Zanmi Lasante is a sister organization to the Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

-based Partners In Health

Partners In Health

Partners In Health is a Boston, Massachusetts-based non-profit health care organization dedicated to providing a "preferential option for the poor". It was founded in 1987 by Dr. Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, Thomas J. White, Todd McCormack, and Dr...

 that operates out of Cange in central Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

. The name, Zanmi Lasante, means Partners In Health in Kreyòl

Kreyol

The word Kreyol may mean:*Liberian Kreyol language*Haitian Creole language *Louisiana Creole language -See also:*Creole peoples*creole language*Kriol *Krio *Kriolu*Criol...

. It was built in 1985 to treat patients incapable of paying hospital fees. Its facilities include two operating wards

Operating theatre

An operating theater was a non-sterile, tiered theater or amphitheater in which students and other spectators could watch surgeons perform surgery...

, "adult and pediatric inpatient wards, an infectious disease

Infectious disease

Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...

 center, an outpatient clinic, a women's health clinic (Proje Sante Fanm), ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...

 and general medicine clinics, a laboratory, a pharmaceutical warehouse, a Red Cross blood bank

Blood bank

A blood bank is a cache or bank of blood or blood components, gathered as a result of blood donation, stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a division of a hospital laboratory where the storage of blood product occurs and where proper...

, and radiographic services." It currently has eight sites in the area of the central plateau of Haiti

Centre Department

Centre is one of the ten departments of Haiti, located in the center of the country, along the border with the Dominican Republic. It has an area of 3,675 km² and a population of 564,200 . Its capital is Hinche. It borders the Dominican Republic to the east. It is the only landlocked...

and serves over 500,000 people.

Services cost the equivalent of about eighty American cents for everyone "except for women and children, the destitute, and anyone seriously injured." Additionally, no one may be turned away.