Image caption: Employees gather to write out a check from the Deutsches Altenheim Foundation to Partners in Health to support relief work in Haiti. Pictured front, left to right, healthcare heroes and Certified Nursing Technicians Denise Francois, Suze Oxilas, and Maguay Fequiere. Pictured back, from left to right, German Centre Executive Director Michael Lincoln, Executive Director of Development Michael Jugenheimer, Assistant Director of Nursing Tyeshia Hall, Certified Nursing Technicians Judith Valeus and Mirlande Tunis, and Director of Nursing Austin Azeta. September 2021.
The Deutsches Altenheim Foundation donated $5,000 to Partners in Health to support relief efforts in Haiti in a show of support for Deutsches Altenheim’s team members who have family and friends that were affected by the recent 7.2-magnitude earthquake.
“We have a responsibility to stand in solidarity with our Haitian team members who are reeling from this tragedy,” says John Carberry, President of Deutsches Altenheim Foundation. “For the past 18 months our healthcare heroes have been putting their own lives on the line caring for our local seniors during the pandemic. Now it is our turn to support them—many of whom have family and friends in Haiti still recovering from the earthquake.”
“Ever since the Altenheim’s founding by the German Ladies Aid Society of Boston in 1914, immigrants have been at the forefront of caring for seniors at the Altenheim,” says Michael Jugenheimer, the Foundation’s executive director of development. “Today, instead of Germans, the majority of our front-line health care heroes are Haitian—this is true not only at the Altenheim, but at many senior care communities in Boston and beyond.”
Deutsches Altenheim Foundation chose Partners in Health, which is known in Haiti as Zanmi Lasante, given its roots in Boston and its long-standing commitment to Haiti. Partners in Health is the largest healthcare provider in Haiti outside of their government and has been working around the clock since the earthquake to mobilize clinical response teams to the hardest hit areas of southern Haiti and bring needed equipment to all those affected.
In addition to the Foundation’s gift, Deutsches Altenheim, Inc. provided direct support to staff members who are sending payments to family and friends in Haiti to aid in their recovery through a combination of pay advances and matching bonuses.
“I have multiple family members who live in Hatti and have been impacted by the earthquake. I try to help them the best I can and I am very grateful for getting matching financial support,” says Lakeira Hillery, the Altenheim’s human resources specialist. “Both the donation from the Foundation and the direct support are very much appreciated—it shows just how much Deutsches Altenheim cares about its staff,” she said.