Ms. Odine Charles is a nurse-midwife for the HIV program in Mirebalais. The benches in the waiting room are usually full of patients when she starts work in the morning. She first takes care of any urgent cases and checks on the hospitalized patients, then begins calling people one by one to check and record vital signs, and send them on to see a doctor. If a doctor is not there, she carries out the consultation herself. She also draws blood for patients that need a CD4 test as early as possible so the lab can have ample time to process during the day. (Thanks to CDC we now have our very own CD4 machine!) Between patients, Odine helps accompagnateurs requesting formula or medication, or who bring in a newborn baby to be weighed and given lifesaving HIV prevention medication. Odine spends a lot of time with individual patients, especially new ones who require more counseling and education.

She also teaches women about family planning methods. Some daysOdine is responsible for HIV and syphilis voluntary testing and counseling for all comers. At any time on any day, Odine’s regular activities can be interrupted by having to deliver babies—for the entire hospital, not just the HIV program. Odine truly does it all; she goes above and beyond, from arranging food for hospitalized patients to seeing that newborn babies in our program receive boiled water, to making patient home visits in Mirebalais.

It is quite a demanding job, but she usually shares the load with colleague Ms. Erlande Pierre. She admits that the hardest part of her job is when she is on her own.

What she likes most about her work is the contact with HIV+ individuals. She becomes friends with our patients, providing support and advice along with medical care. She likes to help them feel that they are not alone. Her favorite part is watching patients gain weight and witnessing remarkable improvement in their health. One patient that stands out in her mind is 23 year old Adeline. Everyone in her village thought Adeline would die. When her parents kicked her out because they were ashamed of her disease, she lived for two months in the hospital. She had both AIDS and tuberculosis. Now she looks and feels so much better! Tulane-MARCH rented a house for her, and today she washes clothes for others to earn a living.

Odine would like Tulane-MARCH supporters to know that their donations are not in vain. “Your money helps a lot of people. It helps people who think that their lives are over, people who think that they will die. They return healthy to their families and continue with their activities.”The photo on the right depicts a typical Odine scene: at 6 pm after a long day, she relaxes by…giving a haircut to Lonny, an orphan boy living in the hospital. We are lucky to have such a dedicated, caring nurse!