Continued Training at Marinates of St. Crouix and Populorum Progressio

Tuesday June 2nd - Wednesday June 3, 2015

These two days were spent training 8 medical doctors, nurses, and community health workers at the Marinates of St. Croiux Clinic in Cap Haitian and 34 medical doctors, nurses, and community health workers at Populorum Progressio Clinic in Plaisance, Haiti. Plaisance was the furthest away from Robillard that we traveled, taking almost two hours to drive our little Geo-Tracker down dirt, pot-holed roads. Upon mapping it out, I realized it was only 31 miles from our place of stay. That speaks to the road conditions! Both of these clinics were added after I arrived in Haiti. The directors had found out from my priest that I was there teaching NFP and asked to be added to the list, so that their providers could have training to offer this method. Since Catholic teaching prohibits the use of artificial contraception and that is all that is currently endorsed by the MSPP, these clinics previously had very limited to no options for helping their patients plan families to limit the number of children, so that each could be cared for properly and provided with an education. They were excited to be educated in a modern, effective, and easy to use natural method of family planning. It was very rewarding to teach these health care workers, knowing that each wanted to be there so that he or she can impact patients' and families lives in a positive way. One struggle I found with many of the clinics, especially the Catholic clinics is that money is very limited and many to most of the resources are donated. The directors raised concerns about having the funds to buy the beads to provide patients, and if I could send them any. I assured them that while I did not have enough money to send that many beads, I would make it a goal of mine to find donors or sources to get CycleBeads available, so they can use the new skills and knowledge obtained to offer SDM to the patients. After I got back that night, I called and made an appointment for a meeting with the Archbishop of Cap-Haitian,  Most Rev. Max Leroy Mésidor, to acquire about resources available in the Catholic Church. More on this meeting later...

God is really taking ahold of this trip and blessing every step of the way. I am seeing a real difference in the work I am doing here. I am eager to continue sharing my mission, fellowship, and study with more of these wonderful people here in this beautiful country of Haiti. Bondye Bon Tout Tan!

At the Marinates of St. Croiux teaching about SDM and CycleBeads to 8 MDs, nurses, and community health workers.

 We separated this large group at Populorum Progressio into small groups of 6-8, where each group took turns telling us key points of SDM during a teach back session. 

Children of the Promise

Monday June 1 and Wednesday June 3, 2015

The beginning four hours of these two days were spent teaching 10 physicians, nurses, midwives, and program directors of Children of the Promise (COTP) and Bon Samaritan, which are organizations that have been around each of their communities for a long time and take care of the needs of many women and children. COTP is located in Lagossette, Haiti and is a leader in adoptions, both in country and out of country, specifically for special needs children. They are a non-governemental organization (NGO) that takes in orphans and children who are malnourished or mistreated to nurse them back to health. After the children are better and healthier, they are either reunited with their families, or if their families cannot take them back, they are adopted out of the organization. On "open door" days, COTP runs a clinic and education sessions to meet the needs of those in the community. Bon Samaritan is a hospital and clinic that has been serving the community of Limbe, Haiti, for over 50 years and is still operated by the same family. Since the director only wanted to send one physician for training, he joined us at COTP. This was a fun group of people. We laughed, learned, shared stories. and really had a great time. This was definitely a lively group! The program director stated this was the third time he had participated in training on SDM, and the first time he actually grasped the concept and the idea of the method. Another provider called her husband to come and participate in training so that they can use the method in their marriage to space children. As with the providers in Robillard, many stated eager intent to use and share with others in their community. After the training, the head nurse informed the facility director that SDM should be included in the policy as first line method of family planning, and that they would go ahead and purchase Cyclebeads for distribution. This is a big step for the community and will reach many women to help plan families. I am excited to see how this program develops.

 My friend and driver Ulrich has heard the lessons many times, so he was taking a turn teaching what he knew.

This is a funny story that has us laughing for a while! The doctor told us of one time when he had an experience with a patient who was "using" Cyclebeads to prevent pregnancy. She came in to his office pregnant and was furious at the method, she stated she used it every time she had sex to prevent pregnancy and apparently it doesn't work! When he asked her to show him how she used it, she put it over her head like a necklace (as shown) and said "just like this and it did not work!" This demonstrates the importance of ensuring our patients understand the method and how to use it correctly. 

As I said, this was a lively group! Each took turns explaining Cyclebeads to ensure proper understanding of the method. 

 The men in the training often could not get passed the white beads without stating "there are so many of them!" It made for fun conversation of how to help couples handle the days of white beads, or the days that unprotected sex is most likely to lead to a baby.

 The providers liked the hands on part of the training, many stated it helped them better understand how to teach it to their patients.

This man had to draw it out to understand better. It helped everyone to hear the others' explanations and demonstration of the method 

These two paintings were on the wall in COTP and I just loved the depictions of Haitian life.

Gloria found a new friend to play with and "hide her nose" 

Days of recruiting participants, visiting clinics, and teaching at MamaBaby Maternal Center

Wednesday March 27 -Sunday March 31, 2015

These few days have been spent driving all over the North side of the country and visiting/recruiting participants from clinics and setting up times to teach. We have all but about three filled positions in the study, and many other clinics who were not on our original list have contacted us for teaching as well. I will stick to the list for the study; however, I do not want to turn people away when I have open time available, so after the study is over, I will still provide the lessons, but without the formal pretest and post-test, in order to provide education to as many people as possible. Our new translator, Sandra, is with us and I have the feeling she is going to do a wonderful job. She was born in Haiti, but when she was 9 moved to Miami where she was raised in the States. She only recently came back to Haiti to run her family's business and translate for several non-profit organizations just a few years ago. Her medical language understanding and English-Haitian translation is incredible. We are really lucky to have found her! 

Friday morning before we headed out to teach our class at MamaBaby Maternal Center in Vandreuil, Haiti, the nurse at the Rose-Merci clinic in Robillard came and got Gloria and I to help her deliver a baby. With limited supplies, only a table with stirrups, a trashcan to catch the fluid, and some basic medical supplies, me and one other trained nurse delivered a very healthy 6 lb baby at 1052 am. Momma did great with no complications and got up right after the delivery to wash up and change clothes. 

Assessing and dressing baby while mom rests from labor. 

Gloria, Magdala, and me posing with baby for a picture while she sleeps. I am looking forward to meeting her again and watching her grow up each time I return to Robillard through the years. 

After getting baby and mom all taken care of and settled in the room where they will stay the night, Gloria and I headed to Vandreuil to teach the midwives at MamaBaby Maternity Center. 

A nice breezy patio was lovely to teach the two nurse midwives of the clinic. Both have been practicing midwifery for over 15 years and have delivered many babies, and provide education to many women in their community.

Sandra and I having a laid back and productive teaching session with these ladies. 

Our dining hut at Notre Dame de la Merci. This palm thatched roof hut is where we ate amazing food for breakfast, supper, and  sometimes lunch if we were not on the road. Looks like dinner is ready!

Sunday was laundry day! Pardonnèy was the only male I have  seen do laundry in the village. After he finished, Bonette taught me how to hand wash my clothes with homemade lye soap.

Tuesday May 26, 2015

Tuesday May, 26, 2015

Second day in Robillard, Haiti

Today we finished the second day of the training for the providers. It went more smoothly than the first day now that the providers knew the drill better, though the language barrier was still tough with the post-tests. After the providers, the pregnant mothers came for their monthly prenatal education class. I witnessed as one of the nurses who just participated in the class accurately and eagerly taught these pregnant women ways they can space their next pregnancy to promote better health for them and their babies. If there is one thing I learned today from the Haitian people is that they crave knowledge and education to help the people in their community. Each health care provider stated interest in teaching this method to the women and couples to whom it can apply. I did find out today that the Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population (MSPP), which is the Ministry of Health had several years ago started training providers on the SDM in the more Urban parts of Haiti, and they had purchased thousands of Cyclebeads, but never followed through with the programs due to more donated money and focused pursuit toward artificial methods of contraception. The providers in Robillard expressed concern that this neglects family planning measures to a large portion of the population who are Catholic or those who for other reasons desire to choose a modern, effective, natural method to plan families. I was asked if I could help find these beads for them so that they can be continually offered in the clinics. I understand their desire to help the people and want to help in anyway that I can. I am planning, once I complete my study and fellowship, to follow up on this lead and help the people of Haiti have more access to Cyclebeads technology to be able to offer this method to more people. These last two days have been very enlightening and I am very excited to continue on to other providers in the next three weeks.

A nurse doing prenatal teaching to the pregnant women of Robillard,
including how to space their next pregnancy 

Many of them laughing at the nurse's funny way of describing the "blanc-danje-bebe" days
 or the white bead days on which they should avoid sex in order to not become pregnant. 

One husband decided he was going to join in on the fun!

The group at Robillard and surrounding clinics, but first...Let me take a selfie!

Singing songs about Method Kolye, or Cyclebeads, helps the women
remember the steps much easier

Having fun after the lessons were through!

Monday, May 25, 2015

Day one of project – Robillard, Haiti

The first session teaching health care providers SDM,
 or in Kreyól "Metod Kolÿe"

This was the first day of fieldwork. We taught the Standard Days Method to over 80 people in a couple of different sessions. The first group that participated in the study consisted of 12 providers, who were health agents, nurses, and physicians. This lesson went really well. The enthusiasm of the group was palpable and the discussion was enlightening. Many cultural barriers to the study were identified as well. For instance, the formal teaching language is French. I had previously translated all of the pretests and posttests to Haitien Creole, which is not a language commonly read by formally educated people, though it is the language that is spoken. With some coaching and translation, we were able to work through these barriers without compromising the study. Each provider indicated verbally after the lesson how much it meant to be educated in matters that are so important to them, such as fertility, because the town is rural and does not have resources to provide other methods of contraception. Each indicated that the pace and the layout of the lesson plan made it easy to understand and grasp the concept of fertility awareness, something of which each had heard, but did not fully understand. After this lesson, the whole town of Robillard had heard we were there to teach a form of natural family planning and was interested to learn. After teaching the providers, we taught about 70 members of the community, including high school students, teachers, and “wise-women,” who are the towns’ traditional midwives. The response to the teaching was overwhelmingly positive, and it was a lot of fun teaching the women and hearing how each planned to use the information in her life.   

Teaching high school students age 14-21 the fertility cycle

                                                     School teachers and "wise-women," the towns' traditional midwives 

The first weekend- May 22-24, 2015

Welcome to Robillard!

For the entirety of our stay, Gloria and I were housed in a room at Notre Dame de al Merci Church in Robillard, Haiti, the church that our church in Murfreesboro, TN is twinned with. This location was ideal as it is in the center of the Nord (North) district, where we conducted the fellowship project. For our first three days we enjoyed our time settling in, meeting new people, and reconnecting with some that we already knew. Below are some pictures of our adventures from May 22nd to May 24th.

May 23, 2015

On this day, we witnessed the wedding ceremony and vows of 26 couples who married in the Church. It is tradition for the husband to give his new bride a ring as a gift on their wedding day. Many couples choose not to get married if the man cannot afford a ring. With this in mind, my church, St. Rose of Lima sent 26 sets of wedding rings to Notre Dame de la Merci, and each went to a well deserving couple. 

These two women are sisters and both got married to their significant others. The couple on the right had been together for 50 years and have children and grandchildren. The couple on the left have been together for 37 years. 













Here are three priest from the Cathedral in Cap-Haitien who came to help Father Andrè with all of the marriage vows. We had a large dinner reception for all the couples after the ceremony.

These children are excited to see their parents get married. It is funny in Haiti, I noticed everyone smiles all the time.....until you point a camera at them..

Unless the camera is in "selfie mode"! The little children love to see their faces in the camera. 

One of the brides getting ready before the ceremony. Many people donated wedding dresses and jewelry for the occasion, a Mary Kay representative came to do make up.

My new friend and me at the reception for the wedding couples and their immediate family's.

The first two weeks!

Hello everyone!
What an amazing time here in Haiti this has been! Gloria, my friend who came with me and I have been here for two weeks now and sadly have only one week left. Every day has been an adventure, with meeting new people and learning new things.
A little bit about why we are here! The wonderful organization Hope Through Healing Hands Foundation graciously gave Belmont University a grant to offer a fellowship in global health with a focus on healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies to one of the students in the College of Health Sciences. With my calling to teach natural family planning and my passion for global health, I applied with hopes to expand my knowledge and create the beginnings my life work, setting up a path for my future. My proposal for educating providers in Northern Haiti a method of natural family planning called the Standard Days Method was chosen and with guidance and support from my excellent instructors in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at Belmont, we were able prepare and make my dream a reality.
Gloria and I arrived in Robillard, Haiti, which is a rural town 30 minutes from Cap-Haitian on Friday May 22nd with a very warm welcome. Father André is graciously hosting Gloria and I in his home and has made sure that we are very well taken care of. We were present for many of the activities of the town over the weekend and began our first education class the following Monday. The people of Haiti are so excited for this education and has been more than receptive of the information. Fr. André is so excited about the method education that he called many of his fellow priests and filled the days that we are not teaching at the clinics for the research project so that we may introduce the method in each of their parishes. We have seen much of the country side, city side, and visited more than 10 different cities in Nord (North) Haiti.  So far we have trained 25 physicians, nurses, and health agents in the Standard Days Method. This afternoon we will go to our fourth clinic and teach 5 more providers! God is so good and has blessed this mission so well. I hope to post pictures soon! Thank you and God Bless!
Jennifer