.
November 12, 1972. It is a Sunday. At Harlem Hospital, 64 young Haitian physicians are holding the first meeting of the AMHE, l'Association des Medecins Haitiens a l'Etranger, the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad. The mission statement is clearly defined (1) Advocacy for the Haitian immigrant communities in health matters, (2) Contribution to the betterment of public health in Haiti, etc. How long will the AMHE last?
.
November 12, 1972. It is a Sunday. At Harlem Hospital, 64 young Haitian physicians are holding the first meeting of the AMHE, l'Association des Medecins Haitiens a l'Etranger, the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad. The mission statement is clearly defined (1) Advocacy for the Haitian immigrant communities in health matters, (2) Contribution to the betterment of public health in Haiti, etc. How long will the AMHE last?
.
On November 12, 1972, it is chilly, but partly sunny in New York. Temperature ranges from 45 to 55 *F.
.
On that day, the headline in New York Times reads as follows: "Hijacked Plane Land in Havana a Second Time; 31 Hostages Free; 3 Gunmen Seized After 29 Hours." The pictures of Melvin Cale, Lewis D. Moore, Henry D.,Jackson sit under this title. On the left column, another title, about Vietnam, announces: "Kissinger and Tho Expected to Meet Late in the Week." The paper costs 50 cents at the stand.
.
Five days earlier, Richard Nixon won his presidential reelection campaign with the biggest landslide thus far in U.S history. The war wages in Vietnam and Cambodia in a conflict that will traumatize and define a generation. Jacksonmania is alive and well, Michael Jackson has just started a solo career with Motown. Whitney Houston is 8-year old.
.
In Harlem, the relents of the Civil Rights movement, the brutal demises of Martin Luther King and Malcom X are still in every one's mind. Teenagers and adults alike sport afros and bell bottom pants.
.........................................
Since that day, for 40 years, the AMHE has grown, from its few dozen pioneers, to a potential membership of more than 2,000 Haitian physicians practicing today in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Western Europe, South America, and Africa. The association, born in New York, sprouted chapters in Quebec, Missouri, Maryland, Florida, Illinois. The New Jersey Chapter, the youngest, was created in 1988.
.
Over this period, 1972-2012, the AMHE has kept alive the flame of national identity in the hearts of Haitian physicians educated in Haiti or abroad. The organization put on 38 summer conventions that offered to all Haitian physicians and their families the opportunity to travel, to meet their peers, to network, to expose their children to a model, to a culture that should not be left back home. Acquaintances became friends, friends became family through marriage, strangers became partners in business.
.
Health fairs, health forums, radio education, television shows, medical missions, scholarship programs, professorship programs, school sponsorships, satellite clinics have become the essence and the juice of the activities of the AMHE and of its involvement inside and outside of the mother land.
.
The mark of the AMHE has been all over the recent history of Haitians living abroad during the last four decades. The association was at the forefront of the fight against the AIDS label. It exhibited a profound solicitude toward the post-revolution refugees of the 1980s. It took a humanitarian stand against the Haitian killing fields of the 1990s. But its presence in the headlines has decupled since the devastating earthquake that destroyed Port au Prince in January 2010. The AMHE had boots on the ground 48 hours after the seism, taken over rescue operations in and out of the city center, and to this day, it has been leading regular healthcare missions to the island.
.
..............................................
.
Since the Haitian army has been disbanded in 1994, the AMHE, in collaboration with the AMH (the Association of Haitian Physicians, in Haiti) has become arguably the largest, the most stable, the most visible, the most active Haitian organization. However, this is not necessarily a blessing. Its apolitical status discards the AMHE from all political decision-making in a country in dire need of political streamlining. Its prominence, its potential size have placed the institution under the magnifying glass of scrutiny. Its achievements have been held against the glare of its non-achievements. The "why nots" have become more thundering. The new leaders, elected last July, during the Panama convention, have understood that they can no longer be the fifth wheel of the state coach.
.
The AMHE is at the portal of its rendez-vous with its civic destiny. The organization is ready for prime time. The 40-year old AMHE has its work cut out. In Haiti, the medical market and the healthcare system in general have been taken over almost entirely by non-governmental agencies (NGOs) and by Cuban physicians. That is an unfair competition to the Haitian physician in private practice, unable to make a living.
.
Public health is nonexistent on the island. Parcelization of the foreign aid, though beneficiary to some individuals, has accelerated the decay of a system, already in disrepair. The teaching of medicine is not standardized, and, at times, stands as substandard. Outside of the country, the precarious and unsanitary living conditions of the Haitian workers in the bateys of the Dominican Republic have become a rallying cry for human dignity.
.
The AMHE counts among its potential membership some of the most educated, the most successful elements of the Haitian citizenry. It sits as the prime example of the brain drain from a country that has seen 84% of its elite college educated progeny living outside of its borders.
.................................................
On November 3-8, one week before the 40th anniversary of the AMHE, the New Jersey Chapter will travel to Cuba to study the public health system that has yielded the best health-related vital statistics on the continent, even ahead of the United States. This trip will be, for the Association, one step farther toward doing in Haiti what the Cubans are doing. All the other chapters, while bracing for the festivities for a 40th birthday, will join that trip.
.
November 12, 1972 was a Sunday, it was chilly, but sunny, in New York. What a long way since that day! Happy birthday AMHE! Happy birthday to a healthy quadragenarian!
A grateful salute goes to the founding fathers. A special thought is dedicated to those among the pioneers who are no longer. Peace to their souls. Paix a leurs ames.
.
(OdlerRobert Jeanlouie, Friday, February 17, 2012.)
.
Please, visit: www.AMHENJ.org
.
On that day, the headline in New York Times reads as follows: "Hijacked Plane Land in Havana a Second Time; 31 Hostages Free; 3 Gunmen Seized After 29 Hours." The pictures of Melvin Cale, Lewis D. Moore, Henry D.,Jackson sit under this title. On the left column, another title, about Vietnam, announces: "Kissinger and Tho Expected to Meet Late in the Week." The paper costs 50 cents at the stand.
.
Five days earlier, Richard Nixon won his presidential reelection campaign with the biggest landslide thus far in U.S history. The war wages in Vietnam and Cambodia in a conflict that will traumatize and define a generation. Jacksonmania is alive and well, Michael Jackson has just started a solo career with Motown. Whitney Houston is 8-year old.
.
In Harlem, the relents of the Civil Rights movement, the brutal demises of Martin Luther King and Malcom X are still in every one's mind. Teenagers and adults alike sport afros and bell bottom pants.
.........................................
Since that day, for 40 years, the AMHE has grown, from its few dozen pioneers, to a potential membership of more than 2,000 Haitian physicians practicing today in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Western Europe, South America, and Africa. The association, born in New York, sprouted chapters in Quebec, Missouri, Maryland, Florida, Illinois. The New Jersey Chapter, the youngest, was created in 1988.
.
Over this period, 1972-2012, the AMHE has kept alive the flame of national identity in the hearts of Haitian physicians educated in Haiti or abroad. The organization put on 38 summer conventions that offered to all Haitian physicians and their families the opportunity to travel, to meet their peers, to network, to expose their children to a model, to a culture that should not be left back home. Acquaintances became friends, friends became family through marriage, strangers became partners in business.
.
Health fairs, health forums, radio education, television shows, medical missions, scholarship programs, professorship programs, school sponsorships, satellite clinics have become the essence and the juice of the activities of the AMHE and of its involvement inside and outside of the mother land.
.
The mark of the AMHE has been all over the recent history of Haitians living abroad during the last four decades. The association was at the forefront of the fight against the AIDS label. It exhibited a profound solicitude toward the post-revolution refugees of the 1980s. It took a humanitarian stand against the Haitian killing fields of the 1990s. But its presence in the headlines has decupled since the devastating earthquake that destroyed Port au Prince in January 2010. The AMHE had boots on the ground 48 hours after the seism, taken over rescue operations in and out of the city center, and to this day, it has been leading regular healthcare missions to the island.
.
..............................................
.
Since the Haitian army has been disbanded in 1994, the AMHE, in collaboration with the AMH (the Association of Haitian Physicians, in Haiti) has become arguably the largest, the most stable, the most visible, the most active Haitian organization. However, this is not necessarily a blessing. Its apolitical status discards the AMHE from all political decision-making in a country in dire need of political streamlining. Its prominence, its potential size have placed the institution under the magnifying glass of scrutiny. Its achievements have been held against the glare of its non-achievements. The "why nots" have become more thundering. The new leaders, elected last July, during the Panama convention, have understood that they can no longer be the fifth wheel of the state coach.
.
The AMHE is at the portal of its rendez-vous with its civic destiny. The organization is ready for prime time. The 40-year old AMHE has its work cut out. In Haiti, the medical market and the healthcare system in general have been taken over almost entirely by non-governmental agencies (NGOs) and by Cuban physicians. That is an unfair competition to the Haitian physician in private practice, unable to make a living.
.
Public health is nonexistent on the island. Parcelization of the foreign aid, though beneficiary to some individuals, has accelerated the decay of a system, already in disrepair. The teaching of medicine is not standardized, and, at times, stands as substandard. Outside of the country, the precarious and unsanitary living conditions of the Haitian workers in the bateys of the Dominican Republic have become a rallying cry for human dignity.
.
The AMHE counts among its potential membership some of the most educated, the most successful elements of the Haitian citizenry. It sits as the prime example of the brain drain from a country that has seen 84% of its elite college educated progeny living outside of its borders.
.................................................
On November 3-8, one week before the 40th anniversary of the AMHE, the New Jersey Chapter will travel to Cuba to study the public health system that has yielded the best health-related vital statistics on the continent, even ahead of the United States. This trip will be, for the Association, one step farther toward doing in Haiti what the Cubans are doing. All the other chapters, while bracing for the festivities for a 40th birthday, will join that trip.
.
November 12, 1972 was a Sunday, it was chilly, but sunny, in New York. What a long way since that day! Happy birthday AMHE! Happy birthday to a healthy quadragenarian!
A grateful salute goes to the founding fathers. A special thought is dedicated to those among the pioneers who are no longer. Peace to their souls. Paix a leurs ames.
.
(OdlerRobert Jeanlouie, Friday, February 17, 2012.)
.
Please, visit: www.AMHENJ.org
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