Employment Opportunities

Mother Health International Job Openings
On-Site Midwifery Coordinator
Jacmel, Haiti

Mother Health International has two On-Site Midwifery Coordinator positions available. The MHI On-Site Midwifery Coordinator’s primary responsibility is being the primary midwife NARM preceptor at the MHI birth clinic. This is an amazing life changing opportunity for someone who wants to work within a traditional midwifery model of care.

Primary duties include:

• Works with the Volunteer Medical Advisory Board President, Clare Loprinzi, Traditional Midwife, CPM on the educational program for the apprentices and overseeing this on the ground in Haiti.

• Attends births working within the MHI protocols and upholding the MHI model of care.

• Works with the Administrator of MHI on maintaining the midwifery side of the clinic.

• Maintains all NARM protocols for apprentices.

• Communicates on a bi-weekly basis in an email or skype with the President of the Board of Directors as it pertains to this job.

• Welcomes and orients volunteers to the clinic.

Additional details:

• Teaches apprentices while following the MHI protocols, helps improve the clinic day efficiency working alongside the MHI administrator in the clinic to help identify and find solutions to the midwifery related issues that pertain to clinic.

• Working with volunteer midwives and Haitian apprentices to create prenatal education that the Haitian apprentices teach the moms on prenatal days to include healthy pregnancy, breastfeeding, nutrition, peaceful parenting, labor, birth and postpartum care.

• Oversees the midwifery care we give while working and abiding to the MHI protocols; communicates with the Administrator and the President of the Board of Directors on ways to improve the care we give and reports back the weekly updates on the happenings at the clinic as it pertains to this job.

• Sets the tone and protects the space for all births to be seen as a sacred right for the mother, child and family attending.

• Teaches apprentices to do monthly clinic statistics

• Facilitate study time on a weekly basis in a formal setting/interactive “classroom” discussion time

• Facilitates and encourages volunteer midwives to teach students in clinic and outside clinic times

• Orients volunteer midwives to clinic systems and supplies, meds, etc. Explains and goes over the protocol book and all current systems pertaining to the clinic. Orients volunteers to the house and Jacmel, laundry, meals, clean up, changing money and overall cultural norms in Haiti.

Requirements:

• A willingness to live in our volunteer birth clinic for a minimum of eight months of time preferably a year in Jacmel, Haiti as the primary midwife on duty.

• This position requires NARM preceptor certificate/approval. Midwife may be a direct entry, traditional, certified professional midwife or certified nurse midwife willing to work within a traditional midwifery model of care.

• Must bring in a list of supplies needed for the clinic plus help raise money for the clinic.

What MHI will provide:

This position will be given a small monthly stipend for spending money. All on ground expenses are paid for including housing, food, and high speed Internet. Unpaid vacation time.

Mother Health International’s Mission

Mother Health International is dedicated to respond and provide relief to pregnant women and children in areas of disaster and extreme poverty. We are committed to reducing the maternal and infant mortality rates by creating healthy, sustainable holistic birth clinics using the midwifery model of care with culturally appropriate, education for the health and empowerment of women. With every healthy birth there is a positive benefit for the communities that we serve and the world as a whole. Our ultimate mission is to empower and educate the local clinic staff, with gender equality, to become the health care providers for their community

Volunter Administrative Team
Heather L. Maurer, Co-Founder, Executive Director


The Medical Advisory Board’s Mission

The Mother Health International Advisory Board is a broad collaboration of practitioners advising and supporting Mother Health International to create the bridge between high technology obstetric care and the excellent outcomes provided by the low technology, hands on midwifery model of care in impoverished and disaster stricken countries. The collection of our data will provide inspiration for birthing centers worldwide.


Volunteer Medical Advisory Board
Clare Loprinzi, Traditional Midwife, CPM, MCH certificate
Carol Roedocker, CNM
Dr. Jade Patti McGaff, MD,OB/GYN
Dr. Mathilde Costa, MD, OB/GYN
Dr. Misha Kassel, MD, Emergency Medicine
Dr. Joseph Kassel, ND, LAc.


Words from Melinda McClaren, Current On-Site Midwifery Coordinator

I came to Haiti not knowing what to expect or who to believe about the
situation here. The news and people coming back from the quake shaken
land told stories of horror and sorrow, of danger and strife. However
the story I now know of Haiti is one of love, strength, humor and all
good things among the hardships faced in a 3rd world country rocked by
injustice on every level. I am proud to say that I came to Haiti with
an open heart and have been given one back by each person I met.
Haitians have moved into my heart and soul in a way that no other
peoples have. I must say “thank you” to my dear friends here in Jacmel
for embracing me and wanting me to “become” Haitian, to be able to see
life from their perspective. I am honored. Now down to what I do
here.... Well, if you haven't heard there is this amazing birth center, the
Mother Health International birth clinic, that started up in Jacmel just
after the earthquake of 2010. I was living in Canada when I came
across the work that MHI was doing in Haiti and I just knew that this
was it for me. I saw the website and my heart was set. I have worked
overseas several times and the thought of doing midwifery in a developing country
set my heart on fire. I know the difference one midwife can make
in the life of a family. I know that just simple sharing of knowledge
regarding hygiene and nutrition can make the difference for a mom and
baby. Education is the key to empowerment and empowerment is just what
Haitian women need. At the MHI birth center we have woman from all
over the place coming to us for care, some are city folks, others are
from the boonies (jungle-country side) and there is a vast difference
in education between these two groups. Teaching people the basics on
breast feeding actually can save a baby’s life. There are quite a few
mothers that were feeding their babies sugar water until their “true”
milk came in. This a dangerous practice and we get an opportunity to
share with women how they can effectively care for their wee ones to
prevent all sorts of problems sugar water can cause. This is just one
example and there are so many to tell!

Women empowerment.... This is another great aspect of doing
midwifery in Haiti. You know being a midwife can allow you access into
a woman’s and families life in a way that very few professions allow.
Being present with a woman through the childbearing process allows you
the most intimate window into her life an the potential to be a close
friend and guide when she needs it most. It is to come alongside her body,
spirit and soul and believe in her innate capabilities,
believing in her as a mother, as a co-creationist in regards to her
child but also the direction of her life and energies. Becoming a
mother changes a woman and has the potential to inspire significant
life changes for the betterment of herself, her family and her
community. Love is a very strong driving force that can move a woman
from one state of being to another. This is what I live to see in
Haiti, and this is what I have been seeing in the women we care for.
This what makes this work of consultations and birthing so rewarding.
I see new life being born, not just in the newborn, but it is in the
woman becoming a mother, a more aware, responsible and stronger being
that is being born also.Haiti can make it, can rebuild itself, if we start working together
one life at a time, one relationship, one situation at a time, change
can happen and is happening everyday. Like it, live it, see it! This is an opportunity
that will change our life as a midwife and allow you to travel deeper into the
tradition of midwifery. This work and time with the Haitian people is one of the
greatest experience and gifts I have ever received. And it has profoundly
impacted my life in a beautiful way.

Meet Marie Antoinette Helen Jeune, Assistant Midwife at Mother Health International

Over the next few weeks our blog will feature the wonderful MHI team on the ground in Jacmel, Haiti. Your financial contributions help support the salaries of these team members. Thank you. Each person has been asked to write up a short story describing themselves and the work they do. Enjoy!

Marie Antoinette Helen Jeune

Assistant Midwife, Translator
Mother Health International birth clinic in Jacmel, Haiti

Marie Antoinette Helen Jeune

Marie Antoinette Helen Jeune

Marie, Melinda and a beautiful mother on prenatal day at the clinic.

I am Marie Antoinette Helene Jeune. I was born in 1981 in  Jeremie in the area of the grand Anse in the south of Haiti. I have a son who is five years old. I have been working with MHI as a translator and now I am studying to become a midwife. I am a Haitian woman coming from a long line of strong women. My people were brought here to Haiti as slaves from America in 1503. In 1804 we got our freedom. My people bought our freedom for $90 million in 1825 from France. I want to become a traditional midwife so that I can work for my country and this clinic.

I have the patience to be a midwife. The MHI birth clinic provides very good care to the women in my community during their pregnancy, birth and postpartum. The focus of a midwife is on natural methods for pregnancy, birth and postpartum care. I recognize the difference in care when I see a doctor attend a birth; it is not the same thing that we do as midwives when we work with birth and women. I am talking about the pitocin used routinely in birth in Haiti, and the other drugs that make the it very hard for the mamma and the baby. I see the way a midwife works with birth. She makes the women comfortable during labor using massage, and uses movement such as traditional dancing during birth. My passion is to become a midwife and make a difference in women’s lives. The first time I came here to work was at the beginning when Bumi Sehat started the clinic. Now the clinic is under new leadership and is Mother Health International, and when I first came here I did not know anything about natural birth. When I saw the way the birth clinic treated women, I felt so good and love within myself. I loved the pregnant women and this work. I massaged them, give them some ideas to make them happy during labor, create some dancing steps to relax the woman so she would not be afraid. One day when I was working with Kelly, I said I want to share some ways with the the mother to make her happy, to make her dance and laugh. Kelly said to me, “Yes Marie, the woman will be very happy that you do with her her." I felt so happy inside in myself, I knew that I was a midwife and not every one else knew, but I knew.

One time while a woman was laboring she asked me, “Oh marie mwen kapab fe pa sa y o wap tiye nou avan bebe sa sa fet.” (Oh Mary I can’t do these steps, you are killing me before my baby is born.” I said no, never quit, do not be discouraged. I am here and I will support you to make the steps.” She answered me afterward her baby was born, “Oh Mary I love you and sometimes when she looks at me and our eyes are together and we are connected.”

MHI midwifery model of care is a good model for Jacmel because it is hard to find good care for pregnant women. We are kind here, we treat the women with respect. The families come to the clinic and they are very happy because their women are finding good care in the clinic. The families tell me why wasn’t this clinic here before. They asked me, “Why are you working this work of midwifery? You treat us well, like the foreign midwife, are you a midwife?” They tell me I will become a great midiwfe and that makes me feel good. I hear them say, “You know Mary this clinic is very good, it is giving good care and you especially. If the foreign midwives leave you will be there here to help us. Stay strong, do not change your behavior.”

Some of the women and families ask me who are the midwives that come here, where do they come from. I explain to them they are midwives and come after the time of the earthquake to work in Haiti but they come and they plan to help the women and pregnancy for care. I explain, the damage of the earthquake brought the midwives.

I never thought about birth much before I worked here. In 2004 I was pregnant with son, my mom wanted me to follow a midwife and she gave me all the natural medicine. I was as 23 yrs old and the midwife checked positions of my baby but I never knew what she was doing and was very afraid when she touched my belly. My mom said there is not difference between the midwife and doctor. She told me to accept the midwife, let the midwife do her work, let her give me natural medicine and check my baby. When I was in labor, I lost my mucous plug. The midwife checked me and said the baby was ready to be born. My mom said to me, "Let her help you birth and I told my mom no and she said it was my decision. So we went to the hospital. She said that I would see the difference between a midwife and a doctor. I told her “I do not know but I told her that I trust the doctor.” If I was to have another baby again I of course I would do it with the midwife. 

We are working as midwives and as professionals and rarely we to bring a mother or baby to the hospital. But if we bring a baby or a mother to the hospital we treat them with respect and they will treat us with respect. The families are very satisfied, 100%, with the care that the clinic gives to the women. They like the way the midwives treat the women, very natural. There are some families that have told me that hospital, even if the woman is having a normal pregnancy and labor with no complications, that they make problems for the mother and baby. That means that they will cut the women (episiotomy or c-section). They said to me it is not the same as when we work with a midwife to do the birth. I met a lot of the girls and families telling me often the way the midwife  works because it is natural, and it is better for the birth of the baby.

First, when a woman comes to me in labor, we share some ideas with the woman and get to  know each other in labor. You can tell the woman some jokes to make her laugh and help her not stress and help her not be afraid. For the dance for the birth, I make the woman understand that it is not a game, it is to help the woman relax and help the baby get into position. Sometimes I create some steps to show the women to be relaxed, to be happy,to be laughing with me or smile with me. I explain to the women the baby wants love even when the baby is inside of his/her mom. I tell the women, let the baby know that they are something special and that everyone is going to receive them with a lot of love. This is throughout a woman's pregnancy, I explain to the baby everybody is waiting for the baby and will receive them with love. The baby needs the love.

Marie Antoinette, Haitian Assistant Midwife

(This was slightly edited to assist with the translation.)