Working in Global Health: Islande Cadichon

I remember when I got the job offer from Partners In Health. I was on my way to New Hampshire to go camping for a few days. My mother was with me and heard the excitement in my voice.  She was so ecstatic and overjoyed, you would have thought she had just received a million dollars.

For my Haitian mother, this call was more important than money. She often tells me that I am alive because “dokte nan Cange yo te konn banm bon swen,” or “the doctors in Cange knew how to provide good care.” For her, that was the greatest satisfaction— having her daughter work for an organization that is so dear to her heart. 

I was born in Thomonde, Haiti, so I always knew about Zanmi Lansante, as PIH is called in Krèyol. I loved to listen to my mom’s stories of how she and her twin sister used to walk from Thomonde to Cange, where PIH established its first clinic nearly 30 years ago, and camp there to be seen by a doctor. Growing up in Port-au-Prince and the U.S., it is unconceivable for me to think that people camp for days to be seen by a doctor, but this is the reality for so many people around the world.  From hearing these stories, I knew I wanted to work for PIH.

Before I started working here, I did not fully understand the term “global health.” I had always associated it with clinicians. Now I understood the true meaning. It is much more than providing health care; it is about reducing disparity at all levels.

Everything I have been involved in, I have wanted to have meaning.

This ideal of selfless service—or as some people say around PIH, "a preferential option for the poor"—is something I’ve lived by ever since I was a child. In Port-au-Prince, I used to gather a few neighborhood children and feed them because I knew that many of them would otherwise spend the whole day without food.

My father moved to the U.S. first and got many opportunities to be able to take care of me and my family back in Port-au-Prince.  Shortly after I moved here, I went to college and joined the military as a way to pay back the comfortable life I had had in Haiti. I also joined the board of a Boston-based nonprofit that recruits underprivileged children in Thomonde and sends them to school free of charge. Even if parents are able to send their children to public school, many still cannot afford to buy the uniform and shoes their children need to attend class. These most basic expenses are what the nonprofit covers.  

Everything I have been involved in, I have wanted to have meaning. I do all of these things because I believe the biggest gratification in life is to give of yourself without expecting anything in return. So has been the mission of most organizations I’ve worked and volunteered for throughout my career.

Even though I am not a clinician, I feel I have been contributing to PIH’s mission since joining the human resources team as a senior human resources coordinator in 2014. I collaborate with human resource colleagues at all PIH sites to resolve issues relating to expatriate employees. I assist employees with transitioning into and out of PIH, understanding their benefits, and interpreting PIH policies. And I manage our job evaluation committee, which practices fair decision-making regarding compensation.

HR can be very challenging. I started during the Ebola crisis in September 2014.  Our department worked tirelessly to recruit competent clinicians and support staff to work in Liberia and Sierra Leone. We worked before hours, after hours, and on weekends. We had a mission and accomplished it together.  And we developed a bond with the employees.

I used to refer to these recruited clinicians as “soldiers,” because they knew Ebola had to be eradicated and that they could not do it alone. As a solider myself, I know that service is like signing a blank check and giving it to the government. Many times you don’t even know where you are going or the amount of danger you are going to be in. Our clinicians were in the same situation. They knew that Ebola was very dangerous, yet they agreed to serve without hesitation, which is the true meaning of selfless service.

Working for PIH is really a dream come true.

Anyone aspiring to work in HR in global health should know that it can be very rewarding, but you must be flexible and adaptable. Often you have to be ready to do work that is outside of your scope of duties. I can recall the meetings we had to commemorate the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Time and time again, Boston-based employees talked about their experiences and how they supported their Haitian colleagues at every level. Even if you are not a clinician, you are saving lives. Proper management is critical to providing high-quality health care. You get to develop and implement policies, which in turn are needed to achieve better outcomes. You are exposed to real-world issues, and you realize that the scope of poverty is beyond imagination. But instead of despairing, this knowledge can give you purpose, determination, and motivation to change your community and even the larger world.

Learning a new language will allow you to work or volunteer in multiple countries all over the world, immerse yourself in cultural experiences, or deepen your understanding of global health. Having a mentor is also important. I have been fortunate to have had a good mentor who has been instrumental in every step of my career. Knowing what I wanted to do in life, she thought it was a match made in heaven when I informed her of my job opportunity here.

Working for PIH is really a dream come true, because the organization has contributed so much to my country, my town, and—mostly—my family. My mother is fortunate, because now she lives in the U.S. and gets the best care. She always thinks of her family members back home who do not have that opportunity. Knowing that Zanmi Lasante is still there brings her comfort, because she knows they can rely on the organization to get good care. We often talk about how one day both of us will go back to Thomonde and give back to our community.