Meet Christine

Hello, my name is Christine Edouard. I was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I come from a big family and am the eldest of seven children. Ever since I was 9 or 10 years old, I had a desire to become a nurse. I was greatly influenced by seeing my godmother faithfully serve in that capacity for years. That is what inspired me to want to become a nurse myself. I immigrated to the USA when I was 15 years old. After my high school graduation, I went to nursing school and worked as a nursing assistant and homemaker during my course of studies.

 

Once I graduated from nursing school, I worked as a nurse specializing in medical surgery, orthopedics, and oncology for 47 years. The time flew by because I loved what I was doing.  I spent my first 23 years in medical surgery, then the last 24 years working in orthopedics and oncology. Since my recent retirement, I have been keeping myself busy with spending time with family, travelling the world, and taking some time out for just me but the urge to keep working part-time or even per diem could not escape me.

 

One day, I was approached by my niece, Cheyenne Bell. She began to speak to me about how much she enjoyed doing doula work and asked me if I had any interest in working in maternal health. I honestly hadn’t done any rotations in maternity since nursing school, so I was intrigued by her excitement. Coming from a large family had always kept me around babies, so an opportunity to be a small part of someone else’s birth story really struck a chord with me. In retrospect, this was actually a full circle moment for me. When Cheyenne was in utero, I served as an unofficial doula for my youngest sister and watched baby Cheyenne come into this world. Now, I get the opportunity to work alongside her and support others on their journey of bringing their precious little ones into this world.