COMMUNITY HEALTH

 
“Unfortunately, there is no high-level reference hospital within 90 minutes of Petit Trou. Our clinic and our health workers provide front line urgent care, and a focus on community health, vaccinations, and wellness. We are also working hard to improve our maternal health and maternity program.”
— Guirlene Dorceley, Head Nurse of Petit Trou's Clinic
 

Inadequate access to healthcare is a serious challenge in Haiti, often with tragic consequences. Parents and families in rural communities travel great distances to healthcare facilities that are commonly under-supplied and understaffed. Knowing this, the Colorado Haiti Project seeks to develop local infrastructure and capacity. 

CHP partners with the community of Petit Trou, the Haitian Ministry of Health (MSPP), and other local organizations to strengthen access to quality healthcare for all in the community of Petit Trou. These efforts include:

  • Salary / stipend support for 43 community health workers. These workers provide front-line care, first aid, and support for community health initiatives including mobile vaccination and education campaigns

  • Engaging with a cadre of over 60 traditional birth attendants, this in coordination with local government clinic, to provide materials and training. The goal of our engagement is to encourage women to give birth in the clinic or hospital when possible, and to increase the safety of births at home

  • Facilitating continuing education programs for the health workers and clinic staff, through  a partnership with Colorado-based practitioners and health centers as well as in-country experts

  • Providing supplies, equipment, and financial resources to the local government clinic

  • Encouraging and facilitating better data collection, analysis, communication and learning at both the clinic and health worker level to strengthen the local system and make the best use of resources

Community Health Aides

One of our most impactful contributions to the strengthening of the region’s healthcare system has been the training and salary support of Community Health Aides. These 25 women are an important addition to the health care system because there are simply not enough Health Agents to provide knowledge and preventative efforts to the population. Though Aides are not recognized formally by the Ministry of Health, they can assist Agents at vaccine rallies and other important community health events. 

A number of the Health Aides have worked in collaboration with the local clinic’s head nurse, Miss Dorceley on a purely volunteer basis. This synergy with the formal health care system has allowed our organization to work together with this nurse and support her health campaigns in the community. Additionally, the training of the Community Health Aides has raised up these women in the community and given them status that most of them did not previously have. Many of these women now not only care for their neighborhoods in the context of health, but also have grown the confidence to serve as leaders in other capacities. For instance, some of these women have become presidents of Well Committees. Others are leaders in agricultural associations and have been integral in post-hurricane response. Working closely with these Community Health Aides has allowed Colorado Haiti Project to support a network of positive influence in the community.

Community Health Agents

September of 2016 marked the beginning of training for 20 new Community Health Agents – formalized community health workers in Haiti’s health system. These Agents were certified and began to work in March of 2017. This will double the amount of trained polyvalent Health Agents and therefore increase access to healthcare in the community.