A new rehabilitation hospital and training center in St. Marc, Haiti, is slated to open in March 2012. Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, Partners In Health co-founder and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, says the project is the “fruit of the partnership model” from which Partners In Health takes its name.
Plans for the new facility include a two-story building wrapped by a ramp that provides second-floor access and is cooled using natural ventilation.
The 6,700-square-foot earthquake and hurricane resistant facility will serve as Haiti’s first universally accessible rehabilitation center in the Ministry of Health system.
Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, Boston, Mass, is developing a 9-month program to train paraprofessional healthcare staff at the center with a curriculum that builds on materials developed by Health Volunteers Overseas. “We intend to create a new cadre of healthcare professionals,” says Farmer.
Due to break ground later this summer, the design incorporates a two-story gymnasium and simulated home environment. The center’s education and training program is scheduled to begin in September 2011, housed in temporary quarters until the facility opens.
