“Women you give life, protect your own life” – so begins the sign outside of the Bethesda Medical Center, the site of the first day of the CCC/IMC “See and Treat” clinic in Cap-Haitien. The International Medical Corps had erected two giant banners announcing our visit and the free cervical cancer screening that would be offered over the next several days. Because of the popularity of the program and the need to accommodate more patients, we have moved the location of the CCC/IMC clinic to the Bethesda Medical Clinic.
We now have an entire building dedicated to screening and treating women for precancerous cervical lesions as well as an enthusiastic statement of support from the Medical Director of the Bethesda Medical Center, Dr. Rodney Baptiste. His mother has been a nurse at the medical center for at least thirty years and is herself going through our training program. Dr. Baptiste believes that their center will be able commit ongoing care attention and dedication to promoting this program. He believes that it is one of the most urgent needs in promoting women’s health in Haiti.
Nurse Anne from IMC has been working tirelessly over the last nine months providing screening and treatment to women at multiple locations through out Cap-Haitien. With this generous offer of space and personnel support by the Bethesda Clinic the CCC/IMC clinic will truly be able to further expand and develop the screening program throughout Cap-Haitien. We had a wonderful turnout today, and we hope that with these banners and our TV/radio announcements will be able to draw even more women to the clinic tomorrow!