“I Have a Dream…”

On our last day of clinic in Haiti we again split into two groups in order to cover more territory. Dr Lang led the team to the town of St Raphael, which is a small community in the North Department. We were told its health center has a catchment area of more than 50,000 people. When we entered the Clinique de Saint Raphael, we saw the women registered for cervical cancer screening being educated by a community health worker about HIV prevention. The CCC/IMC- trained nurse based out of St Raphael, Miss Myrlyne Martial, then began a short lecture on cervical cancer and the importance of screening.

The suitcase with the equipment for this clinic was quickly unpacked and the nurses set up three screening stations. It was wonderful to witness the simplicity of our “Clinic in a Suitcase” model, as we watched the “Salle d’Accouchement” transform into a functional cervical cancer screening clinic within minutes. We feel very hopeful and confident in the future of this clinic because it is overseen by an exceptional physician, Dr. Moise Adesky, who obtained his M.D from Cuba. He eloquently expressed his dream of transforming St Raphael into a robust health center offering many different programs. His performance in terms of accuracy and precision of technique was spectacular and we even got a chance to see him train others confidently and successfully. We established this clinic as “The Phyllis Clinic” and there is no doubt that they will screen and treat countless women for cervical cancer. We are grateful that this “See and Treat” center will hold regular screening days every Friday. As we wrap up our activities for the week we reflect on the enormity of what has been accomplished. With our incredible ground partners, IMC, and the enthusiastic participation of 22 Haitian Ministry of Health doctors and nurses, there are now a total of 14 fully-functional and equipped clinics throughout the North and North-East Departments of the country. This number increased from zero when CCC first sent a team to Borgne, Haiti in 2013. Thousands of Haitian women have undergone their first-ever cervical cancer screening, and many have now returned for subsequent screenings. This is a phenomenal achievement and we want to express our deepest gratitude to all of our supporters who have made this possible.