How do we provide low-cost but high-quality care to over a thousand people a month? Here is a key factor. Every year we attract a number of new graduates from Haiti's medical or nursing schools. As a condition of their education, they agree to spend one year in "social service". This means that they work at a hospital or clinic in an underserved area for a small stipend. But, the assignments are not made randomly. Rather, the top graduates get first choice on where they will be assigned. And in recent years, they've been choosing Visitation Clinic because of our reputation.
This year, we were assigned two doctors and one nurse. One of our bright and talented young doctors, told us this: "I was blessed to find Visitation Clinic for my social service work." It turns out that she faces some of her own health challenges including very strong allergies. But this hasn't been a problem for her because our cleanliness is so high. She concluded "I don't think I could have succeeded in my social service work at any other place."
