Our team of caregivers and the standard of excellence we strive for is affectionately called our “Circle of Care” (COC). The Circle of Care is the heart of how Hands and Feet Project serves Haiti. The COC is the approach used to ensure the Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, and Educational well-being of the children, youth, young adults, and families we serve. This quarter we will be addressing how we implement the Physical Standard of our Circle of Care.
Safety – Our Social Workers do monthly house assessments to ensure there are no safety issues. In both of our locations, each Social Worker completes these check-ins at each home in our Children’s Villages and in the community. Our Caregivers and House Assistants provide care to each child in the house through supervising and nurturing each child making sure the conditions of the home meet our safety expectations on a daily basis.
Medical – We have an on-site nurse in Jacmel that provides education to our caregivers on nutrition, first aid and any specific medical needs that need to be addressed in their homes. We also partner with both local, Haitian dental and medical professionals. We have a consistent and committed medical team from the USA that comes to Haiti biannually to review charts and do assessments of our overall Physical Standard of Care. We provide routine care, emergency visits, special needs resources, dental care, vision care, and therapy sessions for our children. We network to find individualized and specialized care for each child’s needs. We encourage physical exercise and an overall, lifelong education on a healthy lifestyle.
Basic Needs – In our Residential Care & Support Program, we provide family-style care. Each home has a Caregiver and a House Assistant with up to six to eight children. Our Caregivers are required to take their children to church, teach life skills by doing chores in the home, and help nurture each child to their God-given potential. We encourage regular routines and meal times. Our Administrative Staff ensures there are supplies for every house on campus. There are many schools that our children attend which require us to provide multiple uniforms that are kept in good, clean condition. In light of this, we provide laundry service jobs to people in the community to ensure all of our children have clean clothes to wear each day. As each child transitions into our Guidance and Preparation Program (GAP), our Resident Assistants take them to the market with their Life Coaches to learn how to plan, shop and prepare their own meals including how to negotiate with street vendors.