About Us
The St. Damien Collaborative is a unique and truly synergistic model of academic medical engagement in global health.
The eleven US sites have made a long-term commitment to St. Damien with the goal of improving the quality of pediatric care in Haiti, primarily through the training of excellent new Haitian pediatricians at St. Damien Hospital, Haiti's only free-standing children's hospital.
We work to achieve this goal through the bi-directional exchange of personnel, information, and resources between St. Damien Hospital and the U.S. partner sites as well as through research and quality improvement projects at St. Damien.
Who We Are
What We Do
Bi-Directional Exchange:
The collaborative began in 2011 as a way of coordinating between programs that were sending faculty and residents to St. Damien for global health experiences. To date, the collaborative has provided opportunities for nearly two hundred faculty, residents, staff, and students to participate in patient care and other projects at St. Damien.
Since, the beginning, however, we have also been committed to the importance of bi-drectional exchange. To date, forty-nine members of the St. Damien faculty, staff, and residency program for additional training and additional experiences at the U.S. Host sites. We have committed to allow each graduating resident at St. Damien the opportunity to participate in clinical rotation opportunities that are not available in Haiti and hosted the first graduating class in the summer of 2016.
Educational Programs:
The Collaborative is actively and regularly engaged with residents, faculty, and staff at St Damien through educational programming, resident orientation coordination and participation, lecture series delivery, simulations, clinical practice guidelines development, and hands-on training.
Quality Improvement:
We work with the leadership and staff of St. Damien to identify opportunities for improvement in patient care at St. Damien. Projects have included development of multiple order sets based off of Haitian health department and WHO best-practice guidelines, lab practices improvement, and funding of a quality-improvement physician staff member.
Research:
The members of the collaborative work with the hospital staff and leadership to undertake research to improve the lives of the children of Haiti.
Fundraising:
The collaborative holds an annual fundraiser benefitting St. Damien, and its members also participate in individual fundraising projects throughout each year.