic.
The Ministry of Health was glad to see that the clinic was supporting the community and that we wanted to include their input throughout the re-opening process. We had an overwhelming amount of feedback stressing that this is the only clinic that the community has and that they so are glad that they can depend on it to stay open and functional. The renovations to the clinic (from the inside and out) showed that our partnership with the government was headed in the right direction and it gave people hope that the Public-Private Partnership was indeed a winning model.

C2C Model Evolution:

Since the early years in Haiti, C2C developed methods for community-based market research, established key partnerships, built a local brand, and iterated core operating protocols (staffing, task-shifting, electronic medical records, quality standards). We believe that our model, having demonstrated both health impact and business traction, is ready for replication to new communities.

C2C is growing its network in northern Haiti. We now operate 4 clinics with plans to open another 6 clinics in the next two years, reaching 50,000 people annually by 2020. We have always worked in close collaboration with the Haitian Ministry of Health, offering national priority programs like immunizations and antenatal care free-of-charge. Starting with Sinek, we have begun to formally expand our collaboration with the Ministry to a public-private partnership (PPP) model, rehabilitating existing public clinics to achieve high benchmarks of service delivery and quality, by adopting the C2C model for clinic management.

Sinek patients have welcomed C2C with open arms and are happy that the clinic is clean, safe, professional, and trustworthy. This successful start to the partnership gives Haiti’s government hope that replication in other communities is possible and on a path to transforming healthcare in Haiti.

Dear Friends,

Last week, we announced that C2C will officially open the doors of a new clinic in Sinek, northern Haiti, next month. This will be the 4th clinic in our growing network of community clinics. The community of nearly 20,000 lacks access to reliable, high-quality medical services. Despite the best efforts of the government to staff and equip a public clinic in Sinek, there simply isn’t enough public funding to pay salaries, secure the supply chain, or provide electricity or running water. C2C is proud to partner with the Haitian government to give the Sinek clinic a “new life” and to serve the community in perpetuity.

Step One: Guarantee a reliable supply chain for essential medicines. 

Under government management, the Sinek clinic is able to stock only 6 to 8 different medicines and regularly experiences stock-outs because of failures up the supply chain. Under C2C’s model, the Sinek clinic will stock over 35 medicines. Reliability is a fundamental brand attribute of C2C clinics: we promise our patients that the medicine they need will always be in stock. We’ve developed an inventory and supply chain system that leverages efficiencies across the clinic network.

See our “before and after” photos below! The transformation of the Sinek pharmacy is well underway and we cannot wait to welcome our first patients to the revitalized public clinic in April.

AFTER:

Stay tuned as we bring you more information next week about how the clinic is transforming. But first, a CALL TO ACTION! We would appreciate if you could take just a moment to do the following:

1.   Follow us on social media:
   Facebook 
   Twitter
   LinkedIn
2.  Forward this email to a friend and ask them to follow C2C! 

We want to build our community of supporters and advocates far and wide so that the community of Sinek and the new clinic know that we are following their success!

Dear Friends,

After several months of planning and hard work, we are excited to announce that the newly renovated C2C Sinek clinic is finally open to the public! The opening of this clinic marks an important milestone in Haiti’s healthcare sector.

While this is the 4th clinic in C2C’s growing network, it is the first clinic re-opening project as part of a new public-private partnership (PPP) strategy to rehabilitate underperforming government clinics across the country. This innovative partnership with Haiti’s government allows C2C to identify flagging public clinics and give them a “new life” of operational excellence and health impact.

Step Five: Strengthen the relationship between the clinic and Sinek community to effectively address and meet community needs

Dr. Jasmin addressing the community members and staff at new Sinek clinic grand opening

In an effort to ensure a smooth transition at Sinek, we invited the community to attend the grand opening ceremony last week. Many community members were in attendance, as well as local government leaders and the Director of the Northern Department at the Haitian Ministry of Health, Dr. Ernst-Robert Jasmin. All attendees got the opportunity to take a tour of the clinic and learn about its new and wide-ranging services. In his opening remarks, Dr. Jasmin said:

We began the journey to transform the Sinek clinic by leveraging the assets the Ministry of Health already had in place. While a clinic building already stood at the site, its infrastructure was in very poor condition. As construction got underway to ensure a proper foundation, we also trained newly-hired and current staff members to standardize clinic operations and to integrate electronic medical records at Sinek.

The “before” and “after” photos (below) illustrate the transformation process of the Sinek clinic: 

Clinic Renovation
 

As we prepare the new clinic for opening day, C2C is overhauling how patient data is captured and analyzed so that we can offer optimal patient care. Electronic medical records allow us to monitor all aspects of treatment efficacy, increase our ability to support good health over time, and ensure that the sickest and most vulnerable patients receive active follow-up.

Step Two: Investing in systems that support high-quality, long-term care for our patients. 

C2C clinics offer the highest standard of patient care through our customized electronic medical record (EMR) system. Developed in collaboration with the Vecna Cares Charitable Trust, the EMR systems capture all aspects of patient clinical care, doctor-patient interaction, demographic data, diagnoses, prescriptions, and follow-up. Our tablet-based system fosters optimal patient flow at the clinic day-to-day, as patients travel from registration to consultation, to the laboratory and the pharmacy.

Very few medical facilities in Haiti have EMR systems, and we consider this capacity to be crucial to our success. Not only can we focus on each individual’s health trajectory, but we can monitor population health and coordinate effectively with the Haitian Ministry of Health. Our data is our enduring connection with our patients and is the backbone of responsive, patient-centered care.

At Sinek, you can see the “before” photo (below) shows how patient medical records used to be kept. The “after” photos show how our medical staff can quickly and easily capture patient data on tablets and focus, instead, on the patient-clinician interaction.

AFTER:
 

Stay tuned as we bring you more information next week about how the clinic is transforming. But first, a CALL TO ACTION! We would appreciate if you could take just a moment to do the following:

1.   Follow us on social media:
   Facebook 
   Twitter
   LinkedIn
2.  Forward this email to a friend and ask them to follow C2C! 

We want to build our community of supporters and advocates far and wide so that the community of Sinek and the new clinic know that we are following their success!

Last week, we announced that C2C will officially open the doors of a new clinic in Sinek, northern Haiti, next month. This will be the 4th clinic in our growing network of community clinics. The community of nearly 20,000 lacks access to reliable, high-quality medical services. Despite the best efforts of the government to staff and equip a public clinic in Sinek, there simply isn’t enough public funding to pay salaries, secure the supply chain, or provide electricity or running water. C2C is proud to partner with the Haitian government to give the Sinek clinic a “new life” and to serve the community in perpetuity.

Step One: Guarantee a reliable supply chain for essential medicines. 

Under government management, the Sinek clinic is able to stock only 6 to 8 different medicines and regularly experiences stock-outs because of failures up the supply chain. Under C2C’s model, the Sinek clinic will stock over 35 medicines. Reliability is a fundamental brand attribute of C2C clinics: we promise our patients that the medicine they need will always be in stock. We’ve developed an inventory and supply chain system that leverages efficiencies across the clinic network.

See our “before and after” photos below! The transformation of the Sinek pharmacy is well underway and we cannot wait to welcome our first patients to the revitalized public clinic in April.

AFTER:

Stay tuned as we bring you more information next week about how the clinic is transforming. But first, a CALL TO ACTION! We would appreciate if you could take just a moment to do the following:

1.   Follow us on social media:
   Facebook 
   Twitter
   LinkedIn
2.  Forward this email to a friend and ask them to follow C2C! 

We want to build our community of supporters and advocates far and wide so that the community of Sinek and the new clinic know that we are following their success!

In just a few short weeks, C2C will officially open the doors of a new clinic in the community of Sinek, in northern Haiti. This is the 4th clinic in C2C’s growing network and we are working hard to ensure that it will meet the health needs of local families. This clinic isn’t starting from scratch; we’re working in partnership with Haiti’s government to rehabilitate flagging public clinics and give them a “new life” of operational excellence and health impact.

In a special 5-part email series leading up to the opening, we will feature the Sinek clinic to bring you information about how the clinic is transforming, how the extraordinary clinical staff are preparing to re-open to patients, and how we have strengthened the supply chain and expanded home-based services.

Join us as the clinic gets ready for opening day. But first, a CALL TO ACTION! We would appreciate if you could take just a moment to do the following:

1.   Follow us on social media:
   Facebook 
   Twitter
   LinkedIn
2.  Share this with a friend and ask them to follow C2C! 

We want to build our community of supporters and advocates far and wide so that the community of Sinek and the new clinic know that we are following their success!

We are excited to share C2C’s 2017 Annual Report with you. The report highlights key achievements from the past year, including our new partnership with Haiti’s Ministry of Health, our expanding clinic network, and the growing scope of our services to poor and low-income communities in Haiti.

The year ahead is ambitious: we’ll double the size of our service delivery footprint in Haiti and we’re expanding our community health focus to ensure positive clinical outcomes for our patients. We value your comments, questions, and input about our work, and welcome you to contact us with feedback!

We would be grateful if you would share this Annual Report with friends and please follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

In addition to primary care, C2C has been delivering life-saving medical care to pregnant women in Haiti for over seven years. The statistics are shocking: Haiti has the highest maternal rate in the western hemisphere. 1 in 285 births will result in a woman’s death, while less than 50% of deliveries are attended by a skilled birth attendant. In rural Haiti, medical care is not accessible by the general population and women often receive no prenatal care leading up to delivery. If a problem occurs during pregnancy or delivery, mother and baby often die during labor as a result of no medical attention.

We have treated thousands of expectant women at our clinics, but the truth is: medical care alone is not enough. To ensure that women and their newborns have the care they need, we’ve developed a transformational model to attack the maternal and infant mortality crisis in Haiti by focusing on behavior change. This proposed model scaffolds women and families to access high-­quality care and addresses demand-side barriers to care­-seeking, a neglected area of study. We came up with a unique and powerful approach by paring our clinical care with social support for vulnerable families at the household level, which entails visiting expectant mothers at their home during their pregnancy and after giving birth.

Our Maternal Health Agents (MHA) lead these visits and focus mostly on education and counseling. The MHAs cover many different topics that vary from danger signs during pregnancy, safe birth options, nutrition, breastfeeding, and the importance of immunizations. They also keep an eye out for different symptoms that could indicate problems in the pregnancy by checking blood pressure and temperature.

Recently, one of our MHAs visited Shedeline, who is 19 years old and pregnant for the first time. Shedeline lives in a remote mountain area, far from C2C’s clinic in Acul du Nord. During the home visit, she has the opportunity to ask a lot of questions which helped her feel less nervous about pregnancy and more prepared to give birth.

Thanks to our partners Vitamin Angels, all the pregnant and lactating women that visit our clinics receive prenatal vitamins that will help them prevent anemia during pregnancy and make sure their baby gets the nutrients that are essential for healthy development.

Our journey with Shedeline doesn’t end here. We will be checking in with her frequently through phone calls and home-visits prior to and after delivery to encourage adherence to the birth plan established during the first visit.

This 18-month program, funded by Grand Challenges Canada, innovates a model for ‘wraparound’ maternal and newborn care, offering a complete protocol of antenatal care, home-based and group-based education, robust postpartum care, as well as newborn care, including vaccinations, through baby’s first year. Our goal is to enroll at least 1,000 women and to meticulously track health outcomes to understand if and how the home-based behavior change intervention improves key metrics such as a complete prenatal regimen, breastfeeding adherence, pediatric care-seeking, infant nutrition and growth.

We’re excited to announce that C2C has been selected as a finalist for the Henry Schein Cares Medal for excellence in expanding access to health care for the underserved!

The Henry Schein Cares Medal is an initiative of Henry Schein Cares, the company’s global corporate social responsibility program. The award is given to nonprofit organizations from the fields of oral health, animal health, and medicine that demonstrate excellence by helping to increase access to care in underserved communities around the world.

“Throughout our company’s history, we at Henry Schein have been guided by the principle that everyone, regardless of their economic standing or personal circumstances, deserves quality health care,” said Stanley M. Bergman, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Henry Schein.

C2C shares Henry Schein’s commitment to serving communities in need and we honored to be recognized for the work we do in bringing low-cost, high-quality healthcare to the people of Haiti.

Learn more about the Henry Schein Cares Medal: