Funding Enables the School to Employ a Full-Time Nurse and Receive Medical Supplies

November 12, 2015 – Mirebalais, Haiti – l’Ecole de Choix (The School of Choice) today announced it has received funds from the nonprofit organization, Direct Relief, to cover the annual salary of a full time, registered nurse to work on site at the school. Nurse Nancy Ledoux has joined the staff of L’Ecole de Choix and will provide onsite health management as well as general health and nutrition education for students and their families. Direct Relief is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization focused on improving the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergency situations by mobilizing essential medical resources needed for their care. L’Ecole de Choix (Choix) is a private, nonprofit elementary school in Mirebalais, Haiti that provides a high-quality, trilingual education for children from grades one to six.

“We are so grateful to Direct Relief for all the vital work it is doing throughout Haiti and the world. Today we are especially appreciative for their support of our health program at Choix. Maintaining the health of our students is central to their ability to learn and, thanks to Direct Relief, we are able to employ a full-time registered nurse on site,” said Professor Laura Pincus Hartman, founder and board chair of l’Ecole De Choix, and Director of the Susilo Institute for Ethics in the Global Economy at Boston University. “Nurse Nancy’s work, and Direct Relief’s support will have a very meaningful impact on our students and the school community.”

Students at Choix often have had no other health care options than that which they access at school. So, the addition of Nurse Nancy will provide Choix students with access to quality health services for themselves and their families. The impact of these efforts goes well beyond the school day; the learning is sustained and has lasting implications for the surrounding community.

About Direct Relief

Direct Relief’s assistance programs are tailored to the particular circumstances and needs of surviving the effects of natural or man-made disasters. This work is conducted in partnership with local organizations, and made possible by material and financial contributions from individuals, health care companies, and medical manufacturers. The non-profit group works with local health-care organizations in all 50 U.S. states and 70 countries to provide medicines, supplies, equipment and other medial resources to people living in poverty or in emergency situations.

About Haiti

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and only ninety minutes by plane from the United States. Eighty-five percent of the country’s 9.7 million people live on less than $2 a day. The country has an average literacy rate of 53% and only half of school age children are able to attend school. The 2010 earthquake destroyed almost 50% of the nation’s schools and devastated the three main universities in Port au Prince, making a bad situation even worse. Ninety percent of the schools in Haiti are operated by private entities, such as religious institutions, non-profits or other international organizations. Fewer than 30 percent of Haitian youth graduate from 6th grade, which also causes a dearth in qualified teachers.

About l’Ecole de Choix (the School of Choice)

L’Ecole de Choix/The School of Choice (or Choix, pronounced “schwa”) began instruction in October 2011 and currently educates 180 children from grade one through six. Its physical structures were originally funded through the players of Zynga.Org, however the school’s current and on-going operations are supported entirely through individual contributions. The vision of Choix is to develop Haitian leaders to lead Haiti and the world. The school provides a trilingual education – with a focus on leadership development and communication skills – to children living in the deepest conditions of poverty in Haiti, while affirming their individual dignity and autonomy. The fundamental operating principle of Choix is that education is a right, not a privilege, but one that comes with a responsibility to ourselves, to our communities and to our country. Choix believes in the paramount sustainability of education, and that by providing children access to a high-quality education Choix is helping to develop the next generation of Haitian leaders, empowering them to shape their own future, strengthen their communities, create their own choices and, ultimately, change the world.

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For media inquiries: Toni Sottak, Wired Island International +1 408 876 4418
(toni@wiredislandpr.com)