The first group of family nurse practitioner students in Haiti
This guest blog was written by Carol Roye, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Nursing at Hunter College.
We’re making progress on rebuilding primary care in Haiti!
A group of Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing faculty went to Haiti in June 2010, after the earthquake. Knowing that the School of Nursing in Port-au-Prince had collapsed, we went to see how we could help the school. What we found was a system of nursing education in disarray. Nurses, in the public schools of nursing, have only a diploma level education. Yet, nurses provide almost 90% of the health care in Haiti. They do this without adequate education.
We created a non-profit organization, Promoting Health in Haiti, dedicated to improving nursing education in Haiti. We saw a very clear need for nurse practitioners — nurses with advanced education in providing primary care. It took a few years, but on Sept. 26 we began a Family Nurse Practitioner Master’s Program in Léogâne, Haiti. We are providing classes at an existing 4-year nursing school, Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de l’Université Épiscopale d’Haïti à Léogâne (FSIL), which is supported by the Haiti Nursing Foundation. This is a huge step forward for nursing in Haiti, and will bring health care to the Haitian people, most of whom have no access to care.
If you want to read more, or support this program, go to www.promotinghealthinhaiti.org
Carol Roye, EdD, RN, CPNP, FAAN, Professor of Nursing, Hunter College, City University of New York
