Genette Thelusmond is an amazing, gifted young woman who graduated last year from the Midwives For Haiti program and is now supervising the maternity care at St. Therese Hospital in Hinche.   

     Genette was the eldest daughter of nine children.  She grew up in Bohoc, a small village and needed to travel for all of her schooling.  High school required leaving home and living in Hinche, the town where St. Therese Hospital and the teaching center for Midwives For Haiti are located.  As a young girl, Genette went with her mom to women's homes in their community.  Genette's mother was a matron, the community birth attendant without formal training.   

    Genette vividly remembers many of those home births but admits she was influenced by her mom's lack of knowledge and limited level of experience in coping with birth complications. Genette shudders when she recounts painful memories of births that could not safely proceed at home and laboring women had to be transported over dirt roads to the hospital. There the situation sometimes worsened because of the lack of skilled care, medical staff, and the needed supplies. These memories haunt Gennette but also motivated her to seek training and improved resources... 

Dr. Hirata and Genette care for a patient at Ste. Therese.