Haiti Healthcare Education at Albert Schweitzer Hospital

August 2018, Hopital Albert Schweitzer Deschapelles

By Karen Schafer

Melissa’s reflections on her first project with Rose Haiti Healthcare Education:

“Last November, when I received the email about Rose Charity looking for volunteers to teach NRP in Haiti, I knew instantly I wanted to be part of this. When I was in nursing school, I wished to work in third world countries and do mission, but never did it. So, I thought that going to Haiti for a week teaching NRP was the perfect way to realize a dream and be useful for people who need it.

I must admit that the experience was better then my expectations. First, I met two amazing women in Julie and Donna. I think it was a perfect match. The work we accomplish without knowing each other was incredible. If you add the wonderful team we worked with in HAS, it made the experience way easier. I appreciate the fact that having people from outside telling you how to work is hard to accept and makes you suspicious. We sensed that our students felt that way at the beginning of the day, but very soon the participants started to participate and enjoyed practicing the new skills. Seeing those nurses have the pleasure of getting the capacity to initiate NRP was exciting.

We were very well welcomed, knowing we had a place to live and having Leah was really facilitating. Arriving one day before and have time to visit the hospital was very helpful. We had to readjust the schedule a few times because of new participants or because of the way the group was improving during the day. We had more then enough material to teach and practice. The participants didn’t have enough time to read the book and I think the book is really hard for them to read because it is so far away from their reality in term of equipment and skills.  Maybe resources like they use in the program Helping Babies Breathe is more adequate.

After a week in Deschapelles I felt like what had I done was great, but I feel I can do more and would very like to go again and do a follow up on their NRP practices and bring more training to them.”