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Doctor Immacula Cantave was born in the capital of Haiti on October 13, 1929. She was the youngest of a family of nine children, six brothers and two sisters who loved her and fed her intellectual curiosity very early in life. As a child, she was very clever and well-organized and soon abandoned her identity of "last born" to become first in everything she did in life.
Dr. Cantave was an avid reader in primary school and an outstanding student of mathematics. She was among the first admitted to Lycee des Jeunes filles, an academy created in 1954, to commemorate 150 years of independence in Haiti. Dr. Cantave was among the first to pass the entrance exams and prepare herself for the national baccalaureate, to which very few women were previously admitted. At a time when medicine was a male profession, she faced the medical school entrance exam with no fear, and was happy that 3 young women from her study group were also admitted with her to medical school. There were fewer than 10 women doctors in Haiti, when she began her career. Dr. Cantave enjoyed her residency at the Sanatorium, where she treated children and adults suffering from advanced tuberculosis. There she learned to treat patients, and learned medical procedures and treatments; that saved many lives.
Eventually, her sisters requested she migrate to the US due to the political situation in Haiti, in the early 1960’s. She studied English at the International House in New York for one year, an experience she liked to talk about because of the diversity of culture and languages amongst the friends she made there.
One year later, Dr. Cantave was admitted to her second residency program. This time she chose Pathology. During her training, she frequently received recognition as an outstanding resident. She was an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Illinois Medical School. In 1978, she was appointed Chief of Pathology at the West Side Veteran Administration Hospital in Chicago. In that position, she contributed to the professional education and formation of over 100 excellent pathologists in the United states.
As a member of AMHE (Association of Haitian Physicians Living Abroad), she used her position of departmental chief to open doors for many Haitian young physicians, admitting them in the pathology residency program of the hospital so they could practice medicine in the USA. For many years, she was a regular contributor to the St Boniface Hospital in Fond des Blancs and to the Albert Schweitzer hospital in the Artibonite valley in an effort to improve medical care in Haiti. She was also generous to her nieces and nephews.
In Boston, Dr. Cantave participated in leadership conferences on health, organized by youth at Boston University's School of Medicine. She encouraged participants to study hard and work together to develop initiatives that benefit children in her homeland. She was a generous donor to OAMEC (Opening Access to Music Education for Children) of yofes.org and to the Resilient Sisterhood Project, https://www.rsphealth.org in Boston. Those left to mourn her include her sister Aline, her many nieces, her nephews and their children.
Funeral arrangements will be private, out of concern for the health of her friends, colleagues, and acquaintances.
Remembrances may be sent to Youth and Family Enrichment Services Inc.,1234 Hyde Park Ave, STE 104, Hyde Park, MA 02136, for the support of OAMEC or to the Resilient Sisterhood Project at 236 Huntington Ave, Suite 308, Boston, MA 02115
Funeral service will held on July 6 at 10:00 AM at First Parish in Brookline, MA and can be accessed virtually at https://www.facebook.com/FirstParishBrookline/live
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