THE FOUNDER’S BIOGRAPHY

In 2010, Marie Dominique Entzminger founded the Anastasie Aubourg Foundation in the city of Norwood, Massachusetts. The Foundation pioneered a number of activities in the Commune des Anglais in Haiti in the fields of health and education.

Who Was Dominique Entzminger?

Marie Dominique Entzminger nee Jean-Claude was born to the late Mrs. Anastasie Aubourg Jean-Claude and Mr. Alfred Jean-Claude on May 16, 1961, in les Anglais, Haiti, She was educated in the Haitian Catholic school system where she received her primary education at Ecole Ste-Anne, les Anglais, followed by her secondary education at “College Saint-François d’Assise” in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She subsequently obtained a diploma in medical laboratory technology from the Ecole de Technologie Medicale de Port-au-Prince. She moved to Boston in 1983 where she further pursued her university studies in the field of biological sciences and medicine. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Massachusetts and later a Master’s degree as a Physician Assistant (PA) from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She offered more than 30 years of service in the health sector, working first as a medical technologist at the Shattuck Hospital, and subsequently as a PA at the Harvard Steet Community Health Center and the Codman Square Health Center. She founded the Anastasie Aubourg Foundation in 2010 to improve the health and education of people in need or in crisis in the Haitian community, mainly in the les Anglais area. She died in July 2022.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Marie Dominique Jean-Claude Entzminger
BORN: May 16, 1961
DIED: July 22, 2022
BIRTHPLACE: Les Anglais, Haiti
SPOUSE: Esau Entzminger (2000-2015)
ROLE IN THE FOUNDATION: Founding President (2010-2022)

Early life and Education

Dominique grew up with her brothers Joseph, Bertrand, Frantzy and Alfred, in the town of les Anglais and subsequently moved to Port-au-Prince with the family in the early 70s to pursue her secondary school education at College Saint-Francois d’Assise. Early in her childhood, commenting on her religiosity and her keenness to help others, her father predicted that she was destined to become a nun. Her innate sense of service inspired her instead to become a medical technologist who offered her first 15 years of service in the health care sector in the US working with HIV patients at the Shattuck Hospital (Jamaica Plain, MA). She bravely handled HIV patient’s samples in the early 80s despite the paucity of knowledge on this deadly disease at the time.

Following her graduation from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, she started her career as a Physician Assistant at Harvard Street Community Health Centre and joined Codman Square Health Center in Boston in 2004 where she worked for the rest of her life. According to her peers, Dominique was very caring of her patients and the impact she had on them was most significant. At a memorial ceremony held in her honor in the main auditorium of the Codman Square Health Center, she was posthumously awarded the title of “Health Center HERO”

Philanthropic activities

Her most important philanthropic activity was the foundation that she created in her mother’s name, namely the “Anastasie Aubourg Foundation”. The goal of the foundation is to improve the health and education of people in need, mainly in the community of les Anglais area in Haiti. Under her leadership, the Foundation tirelessly worked towards improving the lives of many. Following the devastation unleashed by hurricane “Sandy” Dominique took it upon herself to get a team of health professionals and volunteers together and at their own peril travelled to where the need was great. Thanks to the participation of a well-organized team of medical professionals, doctors and volunteers, the foundation was able to offer free medical attention to all in need. The foundation’s team was able to provide not only medical care but also medication and medical supplies. Several life-changing surgeries were also performed under challenging circumstances. Besides providing what was needed in emergency situations, the foundation continued to distributed reading glasses, care packages, school supplies, etc. The foundation also initiated the population to a “solar oven cooking” program. Indeed, the foundation’s diligent work has touched many lives and has successfully contributed greatly towards a better world.

Family and friends

Family was everything to Dominique. She treated all her nephews, nieces and cousin’s daughters and sons as if they were her very own children. Dominique truly made all her nephews, nieces, cousins and family feel loved and appreciated. She made it her responsibility to preserve the strong close-knit ties of her family. Dominique was most generous, gentle, thoughtful, and loyal in every way, it is no wonder that everyone was happy to be in her presence and readily confided in her. Although the family is scattered in location, Dominique would travel to be present at all her family’s and in-law family’s celebratory occasions such as births, baptisms, graduations, weddings etc. When Dominique was not the organizer of an event, she would participate in every other possible way to unite and bring everyone together. On most occasions, she was the organizer and host of our family and friend dinners over the past 30 years.

Vision

She always believed that to ameliorate healthcare in remote areas, the communities should have access to medical laboratory testing and operating rooms for surgical intervention. It is in this context that she initiated activities toward building a hospital infrastructure in les Anglais.

Quotes

The loss of Dominique is the loss of a gentle soul that will be forever felt by her family, her friends, and her community here and abroad.

My time in Boston was special, which will always be associated with the time I spent with her. Her home was my first home there and she welcomed me with a kind heart and a warm smile.

“Dominique always saw the good in everyone and everything, even in the face of difficult times, she managed to always keep a positive outlook”.