“My father did not accept the fact that dental care in Haiti resulted in too much emergency care and too little preventive care,” says Geneviéve Cadet, the ninth of 10 children of Max Cadet who spent his entire life as a dental surgeon in Haiti.
After his passing in 1992, the children and their mother decided to create the Max Cadet Foundation in Haiti with a dental clinic and provide like him, quality dental care to disadvantaged people. Ms. Cadet says, “Our family managed to fulfill the wish of our father: Serve Haitians.”
The clinic offers an extensive array of dental services charging a small fee for service.
For nine years, Geneviéve Cadet served as secretary of the board of the Max Cadet Dental Fund Inc., the New York affiliate of the foundation in Haiti. In March 2001, she joined her mother, Thérèse Cadet in Haiti to become the project director of the clinic.
Ms. Cadet was in Haiti during the earthquake. The clinic was demolished leaving in total confusion the 10,000 new patients receiving care every year and the 50,000 patients who had been receiving treatment and were scheduled to return for follow-ups and preventive care.
The sister organizations in New York and France secured a new nearby location to rebuild the clinic. A mobile clinic from France at first allowed needed care to Haitians living under tents and in tarps. “It made the remote places more accessible to us,” Ms. Cadet said.
Ms. Cadet oversaw the rebuilding and expansion of the clinic, “We transformed old shipping containers into treatment areas; making the clinic earthquake proof, now with eight dental chairs.”
Post-earthquake, the foundation continues to honor Max Cadet’s legacy.
