Founded by Ralph Stowe, The Saint Rock Haiti Foundation (SRHF) began working with the people of Saint Rock, Haiti in 2002. The community identified its most pressing need to be health care, so renovations began on a building (first photo) that would become the SRHF Centre de Santé (community health care clinic in the second photo). The only full-time employee in those early years was a Haitian nurse. In November 2003, Catherine Liberless RN led a group of Boston-based health professionals from Massachusetts General Hospital and other volunteers from Saint Agatha Parish in Milton, MA traveled to Saint Rock to care for patients at the SRHF Centre de Santé. It was evident to these volunteers that patient needs were far greater than the care currently available. These providers and other volunteers committed themselves to the development of the SRHF, fundraising to hire additional clinic staff, including a part-time physician. The focus in these early years was treating acute illness and providing urgent care primarily during medical outreach trips.

Today there are over 60 Haitian staff at two health centers who are providing health care services to members of the community five days a week. Led by Dr. J. Kenes Eloy, the SRHF Centre de Santé In-Country Director and Medical Director, SRHF health care providers see patients not only at the Centre de Santé in Saint Rock and Macaco but throughout the community through the mobile clinic and community health worker programs.

SRHF is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization located in Milton, Massachusetts. The U.S. organization currently consists of a 21-member Board of Directors, President, Director of U.S. Operations, Director of Development, and Finance Manager. The role of the U.S.-based organization is to provide oversight and strategic direction of SRHF’s work in Haiti, and to provide technical assistance, clinical support, training, fundraising, and volunteer support for Haiti operations.