Category Archives: Uncategorized

Eye Clinic Day at C2C

According to the World Health Organization 90% of blindness and vision impairment occurs in developing countries. Blindness is caused by treatable conditions left unexamined: cataracts, glaucoma, uncorrected refractive error and diabetic eye disease. Developing countries, like Haiti, offer few eyecare options for populations who live in abject poverty. C2C is committed to tackling this problem for our vulnerable patient population.

In partnership with Justinien Hospital, a government-run teaching hospital in Cap-Haitien, we recently hosted an eye clinic at our Acul du Nord location. We screened and treated approximately 100 patients for vision problems and cataracts.

Vitamins Help Treat Malnutrition

Providing the highest quality medical care to vulnerable families takes collaboration. We are proud to partner with Vitamin Angels to source vitamins for malnourished children and for our maternal patients, including antenatal multivitamins and supplements.

Recently, C2C Nurse Herlande Duvot attended a training course by Vitamin Angels on how to distribute vitamins according to expert-approved best practices. The training focused on the benefit of multivitamins for pregnant women, especially vitamin A. Vitamin Angels also discussed their mission to reduce child mortality worldwide by connecting essential micronutrients with infants and children under five.

This partnership with Vitamin Angels strengthens C2C’s supply chain and empowers our work to support women through safe and healthy pregnancies and to combat malnutrition. C2C is proud and excited to partner with Vitamin Angels in Haiti to expand our services for women and children for years to come.

CHW Training: Week Two

Week One of CHW training ended on a high note with vaccination practice, led by Dr. Sévère and Miss Noël, Auxiliary Nurse at the Acul du Nord clinic.

During Week Two, we were honored to host Miss Rose Edith, a midwife and nurse at MamaBaby Haiti. She took the time to talk to the staff about looking after mother and child after birth, breastfeeding, and child nutrition after 6 months. The staff had the opportunity to discuss myths and misconceptions regarding childbirth and childcare that are still prevalent in Haiti. Miss Edith also shared how to properly address these issues with mothers. Her input added great insight to the training!

We also welcomed Dr. Thal, C2C’s OBGYN, who talked about HIV and other STIs, as well as different forms of contraception.

The CHWs spent the rest of the week practicing the education portion of the community health training and screenings, according to new requirements. Some of the subjects covered were about cholera, the importance of clean water and how to treat it.

To cap off the two-week training, we practiced with the new data collection tools and how to conduct postpartum visits. We concluded our time with a discussion about the qualities that make a great CHW.

CHW Training: Week One

C2C is kicking off November with a comprehensive, 2-week training for our Community Health Workers (CHWs), focusing on building skills and knowledge to support pregnant women and rural families with their health concerns. CHWs live in the communities where they work and they are trusted and welcomed into patients’ homes to provide health education, counseling, and follow-up for a wide range of health problems.

This week, we welcomed a new team member, Santia Vital, who will join our clinical team at C2C’s clinic in Acul du Nord.

The first few days of training focused on C2C’s malnutrition program, specifically how to screen and treat malnutrition. The CHWs also learned how to use new data collection tools to aid them in their work.

Dr. Sévère, resident physician at C2C’s Acul du Nord clinic, also provided training on vaccinations.

The Lancet Revisits Maternal Health

“Every woman, every newborn, everywhere has the right to good quality care.”

This is the guiding message of the 2016 Lancet Maternal Health Series. More than a decade ago, The Lancet published their first report focusing on maternal survival. The new series is made up of six papers discussing maternal health, its successes and current failings.

In 2015, 216 women died of reported maternal causes per 100,000 live births. In order to meet sustainable development goals (SDG), the global target is to reduce maternal mortality to 70 per 100,000 by the year 2030. The series offers a five-point action plan for local, national, and global communities to achieve the SDG vision: quality, equity, health systems, financing, and better evidence.

Women and children under 5 are uniquely vulnerable to health threats and C2C believes in providing them with specialized, subsidized care. As part of our free antenatal care program, our physicians saw more than 1,000 pregnant women so far in 2016. We employ an OB/GYN specialist in each clinic two days per week, and pregnant patients have access to local, community-based care: pre-natal exams, diagnostics, medicine and vitamins, and ultrasound. 75% of our pregnant patients receive the WHO-recommended minimum of 4 prenatal visits and we’re determined to get that number to 100%. In 2017, C2C will expand our maternal health program to focus on keeping enrolled patients in the care system and supporting them through safe deliveries and a healthy post-partum period.

C2C's New Partnership with Meds & Food for Kids!

1 in 5 Haitian children is malnourished. It’s a tragedy that we see every day in our partner communities and C2C is proud to announce a partnership with Meds & Food for Kids (MFK) to treat malnutrition.

MFK produces and distributes RUTF – Ready To Use Therapeutic Food – to treat malnutrition in children. Sometimes called “miracle peanut butter,” RUTF in Haiti is called Medika Mamba, and is considered the gold standard for treating malnutrition by the World Health Organization. Founded in 2003, MFK has saved the lives of over 200,000 children in Haiti and has trained thousands of health providers on the care regimen for treating malnutrition. MFK produces Medika Mamba locally, building the economy and training Haitian peanut farmers.

C2C’s nurses and Community Health Workers have been trained on the protocol of care for treating malnutrition and will begin screening and treating children on August 23, 2016.

C2C's New Partnership with Direct Relief International!

C2C is very excited to announce a new partnership with Direct Relief International in Haiti! Direct Relief works to strengthen healthcare systems in high-need areas and to increase people’s access to adequate care. They work in seventy countries around the world, including Haiti, in an effort to achieve their mission of improving healthcare globally.

C2C and Direct Relief share a commitment to providing patients with the medicine and supplies they need to stay healthy. By partnering with Direct Relief, C2C will ensure that our supply chain is strong and reliable: part of the promise we make to all our patients. We’re honored to be working with Direct Relief in Haiti and look forward to sharing more news about the partnership in the months ahead.

C2C Introduces New Medical Device for Community Health Workers

We have recently introduced the Vital Signs CradleLife device, a first of its kind vital signs monitor, into our clinical work in Haiti! This new handheld device recently developed by researchers from Guy’s and St. Thomas’ and King’s College London measures the blood pressure and pulse of pregnant women, helping to detect early high blood pressure caused by preeclampsia or eclampsia as a women’s risk of shock due to post-partum bleeding.

According to the WHO around 800 women die during pregnancy and childbirth everyday. 99% of these deaths occur in low and middle-income countries such as Haiti. C2C’s strives to incorporate the most innovative medical tools and protocols to strengthen our antenatal care services. In resource-poor communities, closely monitoring blood pressure is absolutely essential to safe pregnancy.

The CradleLife device is accurate and easy-to-use by all levels of healthcare workers. It provides visual alerts emphasising that action must be taken for women presenting with at-risk hypertensive readings.

C2C is using this innovative, low-cost technology to improve the health care of our patients. We are very excited to have introduced this new device and look forward to the impact it will have on the health of our patients!

Expanded Services Brings Jump in Patient Volume

2016 is off to a busy start for C2C. In the past two months, our patient volume has increased by 89% across our two clinic sites in Northern Haiti! In March alone we served over 1,000 patients with clinical services, including primary care, specialty antenatal care, and community-based health screenings.

The C2C clinic model partners directly with communities and we nurture and respect the feedback loop that we have with our patients. This year, we heard our patients speaking loud and clear: expanded services and more affordability. We’ve provided exactly that and the results have been very exciting!

Offering free maternal health care to pregnant women was very important to the families of Camp Coq and Acul du Nord and so we expanded our services to meet that need— helping to ensure that expectant mothers have comprehensive care during pregnancy, access to safe birthing support, and post-natal and infant care.

We’re on track to serve 10,000 patients in 2016— and to double that number in 2017. Stay tuned to our blog to learn more about new programs to expand family planning coverage, childhood vaccinations, and to ensure that school-age child are healthy and thriving!

New OB/GYN Joins the Team as Participation in Maternal Health Program Grows

Six months after launching a comprehensive Maternal Health Program at our clinics in Northern Haiti, the program is expanding! Through this initiative, pregnant women can partake in unlimited prenatal visits, as well as receive labs, pharmaceuticals and ultrasounds, all for free. In February, a new OB/GYN, Dr. Jude Marcel Thal, joined our team to lead this program, and to consult with any other patients who might need to see an OB/GYN.

For Dr. Thal, being an OB/GYN has always been his dream. He’s always admired doctors who can help a pregnant woman take care of her baby. After receiving his medical degree from the Latin American School of Medicine, in Cuba, Dr. Thal returned to Haiti to receive his obstetrics training at the Justinien University Hospital in Cap Haitien, located in the Northern Department of Haiti, where C2C operates. He worked as an OB/GYN at two other hospitals prior to joining C2C this year.

Dr. Thal says, “Many women in these communities aren’t seeing an OB/GYN…and things can go wrong [without prenatal care]. Something simple can happen, but if the woman ignores it, it can become a major threat to her and her baby.”

As C2C’s OB/GYN, Dr. Thal rotates between our Camp Coq and Acul du Nord clinics, providing pre and post natal consultations, prescribing diagnostics and pharmaceuticals, and performing ultrasounds, all offered free of charge to the woman.

“C2C’s Maternal Health Program is very good, especially because of the area we’re located in. Women in this area don’t really have the financial means to see an OB/GYN, they often tell me this. They benefit greatly from getting their consultation, medications, and ultrasound for free,” said Dr. Thal.

C2C have served over 600 pregnant women since launching this program, and we hope to double the number of women enrolled in the program by the end of 2016.

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