Maternal Healthcare International Team
Katie & Lukodi Augustin, Executive Directors and missionaries in Haiti
Maternal Healthcare International was founded by Katie Augustin (previously Connor) in 2019. Katie is a Certified Professional Midwife who began her education by taking her midwifery skills to the mission field and bridging the gap in healthcare access for women in the most desperate places. Katie is a graduate of Go Midwife, a school designed specifically for midwives training to work in the developing world.
In August 2020, Katie moved to Port au Prince, Haiti, to work as a midwife with Heartline Maternity Center. In May 2022, Katie moved north to Hinche, Haiti, to work with Midwives for Haiti as the Educational Director of their Midwifery School. It was in Hinche that Katie met Lukodi, and a year later, they got married. The Augustin’s goal is to open a new Maternity Center in their hometown of Hinche, Haiti, where women would be served, and midwifery students would have the opportunity to learn. Maternal Healthcare International continues supporting Katie and Lukodi as they serve God in Haiti.
Currently the Augustin’s are in the United States waiting on Lukodi’s paperwork to allow them to return full-time to the mission field in Haiti.
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Board of Directors
Anna de Graaf
Anna de Graaf has been with Maternal Healthcare International from the beginning. Anna works in political advocacy but began her career as a schoolteacher and is passionate about enabling people to pursue their passions. She believes that the work of Maternal Healthcare is vital to raising up and protecting women around the globe.
Anna’s undergraduate education focused on International Relations and she is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Global Security at Johns Hopkins University. She works for the American Medical Association in Washington, DC.
Whitney Akpi
With a Bachelors's in Global Studies, and years of experience in cross-cultural missions, Whitney has walked beside Katie in her vision and dream for MHI. The two served at Surfing the Nations in Hawai’i, both attended GoMidwife midwifery training, and served in a small clinic together in Togo, where she was living for 2.5 years.
Whitney and her husband Kossi currently serve in Malawi with Extending Hope Organization, a small local community development organization. Having lived in Malawi and Togo for the past 5 years, her eyes have been opened even more to the plight of childbearing women around her.
She believes that through the hard work of MHI, local midwives will be trained to serve their communities more effectively through the training and skills that MHI offers.
Sam LeGassick
Samantha has been involved in birth work since 2004, serving families as a doula and childbirth educator, as well as through work as a Registered Nurse in Obstetrics. She has a passion to see women educated and empowered to partner with underserved populations and to train birth workers dedicated to the communities around them. She believes Maternal Healthcare International will become a standard for holistic maternal and infant care in some of the most underserved areas of the globe.
Sam trained student midwives as the Director of Education and Instruction for the Global Organization of Midwives for several years before embarking on the development of Created For, an organization designed to cultivate family within the childbirth education process. She also serves on the Pastoral staff at Revive Church in Redmond, Washington.
Auriette Reimer
Auriette Reimer is a Certified Professional Midwife and advisory board member.
Auriette first became interested in midwifery at the age of 15 when she was able to witness her first birth at Heartline Maternity Center in Haiti.
The reality of women not having access to quality healthcare and having to deliver at home alone was overwhelming to her and she decided that she wanted to become a midwife.
After completing her midwifery examination, Auriette moved to Port-au-Prince, Haiti in February of 2020 to work as a midwife at Heartline Maternity Center. Katie and Auriette continued their work together in Hinche, Haiti before Auriette retired back to Canada in 2023.