nurses - Haiti Observer Blog

Haiti is a medical backwater. The country lacks state-of-the-art hospitals and clinics, modern medical resources, sufficient numbers of trained nurses, doctors and other medical staff, diagnostic technology, medical devices, and medicines. For decades Haiti has lived like a medical missionary's missionh where thousands of foreign non-governmental organizations, committed and compassionate nurses and doctors travel to offer medical service and then fly back to the developed world.

In January 2005, FSIL (Faculté des Sciences In­firmières de lfUniversité Episcopale dfHaïti or Faculty of Nursing Science of the Episcopal University of Haiti) was created with the affiliation of the Presbyterian Church. The nursing school was conceived as a part of the expanding medical outreach in Léogâne, Haiti. FSIL is the only baccalaureate nursing school in Haiti. It is the only nursing school in Haiti that trains nurses to perform specific specialized tasks. Its curriculum is a competency based nursing care that teaches nurses to critically identify the case specific responsibility and develop the problem solving model. The majority of other nursing schools in Haiti teach up to diploma levels. The students of this nursing school are taught by Haitians and volunteers from the United States.

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The Regis College School of Nursing, Science, and Health Professionals have formed a partnership with Haiti's Ministry of Health, nursing schools, and Boston's Partners in Health. The purpose of the partnership is to develop a masters and leadership program for nursing faculty at the University of Haiti. Currently, the majority of faculty only holds an associates' degree.

Haiti's healthcare system has suffered a dire shortage of Healthcare professionals, an underdeveloped infrastructure, and random delivery of healthcare services for many years. Regis College, member of the international community, wants to change all that. The support and improvement of healthcare givers in Haiti's healthcare system is overdue, and the tri-lateral partnership means to offer outstanding community service opportunities for University of Haiti faculty and post-graduate nursing students. On February 18, 2014, 12 faculty nurses will be awarded the first ever Masters in Nursing from the University of Haiti.

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Almost exactly three years ago, one year after their necessary role in Haitian society was made glaringly clear to those in need of and lacking aid after the 2010 earthquake, the focus on the country's small fleet of nurses grew and the newfound interest allowed for the creation of a brand new program for nursing in the country. The need arose after the quake took the lives of near to a hundred nurses in the country and also brought down the Port-au-Prince school for nursing.

In 2011, the new plan to revive the field came in the shape of a master's degree program, requiring three years of study, was made available to nursing school students from five of the public schools for nursing across the country. Included in the three years of study, students followed decades' held curriculum studying mainly for hospital service. This left a gap in the market for other fields such as patient education, pediatric care, public health program management, surgery and primary care.

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We all probably experienced this one time or another; however one Haitian nurse working in Long Island hospital is doing something about it. Diana St. Gerard who is a light skin Haitian nurse has been discriminated by other staff members for her background. They assume that because she is Haitian, therefore, she must be practicing "Black magic" and Voodoo.

According to Diana St. Gerard, the white staff at Long Island hospital made her life a living hell there. During the nine years that she worked in the mental health unit she was faced with many incidents of discrimination. Nurses have told St. Gerard that she looked like a voodoo doll; another staff member actually brought a voodoo doll at the Hospital once.

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Laurent Lamothe, Prime Minister of Haiti, attended the commencement ceremony at Azure College Nursing School in Fort Lauderdale in early August. As a keynote speaker, he stood before a gathering of graduate nursing students, their professors, and the Diaspora elite.

During Lamothe's talk, he encouraged graduates to apply their knowledge to be of service in their home towns. He congratulated them on earning their degrees and acknowledged the hard work and perseverance it took to finish their coursework.

He spoke of the establishment of Azure College by newly immigrated Haitians, who assimilated into American culture by gaining accreditation for Azure College. He added Azure College School of Nursing has distinguished itself, with a success rate of 100% job placements.

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