Construction of a Permanent Medical Clinic
Construction of a Permanent Medical Clinic
Forward in Health was established in 2006 with a solitary goal of building a primary care clinic in Haiti in order to bring life saving health care to the people in the Les Cayes area. Since the first days that members of Forward in Health traveled to Haiti the need for a permanent medical presence in the Les Cayes area was obvious.
Our initial goal was a medical clinic with a total of 21 rooms and close to 6,000 square feet of space on each floor. It was designed to provide pediatric, prenatal, and general adult clinics. In addition a well will be dug to provide clean drinking water to residents of the community. Clean water may be the single greatest health benefit to the community.
While our ultimate goal has not changed it has needed to be scaled back. Construction will occur in 2 phases. The board of Forward in Health has decided to construct a smaller building until funding can be raised for the entire building. Each day that we wait 15,000 residents of the Fon Frede area are waiting for basic medical care.
The clinic will be on our land of 3 ½ acres. The building will be 2 floors and a total of 2,000 square feet on each floor. Even with the smaller space we will be able to provide a nurses station, 2 physician exam rooms, a laboratory, radiology, and pharmacy.
Naming rights for rooms in the building are available for a donation of $5,000. Please contact Forward in Health at pmulqueen@forwardinhealth.org for more information.
To view plans of the facility click on the links below:
Gerry McGuire – Initial clinic designer
 The initial clinic designer Gerry McGuire has a formal Computer Science education consisting of a BS-CS from University of Massachusetts - Lowell, and an MS-CS from WPI. Before his computer science career, Gerry attended the professional Architecture School at NJIT. A FIH board member since 2006, he advocates that technical professionals can contribute meaningfully to a humanitarian/medical effort such as Forward In Health. He has a background in database and engineering software. The father of four children, he is currently a technical lead for a young company which provides care management software ( http://casenetinc.com/ ).
In Gerry's own words, “Designing a structure to meet the needs of our overall mission presents some challenges. One of our big concerns is how to design for passive cooling (since it *is* hot, and we have extremely limited power). Since many of our clinic participants have limited experience in tropical environments, we find sleeping conditions to be a major concern. Passive design weaves cooling elements which include deep roof overhangs for shade and a central courtyard and pitched roofs in sleeping areas to promote air flow. This reduces the ongoing energy cost of the building and provides a hospitable environment for the clinic.”
Paul E. Fallon, RA – Clinic architect
 Paul Fallon is a Senior Planner at an international architectural firm based in Boston. Paul has volunteered his time and talent to help with the final design and clinic plans for Forward in Health. He is from Cambridge MA, the father of two college age children, a tutor with the Cambridge Community Services Program for high school students with English as a Second Language, a volunteer at Habitat for Humanity as well as Smokey House Farm in Vermont. He is an avid bicyclist, member of two book discussion groups. Mr. Fallon has written two novels and is in the depths of the third.
Mr. Fallon He has 25 years experience in planning and project management. He has programmed and designed a wide range of hospital-based clinical areas, from renovations of complex spaces to complete replacement hospitals. Mr. Fallon provides extensive educational and practical experience that is invaluable to the quality, design, and coordination of the Forward in Health medical clinic.
Recent representative experience
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Albany Medical Center
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Yale-New Haven Hospital
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Maine Medical Center
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