[wonceinee]

I do not know much about Haiti. I have a few questions.

I am pursuing my Master's in Nursing in Women's Health/Nurse Midwifery. I also plan to be returning to Santiago when my oldest goes to college in 2012. In speaking with my school due to the fact the classes are online, the biggest obstacle to my obtaining this goal while living in DR are my clinicals. I need to have at least 500 hours of clinicals in the 2 year period (these 500 hours being health promotion, disease prevention, health education and counseling,providing primary care to childbearing women, prenatal care, and also need to be the primary caregiver (midwife) for at least 50 births under the supervision of a Certified Midwife and/or Physician.
There is an organization in Haiti called MamaBaby Haiti that employs 2 MDs, some CNMs, and has student Midwives, and Volunteer Midwives. I have contacted them by email and am awaiting a reply. My questions are...

1.) The clinic is located in Carrefour Morne Rouge in Northern Haiti near Cap Haitien. It is stated on their website that some of the students or volunteers catch a plane to STI and then take Caribe Tours bus to Cap Haitien. How long is this bus ride? Is it feasible to go for a day and come back, since I will be living in Santiago?

2.) How dangerous is Haiti, is it equal to DR? Everyone told me DR was dangerous and I lived there without any (Big) incidents. Knock on wood. My biggest fear is being kidnapped and held for ransom as my family does not have money to pay for me and I have cursed most of them out at one point or another, I am not sure that they WOULD pay for me.

3.) Anyone know of any other organizations that I can look into for experience as a student Midwife? Are there any DR doctors that are willing to have a student Midwife with them occasional (since DR does not recognize Midwives). My school does not approve MDs as clinical preceptors but I could shadow one on my own time just to get more experience. I am starting from scratch because all of the babies that I have delivered as a RN do not count.

I think that that is all right now. My school has no time frame on clinicals so I can do them whenever I want as long as at least 500 hours and 50 births are documented in your 2 years. I will only be working 1 week out of 5 so I will have 4 weeks doing nothing in Santiago when my kids are in school. I was hoping that maybe one day a week I could catch the bus to the organization for 8 or 10 hour clinical training and come home the same day. But I don't know how long or far the trip is.
Any insight is appreciated. Thanks

SHALENA

[gIWnXYkw]

I would say that going to Haiti from Santiago to work for the day and then come home at night was out of the question.

[wonceinee]

I would say that going to Haiti from Santiago to work for the day and then come home at night was out of the question.

Oh, I definitely do not want to be coming home at night time. I did not even consider that. But I just wanted to know the time of the bus trip, it does not get dark until 6p or 7p, I could leave at 3.

SHALENA

[Golotop]

If this is what you need to do wouldn't It be more practical to live in Dajabon and commute from there ?

[wonceinee]

If this is what you need to do wouldn't It be more practical to live in Dajabon and commute from there ?

I cannot live in Haiti.
If anyone just knows how long the bus ride is...I will probably chuck the idea depending on how far away it is. I can deal with 2-3 hour bus ride but not 5 hours. I mean its only once a week

SHALENA

[Arximedus]

I do not know much about Haiti. I have a few questions.

I am pursuing my Master's in Nursing in Women's Health/Nurse Midwifery. I also plan to be returning to Santiago when my oldest goes to college in 2012. In speaking with my school due to the fact the classes are online, the biggest obstacle to my obtaining this goal while living in DR are my clinicals. I need to have at least 500 hours of clinicals in the 2 year period (these 500 hours being health promotion, disease prevention, health education and counseling,providing primary care to childbearing women, prenatal care, and also need to be the primary caregiver (midwife) for at least 50 births under the supervision of a Certified Midwife and/or Physician.
There is an organization in Haiti called MamaBaby Haiti that employs 2 MDs, some CNMs, and has student Midwives, and Volunteer Midwives. I have contacted them by email and am awaiting a reply. My questions are...

1.) The clinic is located in Carrefour Morne Rouge in Northern Haiti near Cap Haitien. It is stated on their website that some of the students or volunteers catch a plane to STI and then take Caribe Tours bus to Cap Haitien. How long is this bus ride? Is it feasible to go for a day and come back, since I will be living in Santiago?

2.) How dangerous is Haiti, is it equal to DR? Everyone told me DR was dangerous and I lived there without any (Big) incidents. Knock on wood. My biggest fear is being kidnapped and held for ransom as my family does not have money to pay for me and I have cursed most of them out at one point or another, I am not sure that they WOULD pay for me.

3.) Anyone know of any other organizations that I can look into for experience as a student Midwife? Are there any DR doctors that are willing to have a student Midwife with them occasional (since DR does not recognize Midwives). My school does not approve MDs as clinical preceptors but I could shadow one on my own time just to get more experience. I am starting from scratch because all of the babies that I have delivered as a RN do not count.

I think that that is all right now. My school has no time frame on clinicals so I can do them whenever I want as long as at least 500 hours and 50 births are documented in your 2 years. I will only be working 1 week out of 5 so I will have 4 weeks doing nothing in Santiago when my kids are in school. I was hoping that maybe one day a week I could catch the bus to the organization for 8 or 10 hour clinical training and come home the same day. But I don't know how long or far the trip is.
Any insight is appreciated. Thanks

SHALENA

SHALENA,

Wish I had the answers for you on this one. But, I wish you the best with your education. Meanwhile, here is a little "light" reading for you ....

http://www2.ku.edu/~haitiancreole/me...thropology.pdf
http://www2.ku.edu/~haitiancreole/me...onary_2007.pdf

[TOOGUEITEME]

I looked around on the net and found this link that gives alot of information as far as how to travel from Santiago to where you need to go and how much it will cost I did not see how long the distance actual is. However I did see were they say it is about 2.5-3 hrs from Santiago to the border Dajabon, but they did also say it took them 1.5 just to get through customs because they had to check all of the luggage on the bus. Look at this other website as well they listed some other suggestions and details. Have you looked into the doctors without borders program ?
Citadel in Haiti from Dominican Republic - Cap-Haitien Forum - TripAdvisor

Crossing Border Between Dominican Republic and Haiti

[kjanyeaz1]

I cannot live in Haiti.
If anyone just knows how long the bus ride is...I will probably chuck the idea depending on how far away it is. I can deal with 2-3 hour bus ride but not 5 hours. I mean its only once a week

SHALENA

If I can recall, the seven-hour Caribe Tours bus to Cap Haitien via Santiago, and Dajabon bus schedule doesn't permit a, round trip, day trip. It is usually a three-day affair- one day for travel there, one day for business, one day for return. Arrival at either end is around 4:30/5:00 PM.

Border formalities take about one hour and must be started before 4PM before the immigration folks close for the day (either side) or else having to spent (stuck) the night at Dajabon (DR) or the Haitian sister city of Ouanaminthe until the morning when they reopen- in case you take alternate means of (local) transportation.

DR depart tax is $20US, Haiti Departure tax is $10US, and a $10US tourist card for reentry to DR

I still recommend you verify with Caribe Tours as my information could be out of date.

[nebrarlepleme]

Why not do your work in Santiago? Why Haiti?

[wonceinee]

Wow, thanks everyone. Does not look like a good idea. The Clinic has accomodations for its volunteers, students, and staff but I AIN'T staying in Haiti! And anyway, I can only spare a day a week. I mean, I move to DR to spend MORE time with my kids, not less. I don't know how I will wrangle this issue.....

SHALENA

[TOOGUEITEME]

Where there is a will there is always a way. Check out this link.

Birth & Midwifery in Dominican Republic

[wonceinee]

Why not do your work in Santiago? Why Haiti?

The DR does not recognize Nurse Midwives. I have to train with a Certified Nurse Midwife.

SHALENA

[wonceinee]

Where there is a will there is always a way. Check out this link.

Birth & Midwifery in Dominican Republic

Girl, you're like my own personal secretary!

SHALENA

[TOOGUEITEME]

Girl, you're like my own personal secretary!

SHALENA

LMAO...use to doing this for my sis all the time...again were there is a will there is always a way.

[UltraSearchs]

You couldn't hook up with a OB/GYN at HOMS for the births?

[wonceinee]

You couldn't hook up with a OB/GYN at HOMS for the births?

That would be perfect but in all of the Master's programs they want you to be precepted by what it is you are going to school for. Midwives precept Midwife students, CRNAs precept Nurse Anesthesia students, FNPs precept Family Nurse Practitioner students, etc.
Although I may Google to see if there are any programs that do allow MD precepting. My school will let an MD precept you but for less than 25% of your clinical. The rest you have to be preceptef by a Midwife.

Now that I'm home from work, I will look at all of the links you guys provided.

SHALENA

[wonceinee]

Where there is a will there is always a way. Check out this link.

Birth & Midwifery in Dominican Republic

OMG!!!! I'm so excited!!! I'm contacting her, its on like popcorn...woohoo!

SHALENA

[wonceinee]

SHALENA,

Wish I had the answers for you on this one. But, I wish you the best with your education. Meanwhile, here is a little "light" reading for you ....

http://www2.ku.edu/~haitiancreole/me...thropology.pdf
http://www2.ku.edu/~haitiancreole/me...onary_2007.pdf

Thanks! I may need it! And the anthropology is interesting.

SHALENA

[wonceinee]

:-( I have to contact the school because that lady is a LM (Licensed Midwife) and not a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife)


SHALENA

[Gasfghj]

Shalena....

birthing clinics are BADLY needed on the border since the DR medical system has to handle a lot of Haitian births because there are no facilities on the border in Haiti .. EXCEPT for a really good hospital in Belledare (across from Elias Pina) and NOW a clinic in Anse A Pitres run by Batay Relief Alliance..http://www.bateyrelief.org/ I suggest that you contact Ulrich Gaillard, who is Haitians American, who is based in NYC and here in SD and see if you can meet with him.. perhaps set up something in Ounaminthe..
He is very hooked up with both the DR government and the Haitian government so he may very well be able to get something going for you.

Dajabon is a very habitable little town, not far from Santiago. I do not know the intricacies of your program requirements, but Ulrich brings in lots of different medical teams teams to work, This is one NGO that I can whole heartedly endorse.

You can also contact Eve Ensler,Eve Ensler | V-Day: A Global Movement to End Violence Against Women and Girls Worldwide. who run a safe house program in the north of Haiti. They may have other contacts for you.

As for the security situation in Haiti.. it may come as a shock but really Haiti is much safer than the DR. There are many fewer murders and general violent crimes. Of course, life in the camps is bad and the rapes have gone up. The publicized kidnappings have been, almost entirely, of Haitian Americans or Haitian Canadians who have come back on vacation.. The publicity cannot say this.. since a Haitian American is .. well.. American.

The fact is that there are simply fewer guns.. and many towns have been without any sort of police.

It would be great to get something going in Ounaminthe.. which is really where the need is greatest.