AMHE Foundation is anIRS recognized 501(c)(3), charitable organization, incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois. The genesis of the foundation rests on the knowledge that the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad (AMHE), a professional associationcreated in 1972,could not function also as a charitable organization. By a decision ofthe members at their Second Annual Convention in 1974in New York, it was decided to create a separate not-for-profit organization, with mission to support the members of thenascent professional association in their philanthropic activities, thereby fulfilling an objective clearly expressed in the original AMHE’s charter. On June 4th, 1976,the foundation was finally incorporated and given the name of a celebrated Haitian physician who had recently died in a bizarre traffic accident. In 1996, after two namechanges, the Foundation was rechristened AMHE Foundation, but continued to be a public health organization dedicated to the generahealth maintenance and security of the public.

To fulfill its mission and meet its objectives, AMHE Foundation relies on tax deductible contributions raisedfrom interested donors willing to support discrete programs run by the Foundation or to enlarge the General and Emergency Funds managed bythe Board of Directors.

Specific programs and projects are usually created by dedicated healthcare providers, members of AMHE, who perceived a need and take the engagement to conduct sustained fund-raising activities to fulfill the need. Additionally, the Board of Directors may collectively choose to intervene in a specific health sector,either by supporting the healthcare delivery systemwithin that sector, providers included, or by directly helping the public impacted in that sector.

A concern of the Board of Directors had always been the steady supply of future healthcare providers. The board had chosen to intervene on that field through two programs which are in fact, the AMHE Foundation own physicians-of-tomorrow brand of activities. The Students Cafeteria Program providesa regular subsidy to medical schools’Cafeteria so students may have a hot meal at affordable cost. The Residency Scholarship Program givesto young physicians in training in Haiti, the opportunity to come to the States to enhance their skills in their chosen specialty.

Besides those two forward-looking programs, the AMHE Foundation, in conjunction with the Haitian Medical Association Abroad supports several specific healthcare delivery sites within the framework of its mission:

  • The Justinien Hospital Program in the northern city of Cap-Haitien
  • The Leogane Sickle Cell Clinicnearby Port-au-Prince
  • The Grahn-AMHE Health Center being built in Milot in the North of Haiti
  • The St. Antoine Hôpital Support in the southwest city of Jeremie.

With the recent explosion of the Covid-19 pandemics,AMHE Foundation like other public health entities,felt that there is aparamount need for accurate and up-to-date information about the disease. After assessment and trials of the available possibilities, including radio and TV programs in the major US markets, the Foundation settled on the choice to createa YouTube channel because of that medium ability to deliverup-to-the-minute information to AMHE Foundation constituency: theworldwide creole-speaking audience spread over the North and South American continents including the Caribbean Islands, the European and African Continents. By that, the creole speakingminority group suddenly has access to the same information and data provided so oftenin mainstream languages,because so necessary to face Covid

Against the background of a feeble Haitian Healthcare system, the Foundation has had plenty of opportunities to intervene in country duringregular time as well as in time of crisis. The goal has been always to alleviate the sufferings of the population.