Dear project partners and supporters -

I am happy to report that we have a class of successful EMT graduates as of Friday, May 25! Last week was a full one, as they all have been. Monday was the final written exam. Tuesday was a practice session for the practical, and Wednesday was a full day of practical scenario-based exams. Thursday we all got ready for graduation, and Friday was graduation.

Thank you to everybody who worked so hard to make this class a success, and there have been many – I will probably forget some, so apologies in advance. Thank you to:

• All of our donors and supporters without whom we could not have put on the class.
• The Curriculum Committee who did the planning and helped develop curriculum material.
• All our EMPACT volunteers, who helped recruit instructors and coordinate volunteer deployments.
• Our Haitian lead instructors, Claudel Gedeon, Gerard Prevot, and Pierre Duckens, who worked extremely hard, delivering training and doing translations.
• Our U.S. instructors, who also worked very hard to keep the class on track and who each individually contributed a lot.
• Madame, who kept us all fed, and Francoise, who kept the school/house in order.
• Dominique Valentin from JPHRO who gave us great support and allowed us to work with JP clinics.
• Marc Julmisse from Adventist Hospital who made sure her students could still attend when we had to move to a distant school location.
• Rachel Belt, Kim Wachenfeld, and Adrian from Project Medishare who shared resources and allowed Medishare employees to participate.
• William Black from Saint John’s Ambulance, who supplied us with top students and supported us every step of the way
• Walter Adler and the Banshee organization, who helped teach and recruit support for the project.
• Pastors John Booker and Marc Olsen of the Foursquare Church, who once again extended their hospitality and let us use the church for graduation, and made sure everything worked.
• Photographer Justin Thomas from Banshee who took photos and video of the graduation.
• Our outstanding group of students, who put heart and soul into this class.

For me, and I think I can speak for everyone who participated in this project, this has been a great experience. The challenges, but even more so the rewards, are much greater than teaching a US EMT class. I have developed a tremendous respect and affection for the Haitian people having worked in Haiti several times now, and that is what keeps me coming back for the next project.

So thank you again, everybody, for helping to make this class a success.

-ERIC ADMAN, EMPACT NORTHWEST

Filed under: Haiti by Philip