Stony Brook Leads Health Sciences Program in Project Establishing a Sustainable Village in Haiti
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| During the needs assessment when visiting the Hospital Université de Mirebalais in Haiti are, from left, Dr. Christina Pardo Maxis, lead for the SLVC Health Working Group, with the OBGYN service coordinator, the chief medical officer, and Dr. Carmelle Bellefleur. |
Supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the initiative involves experts from 10 SUNY campuses and 5 non-profit organizations
Stony Brook, NY, September 27, 2017 – Stony Brook University is one of the 10 State University of New York (SUNY) campuses and five non-for-profit organizations establishing a sustainable village and learning community in Akayè, Haiti. The project is being supported by an $800,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Stony Brook University is the lead campus for the health sciences component of the initiative.
Integrating the faculty and student expertise of each of the SUNY campuses, the Sustainable Village & Learning Community (SVLC) project will develop educational, economic and social programs, resources, and other needed services on 40 acres of land donated by a Nassau Community College professor emeritus. The Office of Global Medical Education in the Stony Brook University School of Medicine assembled faculty to coordinate with other experts involved in the project to create the health sciences priorities. They began with a needs assessment for the village this past summer.
“The SUNY SVLC leadership developed working groups for specific areas, such as health and wellness, agriculture, and social work, whose responsibility was to evaluate the needs of their community for their respective sectors and develop implementation models based on the needs,” said Christina Pardo Maxis, MD, MPH, an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics/Gynecology at Stony Brook Medicine and the SUNY lead for the SLVC Health Working Group. “The goal is to attain equity and establish opportunities for the community of Akayè through coordinated development efforts. The aim is to achieve a model of sustained capacity through a program in reciprocal learning called ‘Learning through Development.’”
Dr. Pardo Maxis is a first generation Haitian-American. She has gone to Haiti numerous times to work in research and clinical capacities. Most recently she has been involved in the medical education and training of physicians in Haiti in order to expand their skills, knowledge and clinical capabilities.
The five not-for-profit organizations partnering on the project are: African Methodist Episcopal Church Service and Development Agency, Effort Commun Pour Le Developpement de L’Arcahaie, Haiti Development Institute, Hope on a String, and YouthBuild International.
For additional information, see this SUNY news release.
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