Carmelle M. Bellefleur, PhD, RN

Professor Emerita, Nassau Community College

Carmelle Marie Bellefleur was born in Haiti and grew up in a small village, named Meyer.  She immigrated into the United States in 1970.  Dr. Bellefleur graduated from Manhattan Community College with an Associate Degree in Nursing in 1978.  She received her B.S. in 1982, her M.S. in 1984 from Hunter Bellevue School of Nursing as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Medical Surgical Nursing, and her Ph.D. from Adelphi University in 1996.

Dr. Bellefleur has been teaching nursing for over thirty years.  She is currently Professor Emerita at Nassau Community College.  Her previous faculty appointments include New York City Technical College and Adelphi University.  Dr. Bellefleur has been an active member of Alpha Omega Chapter.   In 2002 she received Excellence in Nursing Education Award and Mentoring Award in 2014 from Sigma Theta Tau International, Honor Society of Nursing.  She has served as Treasurer, Vice-President and as President of Alpha Omega Chapter.

In 1992, Dr. Bellefleur wanted to give something back to the village she grew up in; she founded Meyer Community Development Foundation and remained the president of that organization until 2002.  She worked with UNICEF to improve the living conditions of the people in that village.  She has always been intrigued by the complexity of the human condition and has written numerous articles on cultural differences and their impact on the health care. She has served as Grant Reviewer for the US Department of Health and Human Services, Human Resources Services Administration, under their nursing workforce diversity program.  She has also served as a reviewer for the Advance for Nurses Magazine.

Through her passion to make a difference among the underserved populations and to help bridge the gap in health disparities, she wrote a grant proposal to increase retention and graduation rates of minority disadvantaged nursing students at Nassau Community College to the U S Department of Health and Human Services, Human Resources Services Administration under their Nursing Workforce Diversity Program.  She was awarded a grant in 2005, 2009 and 2012.   Through the grant proceedings she conducted 2 research studies which she has shared with nursing colleagues nationwide.

In 2010, she was appointed a member of the Advisory Board at City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY-Haiti Project to help rebuild nursing education in Haiti.  She now serves as liaison between Hunter College and Ministry of Health, University d’Etat d’Haiti and Nurse Leaders in Haiti.  She is the co-founder and Vice-President of Promoting Health in Haiti, Inc. an organization created for the sole purpose of supporting nursing education in Haiti.

In 2013, she and her colleagues from PHH opened up the first Master’s Degree Program in Nursing at Faculty des Sciences Infirmieres de Leogane (FSIL) and in August 2015 we opened another Master’s Degree Program with the government, Haiti State University.

In 2014, she took the State University of New York to visit Haiti for possible collaboration. On September 22, 2017, the State University of New York announced through a press release a statewide collaboration involving 10 SUNY campuses including University at Albany (international development for management), Binghamton University (public administration), University at Buffalo (social work), Buffalo State College (performing arts), SUNY Cobleskill (agriculture and fisheries), SUNY-ESF (landscape architecture), Nassau Community College (nursing), SUNY New Paltz (disaster mental health), Stony Brook University (health sciences), and Upstate Medical University (public health).

“This project began with a generous donation of 40 acres of land in Akayè from Nassau Community College Professor Emeritus, Dr. Carmelle Bellefleur. It is an enormous point of pride for SUNY to collaborate with the people of Haiti to establish a sustainable learning community to farm the land and provide food, build a medical center to increase health and wellness, and deliver much-needed services and economic development across many sectors.”

Dr. Bellefleur is currently working as the Project Director at the Nursing Department at Nassau Community College where she is administering the fourth federal grant. She also serves as liaison and specialist for SUNY-Haiti Project.

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