Haiti Nursing Foundation

I am a retired nurse faculty and have gone to FSIL in Leogane Haiti which is supported by HNF. These faculty are doing the most outstanding job of educating the health care providers for Haiti. FSIL is becoming a self sustaining but needs our help to keep them going for a number of years.

HNF has changed thousands of lives in Haiti and America. In my family , they have allowed all 4 of my children, my wife and myself to partner with Haitian nurses and students in a very personal way. My girls have tons of big sisters in Haiti. My sons have always had friends in the male nursing students as well. My oldest son has decided to become a nurse because of the time we have been with HNF. I also appreciate the way in which they make us feel at home. Even when times are tough in Haiti, the Hatian staff would always have us over to their houses and make us feel at home. In the community in Haiti, I have seen so many people changed. At the orphanage we work at, there is a 15 year old girl with mental retardation. The nursing students at the hospital helped to keep her alive and get her to this orphanage. At the church where I attend in Haiti, I watch nursing students and faculty provide health screening and teach about common diseases on Sunday mornings and other days of the week. At the hospital, I have seen nursing students dig change out of their pockets to buy a homeless patient some soup. HNF is doing big things. Thanks much.

I am a member of the Matthew 25 committee of Christ Lutheran Church in Spring Green,Wisconsin that has worked with the Haiti Nursing Foundation of Ann Arbor,Michigan. Thru the Haiti Nursing Foundation my church committee has given a sholarship to a nursing student at the FSIL School of Nursing in Leogane,Haiti which is the only recognized accredited 4 year school school of nursing in Haiti. We have met our scholarship recipient on location in Haiti and have followed her academic success.

I encourage others to learn about and contact the Haiti Nursing Foundation.

Stephen Wolk
wolk@mwt.net

The Haiti Nursing Foundation supports a nursing school in Leogane Haiti. My husband and I have visited the hospital served by this school and have helped sponsor two nursing students enrolled there. The Foundation works closely with the school and we are confident that the funds we donate go directly to the greatest need.

This mornings paper had a quote from someone far wiser than I, it stated. " education is the foundation for a happy and healthy population". The Haiti Nursing Foundation is on target to fulfill the promise of that quote. I have been the sponsor of a nursing student that the foundation has supported for four years. That student will graduate this October, with a BSN and the dream of becoming a Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioner. The Foundation recognized the need for professional health care in Haiti, and provided the means and support to reach that goal. My support for that organization will continue because it is not about me or the student that I sponsored. It is about the commitment of the Foundation to continue its work with providing high quality education in the professional health care field in a country that has a desperate need. As a registered nurse, I have been to Haiti on Medical Missions and the need is very real. I feel pride in the fact that I have an affiliation with the Foundation and hope that it continues for years to come.


ns

Changing Haiti one nurse at a time! That is what this non-profit is all about. I am proud to be associated with the Haiti Nursing Foundation and the FSIL school of nursing in Leogane, Haiti. Board Members are "hands on" and visit Haiti to help the school and to monitor that donor support is going where it is intended. I have personally been to the school six times and was privileged to witness several graduations. Each nursing graduate has their own story of coming from poverty and deprivation to emerge as their family's first college graduate. The families come to the graduation ceremony any way they can get there - walking, by "tap-tap" or in a rocking chair resting in the bed of a pickup truck (a grandmother of a graduate did this). The joy, the hope and pride radiate from their faces as they watch their graduate be capped and receive a diploma. Have you heard "Give me a fish and I eat for a day, teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime"? As a baccalaureate prepared nurse, the FSIL graduates provide for themselves and others for a lifetime.

I've been following this foundation for several years and am convinced they're doing some of the most important work in Haiti aimed at building sustainable solutions to the country's many challenges. By supporting the training of nurses in Haiti's only 4-year bacculaureate program, the Haiti Nursing Foundation--and FSIL Nurses School in Leogane, Haiti--are equipping a cadre of young Haitian men and women with the skills and expertise to make real change in Haiti's cities and rural areas. They're also creating employment opportunities for hundreds of young Haitians--and providing thousands of Haitians with greater access to health care.

In my view the greatest accomplishment of this organization is the fact that not only does it's efforts result in better health care for the Haitian population, but the lives of the persons being trained are forever changed.
The nurses who are educated and trained will now effect positive changes in the health and well being of countless other persons.


Maria Constant

Haiti Nursing Foundation is changing Haiti one nurse at a time. This non profit supports nursing in Haiti, especially a 4 year nursing school in Leogane. I have visited this school six times and witnessed personal accounts from students and seen the donations at work. The nursing students are so enthused to have an opportunity for advanced education and for the ability to give back to the people of their country. The reputation of the school is one of quality and accountabiltiy. The graduates are readily employed in Haiti and they in turn help to support their families. Building educational infrastructure in Haiti is a sound approach to helping Haitians help themselves. "Give me a fish, I eat for a day; teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime".

Nothing is more important to people than their health. Unless you have had the privilege of living or working in Haiti as I have, it is almost impossible to imagine the health conditions that are common in that country. A large segment of the population still dies in childhood because of easily preventable problems like malnutrition or communicable diseases like malaria. Even simple things like clean drinking water and hand washing are not available or widely practiced. Nurses who know how to prevent illness and can teach these practices are invaluable. And yet, the number of highly educated nurses in Haiti is disturbingly few. The work of the Haiti Nursing Foundation is directed at advancing nursing as a professional discipline in Haiti. One of the primary recipients of the work of Haiti Nursing Foundation is the Faculty of Nursing Science of the Episcopal University of Haiti (FSIL). FSIL provides a 4-year bachelor's degree in nursing. The graduates of the program are all working in Haiti and making a real difference in healthcare in their communities. They were particularly effective during the earthquake when the students and graduates provided emergency health care for victims who lived in Leogane (the epicenter of the earthquake). I am really proud of these young nurses.

Haiti Nursing Foundation was started to support the advancement of nursing in Haiti. The Episcopal Church of Haiti asked for help in starting a nursing school in Haiti. A group of us nurses pitched in working with several Haitians to develop one to meet Haitian needs. The HNF was started because we realized that funding was needed to support the school and other nursing needs in Haiti. The volunteers as well as the board members have been very helpful and the organization has really helped in cooperating with the nursing school board members and the school faculty and staff as well as in contact with funding agencies and work groups that have helped with equipment and instruction. The Executive Director has worked well with the Presidents of the HNF Board to facilitate and expand the opportunities for the education of nurses in Haiti. HNF has sponsored nursing students to come to the USA for short training experiences with selected academic programs. HNF also has worked with a university to give online post graduate instruction to graduates. The inter-cooperation of HNF with organizations in Haiti as well as with USA organizations is a good example of what can be accomplished by working together.

I became involved with HNF after learning about FSIL, the school in Haiti supported by HNF. I visited FSIL on three separate occasions to teach as a volunteer at FSIL. I learned first hand the incredible work that HNF does by providing opportunities to Haitian students who, without HNF, would have no way of getting a college education. The education these students receive has the potential to contribute positively to the health of the Haitian population. I spoke with many Haitian students who told me their personal stories and how HNF made such a life-changing difference in their lives. My involvement by knowing these students and the incredible amount of effort they put into their studies inspired me personally to donate money as well as time to HNF. I have taught nursing for 40 years and I can honestly say that the students supported by HNF treated their education as an opportunity for which they were willing to work hard to achieve success. I am sorry that some U.S. students who treat education as an entitlement are not exposed to the wonderfully positive attitudes of the Haitian students who are supported by HNF. There is no doubt in my mind that this nonprofit should be one of the 2012 Top-Rated Nonprofits.