A creative partnership
Haiti Companions grew from partnerships between two American and two Haitian Episcopal Churches.
Christ Church in Atlanta and St. John’s in Minneapolis both have parish partners in Gressier, served by the same priest. When the local priest told his partners that the communities he served had no access to medical care, another partnership was born. Christ Church and St. John’s decided to join forces to provide twice yearly clinics for the two communities. Between 2008 and 2016, we served between 750 and 900 patients every six months. Beginning in June, 2016, there have been monthly clinics in the communities of Collin and Jasmin. Beginning in February, 2017, a third clinic was added in the community of Ti Boukon. Patients have received medical, dental and eye care, for minimal or no cost. Patients come from our partner communities of Collin and Jasmin, and also from the community of Nicholas, an extremely poor and isolated community, a three hour walk up the mountain from Jasmin. The clinic in Ti Boukon was added when we realized that many very sick patients from that community were walking long distances to the clinic in Jasmin. We started with American volunteer professionals, but over the years, many Haitian providers were added to the team. In 2015, Haiti Companions was incorporated as a charitable organization independent of our churches. We hired Dr Frantz Codio as our Country Director, and Frantz hired an excellent team of Haitian providers to staff monthly clinics. In one year, this team has served nearly 3000 patients. Our goal is to have a permanent Haitian staffed clinic to serve the three communities.