Community Healthcare Workers
Haiti
Medical Benevolence Foundation funds training programs in many
developing countries. Nicaragua, Guatemala, Haiti and numerous countries
in Africa are just some examples of where community health workers are
trained to provide medical services for those who live in remote areas.
Without these workers many of our brothers and sisters overseas would
not receive health care.
This is the story of Madame Odigene Pierre, a community health care
worker in Haiti. She is but one example of the many successes in
training indigenous community healthcare workers. She is 42 years old.
She lives on a farm with her husband and their 8 children.
Many in developing countries are not educated past the sixth grade. Mme.
Odigene was no exception. She completed primary school in her mid-teens.
As a young adult she went to a vocational school for three years to
learn the craft of dress-and-suit-making. She still uses a foot-powered
treadle sewing machine to make clothes for her family. In Haiti, she
says, most of a tailor’s trade these days is in altering or repairing
the low-cost second-hand clothing that comes from the United States.
Mme. Odigene became involved in a health program funded by MBF because
people always seemed to come to her for advice about an illness. She
enjoyed helping families to remain healthy.
Two years ago she was chosen by her community for formal health training
as a community health worker. Mme Odigene and several others trained
intensively each day for four months in a program designed and
supervised by Hospital St. Croix. The program was funded by a grant from
the Medical Benevolence Foundation. Many of the alternative Christmas
gifts given in honor of friends and family made this training grant
possible.
When the training was completed and with certificate in hand, she
returned to continue working in her district. She now serves as a
community health worker and assists Covenant Hospital to conduct mobile
clinics. She organized citizens in the Guabary area to construct a
shelter of wood and corrugated metal. The shelter is where she conducts
vaccination clinics and health education classes. She also does regular
home visitations and holds health education meetings. She will refer
persons with significant illness to the diagnostic and treatment
capabilities of the hospital. She relies on the supervision and the
resources of Covenant Hospital and its medical staff.
Gracious and soft-spoken, she approaches her part of the Community
Health Program with enthusiasm to be of service to her friends and
neighbors.
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