Aging in Haiti: toward an international nursing response

In this column Orem's self-care deficit model and Holzkamp's critical learning theory are used to discuss the story of an older adult Haitian woman with an interview with a Haitian nurse leader, Mme. Suze N'Lemba. Older adults in Haiti today are seen as a group at very high risk due in part to the conditions in the country, and they are in need of considerable guidance in nursing. However the current number of nurses and nurse educators in Haiti, and the extremely limited resources there, make it unlikely that the vast majority of these individuals will receive what they need. Therefore what is needed at this time are international nursing partnerships and assistance.