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Profiles in Maternal & Neonatal Health

The doctors who keep the MNH Center running told us how working in the new building has made it easier for them to provide the high level of care they wish to give to all mothers and babies who come to St. Boniface.

SBH’s Maternal and Neonatal Health Center officially opened in the spring of 2015. Since then, the MNH staff has provided over 9,000 prenatal exams, delivered 2,500 babies, and cared for over 650 infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Going from a single delivery room to the bright, airy, 14,000 square foot MNH Center was a welcome and much-needed transition for SBH’s OB/GYN staff. Here’s how they experience working in the new building, in their own words:  

Before, we only had two beds in the delivery room, and it was always overcrowded. Now, with the 17-bed MNH Center, we are able to care for many more patients comfortably and safely. We have everything we need to provide good care for mothers and babies.

Dr. Berthony Guerrier

Dr. Guerrier worked as the only OB/GYN at St. Boniface for six years, during which time he delivered thousands of babies and spent many sleepless nights on-call. He was instrumental in planning the new MNH Center and now is its Director; managing staff, treating patients, supervising care, and training OB/GYN residents.

The Maternal Health Center at St. Boniface helps us all work towards creating better health for mothers and babies in Haiti. I love working here because it allows me to take the best possible care of newborn babies in the NICU.

Nurse Rose Pascale Paul

Rose Pascale Paul is the Head Nurse in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), which is the only functioning NICU serving a population of 2.3 million people. She is in charge of making sure the tiny babies in the NICU are receiving all the care they need, from premature babies with breathing trouble to newborns with jaundice. She is also an experienced trainer, educating other health professionals from around the country on good practices in neonatal care.

Before [the MNH Center] was built, mothers and their babies didn’t have any place to recover after birth, and there was no space to care for sick and premature babies. The new center has allowed us to properly care for more and more patients, which is our ultimate goal.

Dr. Roland Desiree

Dr. Desiree has been working at SBH for six years. In that time he has seen many improvements in the hospital’s ability to treat more patients and more complex cases. Originally from Léogâne, Dr. Desiree’s passion is helping sick people become well and helping people stay that way through good preventative care.

I feel very fortunate that I get to wake up and do what I love every day: deliver babies. There are always challenges, but at St. Boniface I am given every opportunity to grow and to become a better midwife, to help more women and babies.

Marieflaure Charles, Midwife

Midwife MarieFlaure Charles has worked in the SBH MNH Center since shortly after it opened in March of 2015. She helps deliver babies and provide care to mothers in labor. She loves being a part of the process of bringing new life into the world and is thrilled to be working at SBH, where the MNH Center’s staff and resources make it possible for her to focus on the most important thing: mothers and their babies.