About The Founder
Hello,
I was born and raised in Haiti where I spent the first 28:years of my life receiving training, on both an educational and personal level, to become a positive element of change in this world. I graduated from the State University of Haiti with a doctorate in dental surgery (DDS) in January 1996, and a doctorate in medicine (MD) in September 2001. After several years of challenges that seemed to be part of my training toward my life mission, I immigrated to the United states in December 2003 to embark on the second part of my training. Starting a new life from scratch in a foreign country, as a Black female Haitian immigrant, and a new single mother of a 3 years old boy was the hardest thing that I ever had to face in my life. From being a doctor in my country, my first job in the United States to feed my son was a housekeeping job. When I was finally able to speak English, I moved on to take classes to work my way up from housekeeping to nursing assistant, dental assistant medical assistant, and substitute teacher. In the year of 2007, I learned that I could use my background of foreign-trained dentist to take the dental hygienist boards in Florida, which I did. I became a registered dental hygienist in 2008 and spent about 8 years working in that field. During that time, despite the fact that I was making a decent living, I was feeling deep inside that this step was part of my journey, but not my destination. After many trials and tribulations, I found my way to the next step of my preparation. In September 2016, I entered Bastyr University where I graduated with a master in public health (MPH) in June 2020, and a doctorate in naturopathic medicine (ND) in June 2022. I also studied gerontology and project management in global health at the University of Washington. I am currently enrolled in a midwifery program at Bastyr University.
When people learn about my educational background, the first reaction that I usually receive is: “Wow! You must really love school!”. And my spoken or unspoken answer is always “I did not choose this path. This path chose me, to give me everything that I need to fulfill my life mission. There were times when I questioned the journey, asking myself and what I was doing with my life. Thankfully I have reached a point where everything makes sense; which gives me peace and focus on my purpose. My multidisciplinary education and work experience put me in the right position, to implement health initiatives aiming to improve access to culturally competent and integrative care, to underserved communities in both the United States and Haiti; to create new jobs, and to promote workforce retention in the communities that we serve. This is why CAFHAD came into existence.
Our work in Haiti, which is our current focus, is to assist health professionals trained and living in Haiti, to give them the support they need to better serve their local community, and stay in their community.
Our services include the implementation of regular:
Free community health days, with emphasis on infant and maternal health, and in partenariat with professionals on the ground in Haiti,
Continuing education opportunities to healthcare and administrative workers on the ground in Haiti. The continuing education sessions are held by professionals trained in the United States with extensive experience.
Our long time goal is to contribute to building an integrative community health and birth center in the Northern department of Haiti.
It has been observed from experiences that most funds obtained through foreign aids and dedicated to healthcare services in Haiti are hardly deployed to actualize the purpose for which the funds were disbursed. Rather, the funding obtained is often spent in so-called administrative fees, which created a corrupted system called “help to the helpers”. Through the administration of our organization in the United States, we will ensure that there is no space for corrupt practices. We will ensure that all donations and grants obtained for the purpose of improving healthcare for Haitians in Haiti are deployed to good use, and there is proper accountability for each funding provided through the organization.
We thank you for considering becoming one of our supporters, to help us walk toward health equity and community development, one community at the time, starting with the Haitian community living in Haiti.
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Dr. Sheila Mary, MD, ND, MPH, DDS.
