Nursing Education Collaborative for Haiti – Coopérative des Infirmières en Éducation pour Haiti (NECH-CIEH), founded by Claudia Thomas-Riché, is focused on advancing the nursing profession to improve the health and wellbeing of the Haitian people. Led by nurses, it is a collaborative between Haitian, US, and Canadian professionals committed to creating positive change in Haiti.
Claudia initially keenly identified that Haiti’s challenged and fragmented healthcare system does not utilize its most powerful and skilled force of healthcare workers – licensed nurses — to support, build, and transform the country’s healthcare. There is a keen need for nurses in the Haitian context to have increased agency in healthcare decisions, as over 70% of the physicians are living out of the country.
She strongly believes that nurses can and must take their place as leaders of healthcare change and that nurses must act as agents of transformation and lead the innovative solutions necessary to address the nation’s greatest public health problems.
Our Logo
Our logo is inspired by the legendary Florence Nightingale and her iconic lamp. Her work for the nursing profession as well as for public health remains instrumental to improving patient welfare. She is the perfect representative of our medical mission in Haiti, where improving patient welfare and public health is vital. We believe that education, which is embodied in the flame of the lamp, will enable us and Haitian nurses to achieve our medical mission together.
Respect for the Haitian people and the involvement of Haitian organizations in the building of their own future is very high on our agenda. That is why we have chosen to have our logo in English and French. The logo represents our goals, our diversity, and our inclusion.
Nursing in Haiti
Nursing is the largest profession in Haiti, yet nurses are frequently undervalued and underutilized in healthcare teams. Few nurses occupy leadership roles, and many are subordinate to doctors and not given the chance to reach their full potential in promoting health and preventing disease. For Haiti especially, where four out of every five people live below the poverty line and less than half of the population had access to clean water, nurses can serve as vital assets to public health. NECH-CIEH bridges the gap between health and community development by empowering nurses to affect change inside and outside of the clinic, as well as beyond.
Vision for the Future
NECH-CIEH envisions nurses at the head of a ministry of health in Haiti. Because
nursing is an interdisciplinary profession, and nurses are trained in a variety of skills, they can work across sectors – from healthcare to business to farming and everything in between. Nursing can bridge the gap between health, business, and the economy. NECH-CIEH sees instituting a board of nurses within the association as the first step to achieving greater independence for nurses within the economy. Ultimately, NECH-CIEH hopes to promote the role of nurses, show that nurses are industrious and not secondary to doctors, and establish nurses as a dynamic pillar of wellbeing in Haiti.