Medical Care

At Respire Haiti we provide holistic education, medical care, and support that empowers students and gives them hope for the future.

Respire Haiti Love+1 Medical Clinic

Haitian students every day:

Our Medical Services started in 2011 when Respire Haiti ran mobile medical clinics in local churches in Gressier. When our school was started we aimed for all of our students to be seen by a doctor at least once a year. Unfortunately, we had a student pass away in December of 2012 due to a preventable issue but he was unable to find a medical clinic. This horrible situation is when we began to see we needed to build our own facility. Since then, our permanent clinic, the Love+1 Medical Clinic was built in 2013. Our clinic is open 5 days a week from 8:30-3:00 (coinciding with the school day).

Services We Provide
Services and programs offered include:

  • Primary Care/Acute Care (with very basic labs and a pharmacy)

  • Therapy Department (PT/OT)

  • Mental Health Department

  • Malnutrition Program

  • Family Feeding Program

  • Prenatal/Postnatal Program

  • Family Planning Program

  • Health Education Classes (taught also at Respire Haiti Christian School)

All services are free of charge for Respire students and staff. We charge a nominal fee for medical services (primary/acute care) provided to patients from the community who are not students or staff. This is not to bring in money for the clinic, but rather to give patients dignity, help them feel invested in their health, and give them confidence in the care that we provide. No patient will ever be turned away on the basis of payment and students/staff will never be charged for services.

Respire Haiti Love+1 Medical Clinic employs two Haitian doctors, a Nurse Manager, two Nurses, Medical Secretary, a student runner and one janitor.

We currently have a partnership agreement with Adventist Hospital (Diquini) in Carrefour. If a patient is in need of a higher level of care, we may transfer them without worry of them being turned away. Our patients do not need to pay up front and all of their charges will be placed on Respire’s bill. Respire Haiti pays this bill at the end of every month.

Malnutrition Program

Respire has a malnutrition program for children who are identified as having moderate malnutrition. They are provided with Medika Mamba, a fortified medical peanut butter. Their weights are tracked and ideally they are able to graduate from the program after 3 months.

Respire students and athletes have physical exams yearly and athletes are weighed twice yearly to evaluate for malnutrition. We follow the criteria established by WHO and MFK to conserve these resources for the children who really need them. This program is also open for children from the surrounding community.

All athletes (even those with normal weight) are given Vita Mamba, a supplemental snack after each practice and game to prevent weight loss and malnutrition.

If other departments truly feel that a child is not getting adequate nutrition, but they do not meet the criteria for the malnutrition program, that department may refer the child to the Family Feeding Program (see below.)

Family Feeding Program (see Community Programs)

Respire has a family feeding program for families who are experiencing food insecurity. If food insecurity is suspected, a family can be referred to this program and a home visit and family assessment will be conducted. If the family is found to have food insecurity, they will be provided with a box of fortified meal packs weekly (provided by Stamp Out Starvation.) Each family is re-evaluated every three months.

Family Planning

Family planning is desperately needed in the developing world. Large families increase poverty and inability to space out pregnancies leads to maternal anemia and malnutrition. Respire’s Family Planning Program provides women over 18 years of age, who desire contraception, with medroxyprogesterone acetate (long acting reversible birth control shot) every 3 months. These women are also invited to participate in monthly health education seminars.

Read more about this here

Physical Therapy Program

In early 2015, Respire Haiti started a rehabilitation program. Currently, the program consists of a physical therapist, two occupational therapists, and 3 certified rehabilitation technicians. Services are provided mainly to children; however, our adult patient population continues to grow. Therapy is provided on a one-on-one basis with the exception of our stroke group that meets twice weekly. Services are open to students as well as members of the Gressier community and beyond. The entire department is overseen by an American Occupational Therapist.

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