meet the sehmf team
James Elsbree, MD - SEHMF President
Bekert Descollines - Board Member & Haiti Site Manager
James Elsbree, MD - SEHMF President
I graduated from Oral Roberts University School of Medicine in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1984, and completed a Family Medicine residency in Middletown, Connecticut in 1987. My wife Ruth and our 5 children have lived in Marietta, Georgia since 1991. They have joined me on several of my 9 medical mission trips to Belle Anse, Haiti since 2000 when I first accompanied Dr. Jerry Lluberas. I have served on the board of HERO for many years, and I am currently President of Southeast Haiti Medical Facility (503C). We have known Bekert Descollines since 2000, and have sponsored his work as project manager for many of the HERO project initiatives. We hosted Bekert at our house when he came to Marietta for English Language school.
Bruce Goddard, PE - SEHMF CFO
Bekert Descollines - Board Member & Haiti Site Manager
James Elsbree, MD - SEHMF President
Bruce is President of HERO and CFO of SE Haiti Medical Facility.
He has over 26 years working in Haiti on engineering projects
including water systems, schools, medical facilities, orphanages,
and structural evaluations of buildings after the 2010 earthquake.
He has over 55 years of experience as a Professional Engineer
on projects all over the world including China, Saudia Arabia,
Chile, Alaska, Hawaii, and throughout the US. Bruce is a
graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in Civil
Engineering. Bruce has worked in Haiti since 1998.
Karen Kwong, MD - Board Member & Medical Advisor
Bekert Descollines - Board Member & Haiti Site Manager
Bekert Descollines - Board Member & Haiti Site Manager
I received my BA in Human Biology and Honors Humanities from Stanford, my medical degree from Case Western, and completed a surgery residency at the University of Washington. I worked at county hospitals in El Paso and Houston and now live in Oregon as Professor Emeritus in Surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University. After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, I helped form a team that returned to provide mobile clinics and surgeries. We established the Haitian NGO Belle Anse Timoun Fanmi (BATF) to enhance health and education, sponsor teachers, and support students. Collaborating with HERO and IMO, we built a water treatment site and a clinic in Mare Briole, embodying the spirit of “Anpil mens, chay pa lou.”
Bekert Descollines - Board Member & Haiti Site Manager
Bekert Descollines - Board Member & Haiti Site Manager
Bekert Descollines - Board Member & Haiti Site Manager
Bekert Descollines was born in Belle Anse. He works with the foundation BATF, and founded a Radio Station to promote its projects and programs of health education. He studies Law science, and a bond for the development of the community of the Mare Briole where he works with HERO as Constructuon manager for the Clinic.
Wantory Regala - SEHMF Medical Director
Wantory Regala - SEHMF Medical Director
Wantory Regala - SEHMF Medical Director
Wantory Regala is from Belle Anse and has been a member of BATF since 2011 while also serving as the general secretary of BATF. Wantory graduated in general medicine at Mont Everest University in Haiti. Married and father of one child, Wantory is also an active member of "Ann pale Sante", a group formed by former students of his class.
Ebony Parsons, BS - Board Member
Wantory Regala - SEHMF Medical Director
Wantory Regala - SEHMF Medical Director
Ebony graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Central Florida. She has over two years of non-profit experience in Haiti. She began working with BATF and HERO when she served as President of International Medical Outreach at UCF. Her collaboration with HERO allowed the construction of a cistern to supply clean water to the community of Mare Briole.
Now, she supports the community as a Board member of both HERO and SEHMF.
Additional Board Members
Wantory Regala - SEHMF Medical Director
Additional Board Members
David Fragale