The FSRL Program

FACULTÉ DES SCIENCES DE RÉHABILITATION DE LÉOGÂNE

Occupational and Physical Therapists from many countries have visited Haiti for decades, bringing the vision and skills that are needed to give people with disabilities new possibilities for their lives. However, there are limits to what any foreign therapist can accomplish during a short visit. Professional education in Haiti for Haitian OTs and PTs has been a distant dream, but that dream is now a reality!

Haitians are now able to receive a four-year professional therapy education without having to leave the country. The Episcopal University of Haiti (Université Épiscopale d’Haïti, UNEPH) has graduated two cohorts of Occupational and Physical Therapy students from the Department of the Sciences of Rehabilitation of Léogâne (Faculté des Sciences de Réhabilitation de Léogâne, or FSRL), which opened in October of 2015. A third cohort will graduate soon. UNEPH is not a U.S. university: it is a Haitian university, investing in its work of building capacity for and by Haitians.

A four-year degree is required to meet the international standards of the World Federation of Occupational Therapy and World Physiotherapy (formerly the World Confederation of Physical Therapy). One unique feature of the program at the Episcopal University of Haiti is that the students will earn distinct degrees but will also participate in interprofessional education and practice, learning how to collaborate as team members once they enter the field of practice.

This emerging program offers a unique opportunity to support an historic first: the first four-year academic degree programs at one university for Occupational Therapists (OTs) and Physical Therapists (PTs). The first cohort of therapy students at FSRL graduated in January 2020, and the second cohort in December of 2020. We now have three new Haitian OTs and twelve new Haitian PTs! Cohort three will, God willing, graduate in December of 2022.

Clinical Training

Clinical training through field work is integral to the FSRL education. This map shows the clinics and hospitals, across Haiti, where our students are active participants in patient care. We also have our own teaching clinic at Hôpital Ste Croix: Centre Universitaire Tèt Ansanm!

Haiti

A. STAND, The Haiti Project, Port de Paix

B. Fondation Haitienne de Réhabilitation,  FONHARE, Ouanaminthe

C. Clinique St. Esprit, Croix des Bouquets

C. Nos Petits Frères et Sœurs, Croix de Bouquets

D. Foyer St. Camille of St. Charles Borromeo, Tabarre

D. Rehab Pro, Port au Prince

D. Healing Hands for Haiti, Port au Prince

E. Hopital Adventiste, Chanje Lavi Clinic, Carrefours

F. Respiré Haiti, Gressier

G. My Life Speaks, Neply

H. Centre Universitaire Tèt Ansanm, CUTA, Léogâne

I.  Helping Hands Clinic, Miragoane

K. Fondation Tous Ensemble, FONTEN, Aux Cayes

K. Clinique Lumière, Aux Cayes

L. Centre de Réhabilitation, Port-à-Piment