Marie our staff midwife has been home visiting her family in Hinche which is about 3 hours away for the last few days so it is just Dr. Allan an OB/GYN and myself here. It only makes sense that there would be a baby born every day since Marie left on Friday. I think Dr. Allan must be a lucky charm because each of the births have been phenomenally quick and easy. Even the primip (first time mama) delivered last night in 1.5hrs. Just to let you know, this is NOT the norm around here and sometimes we have women in labor for 16-24 hrs which seems like far too long for a woman to be trying to get a baby out if you ask me (says the woman who has yet to give birth). We had a woman who's water broke on the motorcycle on the way here which is always climactic and particularly interesting I am sure for the driver of the motorcycle.
Yesterday Santo and I held our first clinic with only one doc and it went really well! We had 4 Medika Mamba patients who come weekly for check ins and they have all been gaining weight steadily. One of the patients we are keeping a close eye on is a 6 month old who was being fed flour, water and sugar as her mother had passed away early in her life. The baby is growing well now as she is on formula and Medika Mamba but is still having head lag problems and some other mild delays. Each visit she appears stronger and stronger and it is really great to watch just how quickly a child will respond to proper nutrition. Santo is taking on a larger role in the clinic as well, he has learned to do intakes and yesterday I taught him to listen to the heart and lungs. I know he would be a perfect candidate for the role of a lead community health worker as he is so amazing with the patients and is a very good teacher as well. Santo and I are also taking a day long seminar in June called Helping Baby's Breath which is a neonatal resuscitation course being put on by the Cap Haitian health network and is sponsored by an American hospital. They will give supplies and training with the hopes that those trained can get out into their community and help others learn-especially traditional birth attendants and others who may be present for births. This is a huge step towards lowering neonatal mortality rates here in Haiti which is imperative, especially in a country where rates are 36 in 1000 versus for example 6.9 in 1000 in the US (which says a lot as the US has the second worst neonatal death rate in the modern world-http://articles.cnn.com/2006-05-08/health/mothers.index_1_mortality-rate-death-rate-world-s-mothers?_s=PM:HEALTH)
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| Our special 6 mo old pt and her weeks supply of food. |
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| Another MM pt, her facial edema has gone down significantly since her last visit. |
1 comment:
That's great that Santo is taking on more responsibility. I'll bet you're glad of the influx of formula. My friends donated about 50lbs of it. I'll send everyone a link to this post so that they can see how you're using it.
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