Dr. Guy Theodore - Promise for Haiti “Bio”
Proposed Guy Theodore/Hospital Bienfaisance Book Project
Matt Clark – Executive Director
Hospital Bienfaisance Awards and Accomplishments:
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One of three NGOs chosen to pilot performance-based payment of USAID grant
money in Haiti in 1999
o http://www.cgdev.org/doc/books/PBI/09_CGD_Eichler_Levine-Ch9.pdf
Hospital visited by Hillary Clinton while First Lady – she mentioned her visit in a
speech given to the Inter-American Development Bank in 2009 as Secretary of
State
o “Now, we know from empirical data that small investments go a long way,
and I’ve seen this for myself in Haiti. In addition to traveling there as a
newlywed, I traveled as First Lady. I traveled out into the country to meet
a doctor who had emigrated to the United States, joined the United States
Air Force, had become a colonel, but then wanted to give back to the
country of his birth – return to Haiti to his hometown in Pignon, to run a
center for health, women’s literacy and microcredit. They had few
resources, but they offered a comprehensive range of services to thousands
of clients.
o http://www.moun.com/articles.asp?art=11072
World Health Award from the World Health Organization and Haiti Ministry of
Health in 2010
USAID inaugurated Hospital Bienfaisance as a Center of Excellence and
Reference for Obstetric and Neonatal Emergencies in 2012
o http://www.promiseforhaiti.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=art
icle&id=94&Itemid=127
HAITIAN HEALTH MINISTRY AWARD in 2007
2007 nominee for the Gates Foundation Award for Global Health.
New York Times feature article in 2010
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vw9wKniTyo
Dr. Guy Theodore Awards and Accomplishments:
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U.S Air Force Colonel from 1977 to 1983
Digicel Haitian Entrepreneur of the Year 2010
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqPpRisoleE
Peter Jennings of ABC News as "Person of the Week" in September of 1994
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boFmsgUXQNI
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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SUMMIT HUMANITARIAN AWARD by the
Tampa International Business Summit in 2007
Inaugural recipient of American College of Surgeons Humanitarian Award in
2008
o http://www.operationgivingback.facs.org/content2326.html
United Nations Foundation Award for achievements in Health Improvement in
2002
Dr. Leon Audin Award from Haitian Medical Association for the advancement of
Science and Medicine in Haiti in 1999
Medal of Honor, United States Air force (U.S.A) in 1983
Rotary International
o Guy Theodore joined Rotary Club of Jacksonville - Arkansas U.S.A in
1982 where he was serving in the medical corps in the US Air
force. He is a Charter President and Founder of Rotary Club of Pignon Haiti in 1999 – 2000; Assistant District Governor 2001 – 2004; District
Water Chair 2007 – 2008; Haiti Task Force Chair 2007 – 2011. Graduate
of Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI); He has assisted to numerous District
Conferences & Assemblies and over half a dozen of Rotary
International Conventions. He is Paul Harris Fellow.
o Caribbean District Governor 2011-2012
o http://www.clubrunner.ca/dprg/dxprogramhome/_programhome.aspx?did
=7020&pageid=75510
Haitian Presidential Candidate 2010
o http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/americas/1247467399629/thedoctor-who-would-be-president.html
Haitian Ministry of Health Award for commitment to the advancement of the
medical profession in Haiti
o http://lenouvelliste.com/lenouvelliste/articleprint/128810.html
Dr. Guy Theodore’s History:
Guy Theodore was born in the remote village of Pignon, Haiti; the seventh of nine
children of a Baptist lay minister. As a child, young Guy frequently accompanied his
father on donkey-ride visitations to the sick and dying people of the remote countryside,
where his father would pray with the sick and their family, often times dispensing some
basic pills or other available medicines that he could acquire with his own money.
Guy often saw children his age dying from starvation and older people afflicted with
diseases caused by contaminated drinking water. Because Pignon had no doctor to treat
the sick and dying, many people that Guy encountered on one visit, would be dead the
next -- causalities of malnutrition, poor sanitation and lack of medical attention. He knew
that these people were perishing not only unnecessarily, but often hopelessly.
At the age of twelve, on a trip with his father to one of his friends, Guy asked his father
why he didn't give him any pills. He was told that his friend was dying, there was not a
doctor in the area and most people could not afford to travel to Cap-Haitian or Port-auPrince to seek help. With both a child's innocence and a maturity beyond his years,
young Guy asked if the could become a doctor and care for his people. His father told
him that it was possible with the Lord's help and blessings. There, in the mountains, they
got down off the donkey and Guy prayed aloud, "Lord there is so much need all around
me. As a Christian, I feel it is my duty to try to help people. Give me the wisdom and
intelligence to become a doctor. Wherever I am, I will come back to Pignon and do Your
work." Within him burned a determination to cultivate his God-given intelligence to
attend medical school, and share his faith and knowledge with Pignon's residents.
God answered young Guy's prayers and enabled him to complete high school and
medical school in Port-au-Prince after his community helped send him to school. After
medical school and a residency in urology, he came to the United States to perform his
internship in New Jersey and his surgical residency in New York City from 1970 to 1975.
After passing his New York State Board and his surgery board, he entered private
practice.
For a Haitian boy reared in a remote village of Haiti, Dr. Theodore found himself in
unimaginably pleasant circumstances while in the United States. He had friends, comfort,
possessions and prestige--until one night in 1976 when he had a dream and his life passed
before his eyes. He remembered himself as a twelve year old boy and heard his father
probing, "Guy have you forgotten your commitment to the Lord?" He saw again the
hollow eyes of dying children and awoke knowing he must return to Pignon. He had to
honor his promise to the Lord.
At the time of his dream, Dr. Theodore was about to invest in a new home in York City.
Instead he took his money and sent it to Pignon to begin building the Hospital de
Bienfaisance on the site where he was born. With the help of the community (people of
all walks of life helping with construction of the initial building by carrying water or
rocks from the surrounding area), Hospital Bienfaisance was constructed. The hospital
has since grown to be a 65-bed hospital with two operating rooms, multiple clinics, and
community development projects. Dr. Theodore and Hosptial Bienfaisance have
garnished awards and accolades for global health for their work in Pignon by
organizations like the United Nations, World Health Organization, and USAID.
Under Dr. Theodore's leadership and with the help of thousands of volunteers, his vision
has become a reality. The Comite de Bienfaisance, a locally elected Haitian committee,
presides over the entire mission effort, its programs and projects. Guy also founded
Promise for Haiti as a stateside nonprofit organization in 1981 to support the work in
Haiti.