Haitian Hearts Rejects Candidate--October 2015

 Hybenson (Photo by John Carroll–October 28, 2015)

One of Haitian Hearts goals is to encourage young Haitians to enter the health care field. Haiti is short of physicians with approximately one physician per 10,000 people. And most Haitian physicians practice in the bigger cities in Haiti or in New York. So this leaves about 7 million Haitians in the province without regular access to a doctor. 

Today a young man came to my office with his mother. His name is Hybenson and he seemed to prefer sitting on her lap while we spoke. 

Hybenson said that his entire life he wanted to become a doctor and I told him that was good. I also told him that we were searching for young men and women to enter the primary care fields in Haiti.

However, much to my dismay, Hybenson told me that he intended to specialize and wanted to become a cardiologist. And he seemed very serious about this.

The long and short of it is that Hybenson did not change his mind and so I had to tell him we had no place for him in our program. I wished him the best. 

As they left the office I thought I heard Hybenson say some naughty words in Creole, but I wasn’t sure….

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org