Overview of Community Health Worker Etienne Hilarie in Haiti

He delivers essential health services, including education, immunizations, family planning, and referrals. As a leader in his community, Etienne recognized a need for health services and sought to educate his population. He has been promoted to Supervisor by Fermathe Hospital, where he mentors newer Community Health Workers (CHWs) and ensures they provide high-quality care. Etienne now carries a mobile phone and uses the CommCare application, developed by Dimagi, Inc. in partnership with Pathfinder International. This tool enables him to provide better counseling to women and their families by following checklists and playing pre-recorded audio messages. The CommCare application covers major health services offered by CHWs, including integrated maternal and child health, family planning, and HIV services. To date, Etienne has enrolled 327 patients via CommCare. As a CHW, Etienne's responsibilities include education, immunizations, family planning, and referrals. He educates individual patients, families, and community groups, and provides Polio, BCG, and DPT3 or pentavalent immunizations at rally posts. Etienne also provides injectable contraceptives and refills for oral contraceptives, and identifies first-time family planning users, pregnant women, pregnancy and postnatal complications, and malnutrition, referring these patients to the health facility. Additionally, he supervises four CHWs, reviewing their data collection and accompanying them on home visits 2-3 times per month. Etienne delivers health services through various activities, including home visits, where he walks to 20-25 homes per day, some taking up to two hours to reach. He also serves 70-80 patients with family planning, immunizations, and child weighing at rally posts 2 times per month. Furthermore, Etienne shares important information at meetings for community leaders and traditional birth attendants through education sessions. The CommCare application helps guide the work of CHWs like Etienne and streamlines their data collection and reporting. In turn, CHWs serve as critical links between Haiti's communities and the facilities that serve them. The application enables Etienne to provide better counseling and care to his patients, and has the potential to improve health outcomes in the community.