Displaced, Pregnant Haitian Woman ‘Grateful’ After Earthquake

After Recent Disaster, Free Classes Offer Survivor Silver Lining

CSI’s goal is to bring cutting edge information related to Health Care each month. CSI Caregiver Services Inc. is the largest Nurse Registry in Florida.

It may seem hard to believe that someone whose life had been shaken into oblivion would feel grateful, but Nerlande Avril is.

Even before a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti just twelve days into 2010, Nerlande lived on an island struggling with hurricanes, an HIV/AIDS epidemic, and poverty. You would think things couldn’t get worse. And then along came the earthquake, and proved it could.

Now consider being homeless and alone, scary, but additionally Nerlande is 4 months pregnant.

And yet, Nerlande says she is grateful.

Apparently while she coped with there being nothing left of her home, her job and in fact her life in Haiti, she heard a radio announcement that CSI Caregiver Institute (CGI is owned by CSI), a North Miami vocational school, was offering effected Haitians free enrollment in Home Health Aide classes.

Nerlande was one of the first to enroll.

Now most people don’t know it, but in spite of the current job situation, some occupations continue to grow exponentially, such as Home Health. As ‘baby boomers’ age, demand for people to assist them at home has exploded. Plus vocational school is much less expensive and faster then degree institutions … CGI routinely charges less than $300 for two weeks of classes. Nerlande was grateful to get it for free.

CGI is one of few licensed schools that fast tracks adults into healthcare jobs, but CGI also has an advantage for Nerlande and her fellow job hunting graduates, a built in demand… CGI is owned by the largest Nursing Registry in Florida, CAREGIVER SERVICES, INC., that supplies thousands of Home Health Aides in jobs in 57 counties across the state.

Over the past month, 60 students like Nerlande, stepped onto a path to a more secure future. But unlike most, Nerlande not only passed the course, but graduated “Top of Class” with a perfect 100% score. The class picture shows her holding her diploma and Top of Class certificate, crying tears of gratitude.