Home Healthcare access: Dr. Clonel Louis’s impact in the rural community of Phaëton, Haiti

Healthcare access: Dr. Clonel Louis’s impact in the rural community of Phaëton, Haiti

Published on

13 November 2024

Dr. Clonel Louis grew up in the small coastal village of Phaëton in the North-East department of Haiti. He attended a preschool run by a mission of the Religieuses Notre-Dame du Sacré-Coeur, a Canadian religious congregation based in New Brunswick. This early contact with the sisters would have a profound impact on the young boy’s life.

They would support him throughout his education and he would eventually make his way to medical school in neighbouring Dominican Republic. Instilled with the values of solidarity and the common good passed on to him through the sisters, Dr. Louis went back to his village to offer his services to the community.

He joined a mobile clinic established by the sisters that focuses on preventative health care for pregnant women and children. Seeing the multiple health needs in the area and the long distances people had to travel to receive treatment, he joined with a group of local practitioners to start a community clinic to make medical services much more accessible.

Thanks to their resourcefulness, the group managed to have a local building renovated into a clinic, but they still needed essential medical equipment and medications to be able to provide quality care. In addition, with the COVID-19 pandemic raging at the time, the need to provide information to the community and make the clinic fully functional was urgent. With support from the congregation, Dr. Louis approached the Roncalli International Foundation for help.

The Foundation financed the purchase of equipment to set up a medical laboratory, solar panels to provide electricity and furniture, such as hospital beds and desks. The project also included the organization of an awareness campaign to limit the spread of COVID-19.

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Today, the clinic continues to thrive and provide essential health services to the 3,500 members of the community as well as those from surrounding areas.

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