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San Ramon was once famously invoked during the Spanish era by expectant mothers and midwives because of the nature of his own birth (His nickname in latin: Nonnatus, "not born") He was delivered by Caesarean operation, his mother having died while giving birth to him.
Images of him can be seen in large number in the colonies of the Spanish Empire including the Philippines.
His father later gave him permission to take the habit with the Mercedarians at Barcelona. The order was founded to ransom Christian captives from the Moors of North Africa.
Raymond was trained by the founder of that Order himself, St. Peter Nolasco. He was ordained a priest in 1222 and later became Master General of the Order.
Raymond then set out to fulfill the goals of Order. He went to Valencia, where he ransomed 140 Christians from slavery. He then traveled to North Africa, where he was able to ransom another 250 captives in Algiers, and then went to Tunis, where he is said to have surrendered himself as a hostage for 28 captive Christians when his money ran out, in keeping with a special fourth vow taken by the members of the Order.
He suffered in captivity as a legend states that the Moors bored a hole through his lips with a hot iron, and padlocked his mouth to prevent him from preaching. He was ransomed by his Order and returned to Spain in 1239.
One particular ritual is centered around the padlock that is part of his martyrdom. Locks are placed at his altar to stop gossip, rumors, false testimonies and bad talk.
San Ramon Nonato, spare us from perjury!
This is a small wall quilt (about 30"x30") that my artist collective, The Midwives Collective & Gallery, did as a raffle piece for the Midwives For Haiti, a nonprofit organization that sends nurses and midwives to Haiti to help educate new and expectant mothers and to provide a clean and safe environment for pregnant mothers during birthing.
RAFFLES AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE TO WIN THIS PIECE: midwivescollective.com/content/relief-haiti-quilt-raffle
or you can email us at themwc@gmail.com
Please learn more about Midwives for Haiti here: www.midwivesforhaiti.org
Raffles are $2 for one ticket, $5 for three tickets, $10 for seven tickets.
100% of this quilt raffle will go to Midwives For Haiti as well as 20% of sales of any individual artworks from the show.
Midwives at Tyrone County Hospital: From left to right Jim Henderson pictured with Sister Coyle, Sister Devlin, Sister Graham and Nurse Gormley
"It's not just the making of
babies, but the making of
mothers that midwives see as
the miracle of birth."
-- Barbara Katz Rothman.
For more on the closing of the Takoma Women's Health Center, see:
Allison Baker, "Takoma Women's Health Center forced to close
Local midwives say that support from the rest of the medical community is inadequate" Takoma Voice, April, 2007
THOUSANDS of midwives and their supporters protested in towns and cities across the UK at 2.00pm on Sunday to highlight the crisis in maternity services.
Rallies were held in London’s Parliament Square, Birmingham and Manchester and many other town and city centres in England, Scotland and Wales.
Elizabeth Duff tweeted: ‘#MarchwithMidwives 100s of midwives & supporters in Parliament Square today expressing frustration, grief, courage in crisis & above all togetherness. Mums, dads, birthing people, babies, children. Everyone’s been born: mostly with help of a midwife.’
The protests were organised by March with Midwives UK, which said in a statement: ‘It is clear that maternity services in the UK are in crisis.
‘Giving birth in the UK, a high-income country, is becoming critically unsafe. This is unacceptable.
‘Where we have women, birthing people and babies at risk; their families, communities and countries become sick.
‘This is a genuine national emergency which impacts every level of society.
‘We call on the UK government to implement urgent crisis management and resources.
‘Government promises are not being kept and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Maternity must take responsibility for their silence and call for immediate action.’
The group called on politicians:
to listen to all staff and service users and their advocates;
fund emergency retention of staff; enable all qualified midwives who are willing to work, and support students to enter training and finish their courses;
reduce demands on staff.
Giving its support to the protests, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) warned that staff are exhausted after years of working in wards with ‘too few staff and inadequate resources.’
The RCM executive director for external relations, Jon Skewes, stressed that staff are ‘reaching the end of their tether’, resulting in more than half of all midwives looking to leave the profession.
Skewes said: ‘NHS Trusts and Boards have relied on the goodwill of staff, and their genuine love of what they do, to maintain services – but staff are reaching the end of their tether.
‘Last month, we published a survey that showed that 57% of midwives are looking to leave – and the biggest group among them are those who have only been working for five years or less.
‘The UK and national governments have to do more, not only to train and recruit new midwives into the NHS, but to retain the ones we have.
‘Staff are frankly exhausted, many feel like they have nothing left to give – and services are suffering as a result.
‘We’re grateful to March with Midwives for highlighting the work we have been doing to get politicians and policy makers to pay attention to this untenable situation.’
In Nottingham, dozens of supporters set off from Forest Recreation Ground at 2.00pm.
Organiser Chantelle Thornley, a community midwife in Nottinghamshire, said: ‘I have been a midwife for 25 years and it is the first time I have felt I need to act.
‘We work a 13-hour day.
‘Most of the time we barely have time to get a drink or go to the toilet.
‘We are expected to look after three to four labouring women at one time.
‘How can you give them your undivided attention?’
Katie Campion, an anti-natal educator, helped to organise the march of over a hundred in Leeds.
She said: ‘Midwives are stretched, they’re burnt out, they’re ready to leave and it’s about the safety of the birthing women, the parents and the midwives as well.
‘Physically and mentally they can’t cope with what they have to deal with at the moment and it’s about supporting them.’
One of the hundreds of participants demonstrating at College Green in Bristol, midwife Sophie Inman said: ‘You are part of this beautiful daily experience but it’s being tainted by the struggles of staffing in the country.
‘At the moment we are struggling every single day.
‘We’re turning up to work not knowing if there’s going to be enough of us.
‘It’s a national issue and I’m so proud to be a part of this nationwide movement to try and eradicate that.’
Katie Falvey, a 21-year-old final year student midwife from Essex studying in Wales, spoke out at the rally in Cardiff.
She said: ‘We need to make sure that the government and public are aware of the crisis we’re facing.’
On the march in Bangor, new mum Vikki Mill said that without support from her midwives, she or her daughter ‘simply wouldn’t be here today’.
She stressed: ‘My story is not unique. To give birth, you rely on midwives.
‘It’s a momentous time in someone’s life but you need medical trained professionals.’
The Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (AIMS) charity, founded in 1960 by Sally Willington to support women and families to achieve the birth that they want, issued a statement earlier in November.
AIMS Statement concerning the nationwide March With Midwives vigils taking place on November 21st 2021
‘Times are incredibly tough across the maternity services in the UK at the moment.
‘AIMS would like to take this opportunity to thank every single member of the maternity staff teams across the UK, and all those who support them, for doing their best in the most difficult of circumstances.
‘As in many other areas of life, the Covid19 pandemic has shone a light on existing weaknesses in our maternity services as well as adding its own pressures.
‘Most immediately, the pandemic situation, in addition to the effects of Brexit, creates a staffing crisis that we desperately need to get through together.
‘We need well-supported maternity staff to be available to offer families the support they need, when and where they need it.
‘It’s not complicated, even if it seems particularly hard to achieve: well-supported staff are most likely to be able to support families well.
‘The March with Midwives vigils across the country this weekend will see service users standing in solidarity with maternity staff, and midwives in particular, to offer their moral support and to draw attention to the current crisis.
‘This mass action offers an important commentary on how important midwives are to families in every single area of the UK and how keenly the current crisis is being felt.
‘The intention of the vigils sits well with AIMS’ own longstanding call to action: as we frequently remind ourselves, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
‘As we know well in AIMS, raising awareness is the first step towards achieving change.
‘Urgent action is certainly needed to shore up what seems to be a maternity service that is losing staff at a catastrophic rate.
‘The range of issues that have led to the current situation with regard to midwifery staffing have been well-documented.
‘But this is not a new problem. For too long, we have seen poor retention levels in midwifery: this is a service that seems unable to support its own staff, including our precious newly-qualified members of staff, with frequent reports of bullying.
‘In England, this focus of the Better Births Report (2016), and an issue which the ongoing Maternity Transformation Programme has been working to address, with a particular focus on improving leadership within midwifery and the maternity services more generally.
‘AIMS continues to scrutinise the implementation progress of Better Births, in our role as “critical friend” and as a member of the Stakeholder Council.
‘So for AIMS, we remember today that we are in the midst of a Maternity Transformation Programme, which continues.
‘And we thank everyone participating in the vigils – including some of our Members and Volunteers – for reminding us why the work to improve the maternity services is so important. Together, we move forward.’
wrp.org.uk/features/midwives-rally-across-uk-to-highlight...
A redwork quilt block for a collaborative quilt for Midwives Collective & Gallery. We're having our members' show in June. The quilt is going to be either auctioned or raffled off and 100% of the proceeds are going to Midwives For Haiti. This is an original design I made, which is part of another project I'm making with a friend: The Turkey Reds Collection.
squidwhaledesigns.blogspot.com/
one of the midwives prepared for having to work at the hospital through the blizzard by brining us still warm chocolate chip cookies. when you work at a hospital and it snows, you never know if you'll be allowed to go home. they can make you stay as long as there is a need for your presence. if you're smart you come to work with a change of clothes, a pillow and lots of snacks!
THOUSANDS of midwives and their supporters protested in towns and cities across the UK at 2.00pm on Sunday to highlight the crisis in maternity services.
Rallies were held in London’s Parliament Square, Birmingham and Manchester and many other town and city centres in England, Scotland and Wales.
Elizabeth Duff tweeted: ‘#MarchwithMidwives 100s of midwives & supporters in Parliament Square today expressing frustration, grief, courage in crisis & above all togetherness. Mums, dads, birthing people, babies, children. Everyone’s been born: mostly with help of a midwife.’
The protests were organised by March with Midwives UK, which said in a statement: ‘It is clear that maternity services in the UK are in crisis.
‘Giving birth in the UK, a high-income country, is becoming critically unsafe. This is unacceptable.
‘Where we have women, birthing people and babies at risk; their families, communities and countries become sick.
‘This is a genuine national emergency which impacts every level of society.
‘We call on the UK government to implement urgent crisis management and resources.
‘Government promises are not being kept and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Maternity must take responsibility for their silence and call for immediate action.’
The group called on politicians:
to listen to all staff and service users and their advocates;
fund emergency retention of staff; enable all qualified midwives who are willing to work, and support students to enter training and finish their courses;
reduce demands on staff.
Giving its support to the protests, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) warned that staff are exhausted after years of working in wards with ‘too few staff and inadequate resources.’
The RCM executive director for external relations, Jon Skewes, stressed that staff are ‘reaching the end of their tether’, resulting in more than half of all midwives looking to leave the profession.
Skewes said: ‘NHS Trusts and Boards have relied on the goodwill of staff, and their genuine love of what they do, to maintain services – but staff are reaching the end of their tether.
‘Last month, we published a survey that showed that 57% of midwives are looking to leave – and the biggest group among them are those who have only been working for five years or less.
‘The UK and national governments have to do more, not only to train and recruit new midwives into the NHS, but to retain the ones we have.
‘Staff are frankly exhausted, many feel like they have nothing left to give – and services are suffering as a result.
‘We’re grateful to March with Midwives for highlighting the work we have been doing to get politicians and policy makers to pay attention to this untenable situation.’
In Nottingham, dozens of supporters set off from Forest Recreation Ground at 2.00pm.
Organiser Chantelle Thornley, a community midwife in Nottinghamshire, said: ‘I have been a midwife for 25 years and it is the first time I have felt I need to act.
‘We work a 13-hour day.
‘Most of the time we barely have time to get a drink or go to the toilet.
‘We are expected to look after three to four labouring women at one time.
‘How can you give them your undivided attention?’
Katie Campion, an anti-natal educator, helped to organise the march of over a hundred in Leeds.
She said: ‘Midwives are stretched, they’re burnt out, they’re ready to leave and it’s about the safety of the birthing women, the parents and the midwives as well.
‘Physically and mentally they can’t cope with what they have to deal with at the moment and it’s about supporting them.’
One of the hundreds of participants demonstrating at College Green in Bristol, midwife Sophie Inman said: ‘You are part of this beautiful daily experience but it’s being tainted by the struggles of staffing in the country.
‘At the moment we are struggling every single day.
‘We’re turning up to work not knowing if there’s going to be enough of us.
‘It’s a national issue and I’m so proud to be a part of this nationwide movement to try and eradicate that.’
Katie Falvey, a 21-year-old final year student midwife from Essex studying in Wales, spoke out at the rally in Cardiff.
She said: ‘We need to make sure that the government and public are aware of the crisis we’re facing.’
On the march in Bangor, new mum Vikki Mill said that without support from her midwives, she or her daughter ‘simply wouldn’t be here today’.
She stressed: ‘My story is not unique. To give birth, you rely on midwives.
‘It’s a momentous time in someone’s life but you need medical trained professionals.’
The Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (AIMS) charity, founded in 1960 by Sally Willington to support women and families to achieve the birth that they want, issued a statement earlier in November.
AIMS Statement concerning the nationwide March With Midwives vigils taking place on November 21st 2021
‘Times are incredibly tough across the maternity services in the UK at the moment.
‘AIMS would like to take this opportunity to thank every single member of the maternity staff teams across the UK, and all those who support them, for doing their best in the most difficult of circumstances.
‘As in many other areas of life, the Covid19 pandemic has shone a light on existing weaknesses in our maternity services as well as adding its own pressures.
‘Most immediately, the pandemic situation, in addition to the effects of Brexit, creates a staffing crisis that we desperately need to get through together.
‘We need well-supported maternity staff to be available to offer families the support they need, when and where they need it.
‘It’s not complicated, even if it seems particularly hard to achieve: well-supported staff are most likely to be able to support families well.
‘The March with Midwives vigils across the country this weekend will see service users standing in solidarity with maternity staff, and midwives in particular, to offer their moral support and to draw attention to the current crisis.
‘This mass action offers an important commentary on how important midwives are to families in every single area of the UK and how keenly the current crisis is being felt.
‘The intention of the vigils sits well with AIMS’ own longstanding call to action: as we frequently remind ourselves, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
‘As we know well in AIMS, raising awareness is the first step towards achieving change.
‘Urgent action is certainly needed to shore up what seems to be a maternity service that is losing staff at a catastrophic rate.
‘The range of issues that have led to the current situation with regard to midwifery staffing have been well-documented.
‘But this is not a new problem. For too long, we have seen poor retention levels in midwifery: this is a service that seems unable to support its own staff, including our precious newly-qualified members of staff, with frequent reports of bullying.
‘In England, this focus of the Better Births Report (2016), and an issue which the ongoing Maternity Transformation Programme has been working to address, with a particular focus on improving leadership within midwifery and the maternity services more generally.
‘AIMS continues to scrutinise the implementation progress of Better Births, in our role as “critical friend” and as a member of the Stakeholder Council.
‘So for AIMS, we remember today that we are in the midst of a Maternity Transformation Programme, which continues.
‘And we thank everyone participating in the vigils – including some of our Members and Volunteers – for reminding us why the work to improve the maternity services is so important. Together, we move forward.’
wrp.org.uk/features/midwives-rally-across-uk-to-highlight...
Supporting midwives like Binta reach rural communities is helping British aid benefit more people. Binta says, "It's not only the volunteers who are transmitting this information, it's the whole community. One person will learn and then ten or twenty people will learn from them."
Find out more about how the UK is helping mothers and babies in Nigeria and around the world at www.dfid.gov.uk/mothersday2011
Photo: Lindsay Mgbor / DFID
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A midwife in the governorate of Hodeidah enters a house for an antenatal care visit. © UNICEF Yemen/2010/Rasha Al-Ardi
This year's midwives protest was much more serious and sombre due to Tory government cuts and austerity. Audio of speeches here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXtQenPNdwY&t=645s
Short video clip here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWVWciQG8qs
Update
Rcm Warns Of A Worsening Crisis
27th January 2023
THE Royal College of Midwives is warning of a worsening maternity crisis as a senior midwife survey shows services at boiling point.
‘The maternity crisis we warned about is here.’ That’s the message from the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) as a survey of UK senior midwives says they are relying significantly on the goodwill of staff working extra hours to ensure safe services.
The finding paints a stark picture of chronic workforce shortages and challenges, with maternity services often only functioning safely because of staff working long and additional hours, often unpaid.
It also shows a service haemorrhaging midwives at an alarming rate. The loss of experienced midwives is also impacting on the ability to support and train student midwives on their placements in the NHS.
‘They are leaving because they cannot deliver the quality of care they so desperately want to, because of their falling pay, and because they are exhausted, fragile and burnt-out,’ says the RCM.
Responses to the survey of directors and heads of midwifery (DoM/HoM) across the UK paint a stark picture of the maternity crisis as services struggle to staff units and recruit and retain midwives.
The survey results underline the seriousness of the situation with 78% of respondents saying it was difficult or very difficult to ensure staff take their breaks and leave work on time.
The RCM is balloting members in Northern Ireland from 31 January on the 2022/23 pay award.
Participation in the process for 2023/24 does not mean that 2022/23 pay dispute is settled or that the outcome of the process will be accepted by RCM members, the survey says.
The average midwife has lost around £56,000 in real earnings since 2008, according to the TUC due to pay stagnation and freezes, and inflation is currently in double digits.
In a direct message to the Westminster government the RCM says it remains ready to enter into negotiations.
Dr Suzanne Tyler, RCM Executive Director, Trade Union, said: ‘Our worst fears about where we saw maternity services heading are becoming a reality and the fault lies squarely at the door of successive Conservative governments.
‘Chronic understaffing is hitting the morale of midwives and maternity support workers (MSW) and the safety of care. They are leaving in droves and the government must plug this worrying leak as a matter of real urgency.
‘Improving pay, more investment and increasing the workforce are crucial to building back our shattered maternity services. The government must do that now and it can start with giving maternity staff the inflation busting pay award they deserve.’
In Scotland, the RCM has not accepted the pay offer there and has a mandate to take industrial action following a formal ballot. It is currently in talks with the Scottish government to seek a solution to these issues.
The RCM will begin balloting members over pay in Northern Ireland next week. RCM members in Wales are set to take strike action on 7 February followed by a week of action short of a strike.
In Afghanistan we visited project sites of Healnet TPO, a Dutch based NGO with years of experience in Afghanistan. We visited project sites in Jalalabad and around to learn more on their midwifery programs that run throughout the government. Their policies have now been implemented by the Afghan government through the whole country.
The baby makes it safely to the hospital
Photo (c) Jonathan Taylor. For more please click to visit my website
Nurses, midwives and other health workers are on the front-lines of the #COVID19 response, putting their own health at risk to protect the broader community. 7th April is World Health Day !
Trinity Care Foundation team at 3 Primary Health Centers, donating N95 Masks and Sanitizers for the Staff. Donate for Medical Professionals & Healthcare staff at Government facilities @ fundraisers.giveindia.org/projects/fight-against-covid19
Visit to support : www.trinitycarefoundation.com/covid19
For more detailed information regarding our COVID-19 interventions as part of CSR Initiative, please write to Dr. Tony Thomas at support@trinitycarefoundation.org |
KITGUM, Uganda, Oct 20, 2009 -- Stella, the head midwife of the Pajimo Clinic in rural Kitgum, Uganda, uses a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device to listen to a baby's heartbeat. The expectant mother was rushed into the clinic where Stella and a two Army Reserve Soldiers with the 7225th Medical Support Unit helped her deliver a 5.5 lb. baby boy about 90 minutes later.
U.S. Army photo by Maj. Corey Schultz
Army Reserve Nurse Delivers Baby in Rural Uganda
By Maj.Corey Schultz, U.S. Army Reserve Command
KITGUM, Uganda -- When 1st Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson deployed to Uganda for Natural Fire 10, she never imagined using her labor and delivery nursing skills during the exercise.
But when a Ugandan woman, Linda, arrived in labor at Pajimo medical clinic, where the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit was partnering with East African medics to offer healthcare to the Kitgum community, Watson sprang into action.
She checked her watch. It was nearly 2:30 pm when medics hurried the 19-year-old expectant mother from the clinic gates where hundreds had gathered to receive care.
During the 10-day exercise, the medics run a daily clinic to treat upwards of 700 Ugandans a day for ailments such as arthritis, minor wounds, skin infections --and dental and optometry care. Soldiers from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi are working alongside U.S. troops on medical, dental and engineering projects in the Kitgum region. Meanwhile, each nation is also taking part in security training and a simulated disaster relief exercise.
While pregnancy was not a planned treatment, the Pajimo clinic staffs a midwife and Watson was eager to assist. If the U.S. Army Reserve officer were back home in Abilene, Texas, she would do the same.
"This is what I do. I'm a labor and delivery nurse in my civilian job," Watson said, hurrying past Ugandan families clutching medicines and awaiting dental checks, "This is what I live for."
Watson serves with the 7231st Medical Support Unit in Lubbock, Texas, but volunteered to augment the 7225th for Uganda.
Once in the clinics maternity ward, Watson and Pfc. Kendra Hinds, a U.S. Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, joined Stella, the Ugandan midwife. Stella asked the lieutenant to work with her to deliver the child.
Stella and her Ugandan assistant prepared the delivery room. Watson's examined the woman - nine centimeters and having contractions. Her watch read 3 p.m.
Hinds never helped a woman give birth. So, Watson talked her through the exam as they felt the mother's stomach to see where the baby was.
"You can feel the contractions," Watson said to Hines. "Her sides and belly get hard. Feel here...that's the head. It's in the right place, that's good. The baby is aligned right."
The midwife, Stella Betty Lamono – who goes by Stella, produced a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device not often seen in America that is used to hear the baby's heartbeat. Watson and Hinds took turns listening.
Then Stella posed a question.
"You are delivering," Stella said. "You should name the baby."
"OK, I'll name the baby," Watson said, in a light-hearted way. "How about, let's see...Gracie for a girl? Yes, I like Gracie."
"And a boy?" asked Stella.
"Okay, for a boy...Cage. I like Cage."
Stella translated. The mother smiled, amused despite her obvious discomfort. It was nearly 3:30 p.m., the baby was coming but the delivery team still had things to do. They tried to start an intravenous drip.
There was a problem, they couldn't find a vein. They spoke with the mother and found she had not eaten anything for two days.
"She's dehydrated, she needs something with sugar," Watson said.
Soldiers offered sweet powdered drink pack from their daily rations - MRE's, such as lemon-flavored ice tea and a lemon-lime electrolyte drinks.
Watson stirred each drink in a green plastic cup and gave it to the mother, who drank thirstily.
The team then found a vein for an IV, the mother tried to relax. From time to time, she would lift a pink curtain and gaze through the window into the dusty yard. Things quieted.
Meanwhile, her sister arranged swaddling clothes on the receiving table at the other side of the room.
"How many weeks is she?" Hinds asked.
"Thirty-eight," Stella said, confidently.
Ugandan midwives determine the duration of the pregnancy by feeling the stomach for the size of the baby's head versus the height of the fundus -- how high the uterus has pressed upwards into the diaphragm.
"This is amazing," Watson said. "In the States, doctors run a sonogram over the belly, ask for the date of the last menstrual period, and go from there. We learn the 'old school' way, but we never actually do it like Stella has."
Certified Ugandan midwifes attend a three-year school, Stella said, herself a midwife with seven years experience who delivers up to 28 babies each month -- often in rural clinics.
The contractions continued. The mother remained stoic despite the lack of any pain medicine. Sweat beaded on her face, veins throbbed along her neck. She would lay calm more moments, the moan softly and slap the nearby wall. Hinds grabbed a cloth and patted her face and held her hands through contractions.
"Most girls in the States would be yelling and hollering by now," Watson said.
Unlike in the States, the clinic had no monitors, electrical gadgetry or air conditioning. It did have clean water, sterilized equipment and a trained midwife, plus her U.S. counterparts.
It was around 4 p.m., when the mother groaned and slapped the wall again.
"She's in second stage," Watson said. "All she has to do now is push."
A few minutes passed, the mother began to push – Hinds held her hand and continued to comfort her. Then came a loud cry from a healthy baby boy. It was 4:30 p.m.
Watson wiped him down. He waved his tiny hands and stared around the room with large, alert eyes. Stella tied up the stump of the umbilical cord
"You delivered the baby, what name did you pick for a baby boy,” Stella said, reminding Watson.
“Cage," Watson replied. "But I can't name her baby. It's her baby!"
Hinds placed the infant into his mother's arms. The new mom smiled.
"What is she going to name him?" Watson asked. Stella translated. The mother answered --and Stella began to laugh.
"What did she say?" Watson asked.
"She decided she liked the name you picked," Stella said. "She named her little boy 'Cage'."
Outside, U.S. and East African medics were closing up for the day, handing out the final doses of vitamins and routine medications, when they learned the good news. An officer took out the records reflecting the number of people treated, changing 714 to 715, to add Cage - Kitgum's newest resident.
"It's pretty amazing there's a little one out here that I named and that I helped bring into this world," Watson said. "Pretty amazing."
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
Official Vimeo video channel: www.vimeo.com/usarmyafrica
Caption: KITGUM, Uganda, Oct 20 -- 1st. Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson holds a 15-minute-old infant she delivered at the Pajimo Clinic in rural Kitgum. Watson, an Army Reserve Soldier from Abilene, Texas, and deployed with the 7225th Medical Support Unit (MSU), is a labor and delivery nurse in her civilian occupation and was called upon to assist when the 19-year-old expectant mother arrived at the clinic in an advanced state of labor. The mother gave birth to a healthy, 5.5 lb. baby boy about 90 minutes later --and asked that Watson name her son. Watson named the baby "Cage." (Photo credit Maj. Corey Schultz, Army Reserve Communications.)
Full Story:
Army Reserve Nurse Delivers Baby in Rural Uganda
By Maj.Corey Schultz, U.S. Army Reserve Command
KITGUM, Uganda -- When 1st Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson deployed to Uganda for Natural Fire 10, she never imagined using her labor and delivery nursing skills during the exercise.
But when a Ugandan woman, Linda, arrived in labor at Pajimo medical clinic, where the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit was partnering with East African medics to offer healthcare to the Kitgum community, Watson sprang into action.
She checked her watch. It was nearly 2:30 pm when medics hurried the 19-year-old expectant mother from the clinic gates where hundreds had gathered to receive care.
During the 10-day exercise, the medics run a daily clinic to treat upwards of 700 Ugandans a day for ailments such as arthritis, minor wounds, skin infections --and dental and optometry care. Soldiers from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi are working alongside U.S. troops on medical, dental and engineering projects in the Kitgum region. Meanwhile, each nation is also taking part in security training and a simulated disaster relief exercise.
While pregnancy was not a planned treatment, the Pajimo clinic staffs a midwife and Watson was eager to assist. If the U.S. Army Reserve officer were back home in Abilene, Texas, she would do the same.
"This is what I do. I'm a labor and delivery nurse in my civilian job," Watson said, hurrying past Ugandan families clutching medicines and awaiting dental checks, "This is what I live for."
Watson serves with the 7231st Medical Support Unit in Lubbock, Texas, but volunteered to augment the 7225th for Uganda.
Once in the clinics maternity ward, Watson and Pfc. Kendra Hinds, a U.S. Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, joined Stella, the Ugandan midwife. Stella asked the lieutenant to work with her to deliver the child.
Stella and her Ugandan assistant prepared the delivery room. Watson's examined the woman - nine centimeters and having contractions. Her watch read 3 p.m.
Hinds never helped a woman give birth. So, Watson talked her through the exam as they felt the mother's stomach to see where the baby was.
"You can feel the contractions," Watson said to Hines. "Her sides and belly get hard. Feel here...that's the head. It's in the right place, that's good. The baby is aligned right."
The midwife, Stella Betty Lamono – who goes by Stella, produced a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device not often seen in America that is used to hear the baby's heartbeat. Watson and Hinds took turns listening.
Then Stella posed a question.
"You are delivering," Stella said. "You should name the baby."
"OK, I'll name the baby," Watson said, in a light-hearted way. "How about, let's see...Gracie for a girl? Yes, I like Gracie."
"And a boy?" asked Stella.
"Okay, for a boy...Cage. I like Cage."
Stella translated. The mother smiled, amused despite her obvious discomfort. It was nearly 3:30 p.m., the baby was coming but the delivery team still had things to do. They tried to start an intravenous drip.
There was a problem, they couldn't find a vein. They spoke with the mother and found she had not eaten anything for two days.
"She's dehydrated, she needs something with sugar," Watson said.
Soldiers offered sweet powdered drink pack from their daily rations - MRE's, such as lemon-flavored ice tea and a lemon-lime electrolyte drinks.
Watson stirred each drink in a green plastic cup and gave it to the mother, who drank thirstily.
The team then found a vein for an IV, the mother tried to relax. From time to time, she would lift a pink curtain and gaze through the window into the dusty yard. Things quieted.
Meanwhile, her sister arranged swaddling clothes on the receiving table at the other side of the room.
"How many weeks is she?" Hinds asked.
"Thirty-eight," Stella said, confidently.
Ugandan midwives determine the duration of the pregnancy by feeling the stomach for the size of the baby's head versus the height of the fundus -- how high the uterus has pressed upwards into the diaphragm.
"This is amazing," Watson said. "In the States, doctors run a sonogram over the belly, ask for the date of the last menstrual period, and go from there. We learn the 'old school' way, but we never actually do it like Stella has."
Certified Ugandan midwifes attend a three-year school, Stella said, herself a midwife with seven years experience who delivers up to 28 babies each month -- often in rural clinics.
The contractions continued. The mother remained stoic despite the lack of any pain medicine. Sweat beaded on her face, veins throbbed along her neck. She would lay calm more moments, the moan softly and slap the nearby wall. Hinds grabbed a cloth and patted her face and held her hands through contractions.
"Most girls in the States would be yelling and hollering by now," Watson said.
Unlike in the States, the clinic had no monitors, electrical gadgetry or air conditioning. It did have clean water, sterilized equipment and a trained midwife, plus her U.S. counterparts.
It was around 4 p.m., when the mother groaned and slapped the wall again.
"She's in second stage," Watson said. "All she has to do now is push."
A few minutes passed, the mother began to push – Hinds held her hand and continued to comfort her. Then came a loud cry from a healthy baby boy. It was 4:30 p.m.
Watson wiped him down. He waved his tiny hands and stared around the room with large, alert eyes. Stella tied up the stump of the umbilical cord
"You delivered the baby, what name did you pick for a baby boy,” Stella said, reminding Watson.
“Cage," Watson replied. "But I can't name her baby. It's her baby!"
Hinds placed the infant into his mother's arms. The new mom smiled.
"What is she going to name him?" Watson asked. Stella translated. The mother answered --and Stella began to laugh.
"What did she say?" Watson asked.
"She decided she liked the name you picked," Stella said. "She named her little boy 'Cage'."
Outside, U.S. and East African medics were closing up for the day, handing out the final doses of vitamins and routine medications, when they learned the good news. An officer took out the records reflecting the number of people treated, changing 714 to 715, to add Cage - Kitgum's newest resident.
"It's pretty amazing there's a little one out here that I named and that I helped bring into this world," Watson said. "Pretty amazing."
To learn more about United States Army Africa or Natural Fire 10, visit us online at www.usaraf.army.mil
In Afghanistan we visited project sites of Healnet TPO, a Dutch based NGO with years of experience in Afghanistan. We visited project sites in Jalalabad and around to learn more on their midwifery programs that run throughout the government. Their policies have now been implemented by the Afghan government through the whole country.
The News Line: Feature
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF NHS WORKERS TAKE STRIKE ACTION!
HUNDREDS of thousands of NHS workers in England and the north of Ireland went on a four-hour strike on Monday morning.
Nurses, cleaners, porters, midwives, occupational therapists, paramedics, scientists, radiographers, admin, catering and security staff joined picket lines around the country.
The unions on strike were: Unison, Royal College of Midwives, Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians, Society of Radiographers, British Association of Occupational Therapists, GMB, Unite, Managers in Partnership and Prison Officers Association.
They are now taking six days of action short of strike action, with a work to rule and an overtime ban. This is the second week of industrial action in the NHS in the ongoing dispute over pay.
At Whittington Hospital in north London there was a big picket of nurses, midwives and other workers.
Jacky Davis, a doctor, joined the picket and told News Line: ‘NHS workers are asking for 1% from a Tory cabinet of millionaires. It’s the frontline staff caring for the patients that keep the NHS afloat despite the fact that the government is trying to break it up and sell it off.’
At St Anne’s Hospital in N15, where most of the patients are mental health patients, Tim Loveridge, a Unison steward, said: ‘I don’t think we’ll get anything with this kind of action.
‘I think the leadership is waiting for the Labour Party to make things better and I don’t think that’s going to happen. We should broaden the fight over austerity.’
Elaine Johnson, Unison branch officer, said: ‘We all use the NHS. We have to recognise that all the workers, from cleaners, to assistants and all low paid staff – we need a fair wage for everyone.
‘St Anne’s is down to close and it’s bad for the patients and the community. Where are the patients going to go? I think the patients are getting a raw deal.’
When asked by News Line if she would support an occupation of the hospital against closure, she replied: ‘Of course it should be occupied.’
At Lewisham Hospital in south east London, radiographers, midwives and mental health workers joined the dozens of Unison and Unite members on the picket line.
Anita Down, Unite Branch Secretary, said: ‘We have to carry on fighting to defend our terms and conditions and for decent rates of pay. The trust is trying to recruit 200 extra nurses, but because of low pay that’s not happening.’
Jigna Patel, Society of Radiographers rep, told News Line: ‘We are fighting against low pay and for equal opportunities across the public sector. We need to be more noticed. They need to take the views of staff into consideration.
‘We are all committed to serve the community. The government should increase its derisory 1% pay offer.’
On the picket line at the London Ambulance Service Headquarters in Waterloo Road, central London, the GMB senior organiser, Andy Prendergast told News Line: ‘The turnout for today’s strike is very solid. Just about everyone apart from those agreed for life and limb cover with management is taking action.
‘It palpably shows the anger at the pay rise being taken away. The Pay Review Body has meant that the NHS has not had a pay dispute for 32 years.
‘Jeremy Hunt took his own pay rise as recommended by the pay review body. Our action will continue. The public is on side with us. And the government needs to sit up and listen.’
At the nearby St Thomas’ Hospital, Mary Sladden, a member of the RCM, said: ‘I think it’s a real shame we have to take this action. It’s an amazing job we do, we’re working long hours, we rarely get a lunch break because we are concerned the women will be without the care they need. Cutting the one per cent shows a real lack of respect for us and the work we do.’
Addressing the pickets, Jon Skewes, director of the RCM, said: ‘Public support has gone up since our last action in October. A survey showed that 82% of the public support our action.
‘In Scotland there was a deal where they paid what the pay review body ordered, in Wales, they got the one per cent as a consolidated pay rise. We need to continue the action until we get what we want.’
There was a large turnout of pickets outside the Luton and Dunstable Hospital in Bedfordshire, bolstered by the presence of radiographers.
The local society of Radiographers representative Julius Malilay told News Line: ‘This is our second strike action calling for a 1% pay rise for all NHS workers that has been denied to us by this government.
‘We have no option but to strike and show the government we are a force they should recognise and not ignore. We are a vital part of the NHS and we want a living wage.
‘The government dismisses radiographers as nothing, because they know we are here for the patients and they rely on this and think that they can get away with low pay and we will put up with it.
‘We fear that radiographers will be forced out of the profession because we can’t afford to live on the wages being paid. Also work conditions have deteriorated and we are forced to work 12-hour shifts with no overtime.
‘All unions should come out together. In the last strike we came out a week after the other unions. We need co-ordinated and synchronised action. We must all come out together.’
There were 200 workers on the picket line at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, north west London.
The DeLorean DMC12 car from the film Back To The Future arrived on the picket line to emphasise the drive of the Tory coalition to destroy the NHS.
Steve Sweeney, full-time official from the GMB, told News Line: ‘I worked as a health worker for 15 years. It is a damning indictment of the government that we are standing on a picket line because they are refusing to pay a measly 1% pay rise as recommended by the pay review body.
‘When the government needs money to bomb other countries they find it. And they fund tax cuts for millionaires. The Tory coalition followed the worst health secretary in living memory, Andrew Landsley, wrecker of the NHS, with Jeremy Hunt, who is even worse.
‘The reason Northwick Park Hospital is at the bottom of the A&E league table for waiting times is obvious, it is the strain of closing local A&Es, particularly Central Middlesex.
‘The local Tory MP has the cheek to claim that it was because of the pressure of eastern Europeans using the A&E.’
Chris Sunderland, RCM Health and Safety Rep, said: ‘We want fair pay, we want to maintain the service for mums and babies. If the pay is not equal to other professions we will not get the calibre of person applying to be a midwife. The bottom line is to maintain standards for mothers and babies.’
John Cass, Unison member and maintenance engineer, said: ‘I haven’t had a pay rise for five years, I am very disillusioned because everything is going up. I can’t even afford to heat my own home.
‘We should get rid of all the privateers from the NHS and bring back everything in house. We should bring back the hospital kitchen. The food for the patients is coming in pre-packed frozen meals, it has little nutrition and the patients don’t like it. We need everyone coming out together to save the NHS.’
Daniela Capasson, midwife RCM, said: ‘I am deputy matron for service improvements at Northwick Park and I work on IT projects, which look at how workloads affect healthcare.
‘By closing the maternity unit at Ealing Hospital the local community will be forced to tap into services not in their community. The culture, language and social skills have developed at Ealing to deal with the local population there.
‘When a woman is pregnant it is a very vulnerable moment in her life. In Northwick Park we would have the risk of delivering dead babies. The increased distance will impact on the survival rates of mothers and babies.
‘Last week a baby was delivered on the busy roundabout just outside the hospital. The father had to flag down passing cars for help. Travelling from the extreme side of Brent or Ealing with a woman in labour is very risky. Pregnancy is special because we are dealing with two patients, mother and baby.
‘There is no space at Northwick Park, they are not building any new buildings around the maternity department. We are delivering 5,000 babies a year and we are closing our doors to new admissions when the unit is full.
‘Midwives and doctors are dog-tired working at their best to care for patients. The 3,000 babies delivered each year at Ealing will have to be sent elsewhere. Hillingdon, West Middlesex, Chelsea and Northwick Park will not be able to take the extra patients.’
On the 50-strong picket line outside Deptford Ambulance Station on the Old Kent Road, John Scott said that coordinated action from all the unions would be the best way forward.
He said: ‘Do you remember the action on November 5th and the march on Parliament, well revolution is coming to the UK.
‘I think that the more of us that contribute to the fight, the better it’s going to be for all of us. I have two sisters who work as teachers, and what’s being done to them is appaling. This government are trying to get teachers to work until 6pm. It’s just child care. It’s nothing to do with education
He continued: ‘In the ambulance service we are really struggling for medics. Many of us are really disappointed because we want to become medics, but now we have to pay for our own training.
‘So the Ambulance service are getting their medics from everywhere else, like from Australia, but the Australian medics can’t drive over here, so they have to have two staff.
‘And yet the people who could be medics over here they are just pushing them out. It’s barmy, it’s absolute madness. And we are doing twice the amount of jobs that we were five years ago’ , he said.
Marcus Davis, Rotherhithe Ambulance Station Unison shop steward said: ‘I think the closer we get to a general election the stronger the action is going to get.
‘At the moment we are going for a four hour strike, predominantly on a Monday, but as the election gets closer and closer we’ll go for a six hour or eight hour strike.
‘A lot of NHS workers work 9am to 5pm, so there is no point in having a 24 hour strike. We had one two years ago and that was really hard work. But a four hour strike in the morning, and then again in rush our, that would work.
‘But we don’t want to go the way of the fire Brigades Union. They had a four hour strike recently and nobody knew about it.
‘Ambulance workers have been out in force. I think from the figures of the ambulance service 80 per cent of the workforce were out. That is a pretty strong turnout.
‘We need a strong leadership and the TUC aren’t giving it. With a strong leadership then people will turn out at every opportunity.’
At St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south west London, Bob Holdawanski said: ‘MPs got 65% over five years, we got 1% over five years. We deserve more than 1%.’
Ralph Miram, South of England RCM Organiser, said: ‘If we had a rise in line with inflation our midwives would be £4,000 better off, while NHS managers are getting £166 million in bonuses
‘It’s the anger our midwives feel that has brought them out.’
On a lively picket line outside the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital midwife Carmel McCullough told News Line ‘I have worked in the NHS for 34 years and never worked in conditions as bad as they are now.
‘The saddest thing is it is now difficult to provide the appropriate service for mothers and their babies. It is now normal to work for 12 hours without a break and never finish work on time – this is the norm today and it is expected of us. I think this strike is more about recognition of the service we provide rather than pay.’
On the picket line outside Hammersmith Hospital midwife Shelley Thompson said ‘We are striking over a paltry one per cent and it is ridiculous to say this threatens thousands of jobs. There has definitely been a media blackout for this strike because Cameron doesn’t want any more trouble.
‘I say get the Tories out because the NHS is really suffering because of them. If the public knew the damage that is being done there would be a general strike.’
Pickets outside Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith were joined by campaigners fighting against the closure of the hospital.
Unite striker Richard Stevenson said: ‘We have been getting hundreds of tooting horns from passing motorists , there is tremendous public support for our action. We need an indefinite general strike to kick this government out, that’s the way to defend the NHS.’
One of the campaigners, Desiree Craneborough, told News Line: ‘It is vital to keep this hospital open, especially since the closure of the A&E at Hammersmith which has seen waiting times increase. Hospital workers are the veins and arteries of the NHS and they need our support.’
There was an enthusiastic Unison turnout at Homerton Hospital, in Hackney, North-East London.
Ian Bain, there with his friends and colleagues from the hospital, said: ‘I want to send out a message to the government, that I think it’s unfair, that MPs have been awarded an 11% pay increase by the Pay Review Board. But hospital staff have been offered a mere 1%.
‘I earn less than a normal living wage, for someone working on London. To strike goes against the grain for most of us, but we feel that today’s action is necessary. We’re only out for a few hours, so it’s not a full strike, but more like a shot across the bows for the government.’
There were lively pickets at several entrances of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, giving out stickers, with a strong contingent of radiographers.
Liam Thetford, Senior Industrial Relations Officer of the Society of Radiographers said: ‘We’ve got quite a lot of support from radiographers. The patients are supportive.
‘There are a lot of cuts going on at the minute and this is the last straw – no pay rise for the fifth year. The Pay Review Body has been disbanded for next year and they are not going to produce a report.
‘There’s a lot of anger from the NHS. If it carries on, it won’t be financially worthwhile coming into the NHS, what with three years of Uni. Most are £25,000 or more in debt. The wage needs to justify the training.
‘There’s a big shortage in radiotherapy. Student attrition rates are high. It’s a complex hands-on job. We study physics in depth and its constantly developing. The latest independent review says they’re looking to increase radiotherapy services, but there’s just not enough staff.
‘I’m not happy with what the Tories are doing to the NHS, slowly breaking it up and privatising it. It should not be sold off.’
Unison Steward, Simon Mitchell said: ‘This hospital is now trying to turn itself into a mutual. This usually means its turning itself into a private operation, which could be bought and sold to the highest bidder.
‘It’s a continuing campaign for fairness in pay and conditions and to defend the NHS and all the public services. It would be nice if there were co-ordinated action by all the public sector unions.’
Unison picket, Matt Stevenson said: ‘When the government first came to power, they chose to drive a wedge between the general public and the public sector – to take the heat out of the city of London and the banking sector- allowing them to carry out their cuts. The trade union movement has got to stand up for the public sector.''
• see more pictures on photo gallery
After the policemen, Khun Khonchon, who helped deliver the baby explains how the head was out but the father was too scared to even take his wife's knickers off. Photo (c)Jonathan Taylor. For more please click to visit my website
Local call number: c002678
Title:Sterile procedures taught to midwives for licensing: Miami, Dade County, Florida.
Date: 1935
Physical descrip: 1 photoprint - b&w - 5 x 7 in.
Series Title: State Board of Health
Repository: State Library and Archives of Florida, 500 S. Bronough St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250 USA. Contact: 850.245.6700. Archives@dos.myflorida.com
Persistent URL: floridamemory.com/items/show/44692
Caption: KITGUM, Uganda, Oct 20 -- Pfc. Kendra Hinds, an Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, augmenting the 7225th Medical Support Unit (MSU), holds 5.5 pound, 15-minute-old Cage, a Ugandan infant she helped deliver at the Pajimo Clinic in Kitgum, a rural area in the north. The 19-year-old mother walked to the clinic and delivered Cage 90 minutes later. (Photo credit Maj. Corey Schultz, Army Reserve Communications.)
Full Story:
Army Reserve Nurse Delivers Baby in Rural Uganda
By Maj.Corey Schultz, U.S. Army Reserve Command
KITGUM, Uganda -- When 1st Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson deployed to Uganda for Natural Fire 10, she never imagined using her labor and delivery nursing skills during the exercise.
But when a Ugandan woman, Linda, arrived in labor at Pajimo medical clinic, where the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit was partnering with East African medics to offer healthcare to the Kitgum community, Watson sprang into action.
She checked her watch. It was nearly 2:30 pm when medics hurried the 19-year-old expectant mother from the clinic gates where hundreds had gathered to receive care.
During the 10-day exercise, the medics run a daily clinic to treat upwards of 700 Ugandans a day for ailments such as arthritis, minor wounds, skin infections --and dental and optometry care. Soldiers from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi are working alongside U.S. troops on medical, dental and engineering projects in the Kitgum region. Meanwhile, each nation is also taking part in security training and a simulated disaster relief exercise.
While pregnancy was not a planned treatment, the Pajimo clinic staffs a midwife and Watson was eager to assist. If the U.S. Army Reserve officer were back home in Abilene, Texas, she would do the same.
"This is what I do. I'm a labor and delivery nurse in my civilian job," Watson said, hurrying past Ugandan families clutching medicines and awaiting dental checks, "This is what I live for."
Watson serves with the 7231st Medical Support Unit in Lubbock, Texas, but volunteered to augment the 7225th for Uganda.
Once in the clinics maternity ward, Watson and Pfc. Kendra Hinds, a U.S. Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, joined Stella, the Ugandan midwife. Stella asked the lieutenant to work with her to deliver the child.
Stella and her Ugandan assistant prepared the delivery room. Watson's examined the woman - nine centimeters and having contractions. Her watch read 3 p.m.
Hinds never helped a woman give birth. So, Watson talked her through the exam as they felt the mother's stomach to see where the baby was.
"You can feel the contractions," Watson said to Hines. "Her sides and belly get hard. Feel here...that's the head. It's in the right place, that's good. The baby is aligned right."
The midwife, Stella Betty Lamono – who goes by Stella, produced a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device not often seen in America that is used to hear the baby's heartbeat. Watson and Hinds took turns listening.
Then Stella posed a question.
"You are delivering," Stella said. "You should name the baby."
"OK, I'll name the baby," Watson said, in a light-hearted way. "How about, let's see...Gracie for a girl? Yes, I like Gracie."
"And a boy?" asked Stella.
"Okay, for a boy...Cage. I like Cage."
Stella translated. The mother smiled, amused despite her obvious discomfort. It was nearly 3:30 p.m., the baby was coming but the delivery team still had things to do. They tried to start an intravenous drip.
There was a problem, they couldn't find a vein. They spoke with the mother and found she had not eaten anything for two days.
"She's dehydrated, she needs something with sugar," Watson said.
Soldiers offered sweet powdered drink pack from their daily rations - MRE's, such as lemon-flavored ice tea and a lemon-lime electrolyte drinks.
Watson stirred each drink in a green plastic cup and gave it to the mother, who drank thirstily.
The team then found a vein for an IV, the mother tried to relax. From time to time, she would lift a pink curtain and gaze through the window into the dusty yard. Things quieted.
Meanwhile, her sister arranged swaddling clothes on the receiving table at the other side of the room.
"How many weeks is she?" Hinds asked.
"Thirty-eight," Stella said, confidently.
Ugandan midwives determine the duration of the pregnancy by feeling the stomach for the size of the baby's head versus the height of the fundus -- how high the uterus has pressed upwards into the diaphragm.
"This is amazing," Watson said. "In the States, doctors run a sonogram over the belly, ask for the date of the last menstrual period, and go from there. We learn the 'old school' way, but we never actually do it like Stella has."
Certified Ugandan midwifes attend a three-year school, Stella said, herself a midwife with seven years experience who delivers up to 28 babies each month -- often in rural clinics.
The contractions continued. The mother remained stoic despite the lack of any pain medicine. Sweat beaded on her face, veins throbbed along her neck. She would lay calm more moments, the moan softly and slap the nearby wall. Hinds grabbed a cloth and patted her face and held her hands through contractions.
"Most girls in the States would be yelling and hollering by now," Watson said.
Unlike in the States, the clinic had no monitors, electrical gadgetry or air conditioning. It did have clean water, sterilized equipment and a trained midwife, plus her U.S. counterparts.
It was around 4 p.m., when the mother groaned and slapped the wall again.
"She's in second stage," Watson said. "All she has to do now is push."
A few minutes passed, the mother began to push – Hinds held her hand and continued to comfort her. Then came a loud cry from a healthy baby boy. It was 4:30 p.m.
Watson wiped him down. He waved his tiny hands and stared around the room with large, alert eyes. Stella tied up the stump of the umbilical cord
"You delivered the baby, what name did you pick for a baby boy,” Stella said, reminding Watson.
“Cage," Watson replied. "But I can't name her baby. It's her baby!"
Hinds placed the infant into his mother's arms. The new mom smiled.
"What is she going to name him?" Watson asked. Stella translated. The mother answered --and Stella began to laugh.
"What did she say?" Watson asked.
"She decided she liked the name you picked," Stella said. "She named her little boy 'Cage'."
Outside, U.S. and East African medics were closing up for the day, handing out the final doses of vitamins and routine medications, when they learned the good news. An officer took out the records reflecting the number of people treated, changing 714 to 715, to add Cage - Kitgum's newest resident.
"It's pretty amazing there's a little one out here that I named and that I helped bring into this world," Watson said. "Pretty amazing."
To learn more about United States Army Africa or Natural Fire 10, visit us online at www.usaraf.army.mil
DAILY TIMES
WORLD AIDS DAY 2020
The compelling case for upgradation and enabling resilient HIV/AIDS services in Pakistan
Dr Ghulam Nabi Kazi
NOVEMBER 30, 2020
As we observe the World AIDS Day this year in Pakistan, under the shadow of the second phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and another silent pandemic of Tuberculosis, let us do so with a resolve to ensure continuity of priority health services, come hail, rain or sunshine. While Pakistan acquitted itself admirably in the first phase of the epidemic with considerably low morbidity or mortality in relation to all its neighbors and other countries of the world, the few glitches included suspending routine health services, at considerable loss to our overwhelmed and somewhat frail health system. Let us also remain mindful of a sizable number of health care professionals and providers who lost their fight against COVID-19 and died while giving their best to the system. The medical profession lost some of its greatest stalwarts including clinicians and public health professionals and naming just a few would be committing gross injustice to the hundreds of unsung heroes who have fought equally valiantly. And all this happened in a year already dedicated to nurses and midwives, who deserve our utmost gratitude.
In the second phase of this pandemic, based on the lessons learnt, we must remain mindful of the importance of uninterrupted provision of all our priority interventions including those for maternal, neonatal and child health including childhood immunization, eradication of polio, and control and elimination of Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Hepatitis B&C, nutrition stabilization, and controlling noncommunicable diseases, while accelerating our march towards universal health coverage leaving no one behind. Time is not on our side as we already need a significantly enhanced level of effort to achieve our targets. It stands to reason that any further delays will further diminish our chances to success in attaining the goals that have thus far eluded us.
The world first learnt about the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV during the early eighties and its associated disease AIDS literally began as one shrouded in stigma and discrimination. In 1985 AIDS killed that master movie actor of our times Rock Hudson serving as a universal wake-up call. However, it was not until 1988 when the US President Ronald Reagan, well into the end of his second term, authorized his Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to write to every American household on his behalf concerning the preventive measures relating to this deadly disease. The step was unprecedented in the annals of communicable disease control and also signified the victory of public health over senseless stigma and false prejudices at a time when not enough was known either about the virus or the disease it caused.
Today close to 40 million people are living with HIV (PLHIV) further fueling the TB epidemic and over 33 million persons dead due to the virus so far. The development of a life prolonging anti-retroviral therapy (ART) was a dramatic advance that helps people achieve favorable outcomes if the treatment is initiated at an early stage following HIV diagnosis. However, the challenge remains in achieving universal access to ART for PLHIV. Globally, TB remains the leading cause of death among PLHIV, accounting for a third of AIDS-related deaths.
Closer to home in Pakistan, UNAIDS estimates that there are 190,000 persons living with HIV in the country, over 53,000 of which are women. Our country also follows the global 90–90–90 targets which expect that as soon as practicable, 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of those who know their HIV-positive status will be on ARTs while 90% of the latter will have suppressed their viral loads. However, as of 2018 in Pakistan only 14% of people living with HIV knew their status, while only 10% of people living with HIV were on treatment. Ten per cent of pregnant women living with HIV accessed antiretroviral medicine to prevent transmission of the virus to their baby, while the percentage of HIV-exposed infants tested for HIV before eight weeks of age stood at 2%. The knowledge about the modes of transmission of the disease is very low and the risk of TB-HIV co-infection even lower. Currently, UNAIDS estimates that 21% of the PLHIV are aware of their status, while 24,000 people are receiving ARTs in Pakistan, with the generous support from The Global Fund.
While efforts to control AIDS in Pakistan have centered around a few high-risk groups, regarded as the bridge for the virus entering the general population, as evinced in several countries of the world. In Pakistan these groups mostly include commercial (predominantly female) sex workers, men having sex with men (MSM), Men having sex with Women (MSW), transgenders and people who inject drugs (PWID). Concentrated epidemics have been identified in these groups periodically by the national or provincial programs. The problems encountered by the latter are compounded by the fact that they mostly come under the preview of some laws and legally do not exist! Therefore, the percentage of such persons accessed and educated remains low despite civil society engagement. However, some recent experiences have been a matter of great and added concern.
Writing on this very subject in this newspaper on December 1, 2018, I noted inter-alia that: “[t]he federal and provincial programs for HIV/AIDS control started way back in 1994, will be standalone as a health intervention initiated in Pakistan’s Health Sector against a perceived threat in the future; normally the action comes in the face of a growing challenge. This single fact is responsible for containing the threat to the present low level of around 0.05-0.07 percent prevalence in the country. Yet we also have to be mindful of the potential hazard associated with the slightest degree of neglect, that could lead to a major epidemic in less than no time and reverse all the gains achieved over the past quarter century.”
Five months later, Pakistan was shaken up by the Ratodero episode. As The Lancet of July 1, 2019 described it, “In April, 2019, an HIV outbreak was reported in the town of Ratodero in Larkana district, Sindh province, Pakistan. The outbreak was highlighted when 15 children with persistent fever were sent for HIV testing at a government-contracted facility and all were found to be infected. Blood reports were confirmed by another laboratory after referral from the Sindh HIV/AIDS Control Programme. These astonishing results panicked the health administration because the chance of perinatal transmission was already ruled out in these children. HIV screening of residents of affected areas revealed more alarming results.”
Programmatic data indicated that as of 15 July 2019, 31,239 people had been screened of which 930 (3%) were found positive for HIV, 82% of which (763) were were below 16 years old, while 70% (604) were aged 5 years or below. Investigations revealed that unsafe injection practices were the most likely reason for the large number of HIV infections among children. This was also seen as a spill-over of the well-established concentrated HIV sub-epidemic in key populations in Larkana. This also had severe implications for other blood borne infections such as hepatitis B and C, which have already reached alarming proportions.
The Lancet appreciated the HIV preventive steps taken by governmental agencies in collaboration with the UN agencies towards ensuring the availability of ART for patients and supporting technical investigations and enhancing public awareness. The journal, however, points out the need for significantly expanding treatment facilities, taking strict legal action against individuals who impersonate health-care providers and focusing on other areas in the Punjab province where similar outbreaks occurred in January, 2019. We also need to bear in mind that around 20,000 new infections are occurring every year, which could double over the next five years unless the epidemic is contained.
The working of the national and provincial programs requires a more detailed analysis to identify the barriers that result in sub-optimal outcomes. First and foremost is the issue of domestic funding of not just HIV/AIDS but the entire TB, HIV and Malaria, which is quite lopsided with the principal funding coming from The Global Fund and the major proportion of planned activities going unfunded due to inadequate contributions from the government sector. This also denotes a mismatch between the official pronouncements from the top health leadership and concrete budgetary allocations, warranting the need for bridging the gap between public policy and practice.
This has also resulted in insufficient government ownership of the programs with a generally weak and fragmented national monitoring and evaluation system with parallel systems lacking in overall stewardship. As a result, MIS systems fail to track progress against national and provincial strategy targets. Other barriers include a low prevention and testing programme coverage, treatment access, initiation and adherence, high treatment attrition rates and lack of strategic program oversight.
The recently drafted Pakistan AIDS Strategy (2021-2025) envisages a number of steps that include increased testing coverage and reduced risk behaviours among key populations and their partners. In doing so the coverage of PWIDs will be raised from 29% to 73%, MSM from 9% to 86%, MSWs from 23% to 86%, transgenders from 27% to 86% and Female sex workers from 4% to 76%. Other important strategies are to substantially increase ART initiation and retention, within key populations and their spouses/partners and children proportionally covered, creating an enabling environment for an effective and sustainable AIDS response, robust monitoring and evaluation and carrying out an Integrated Biological and Behavioural Surveillance survey that reveals certain sensitive behavioural data concerning high risk groups. The imperative of removing all stigma and discrimination attached to the disease warrant affirmative action at all levels of health services, enabling PLHIV to access care.
Meanwhile, winds of change are discernible as evinced by the energetic programmatic leadership and other aspects at the level of the Federal Government, which had created a Common Management Unit (CMU) since 2016 to integrate all matters relating to eliminating Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Malaria from the country by 2030 as per its commitment to achieving SDG goals. Several other initiatives being taken in tandem that will strengthen these efforts such as attaining Universal Health Coverage by the year 2030. The Government of Pakistan has developed a Reform Plan by the Common Management Unit delineating the roles and responsibilities of the Federal and Provincial Governments with regard to these three diseases in the context of devolution.
The plan envisages that CMU will fulfil all its constitutionally federally mandated roles, while encouraging provincial governments to take up greater challenges and responsibilities with regard to financing and implementing the programs after their technical, managerial and financial capacity is significantly enhanced.
In order to concretize the plan in practical terms and rectify the funding imbalance, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Health has advised developing a project document to access developmental budget to the tune of PKR 57 billion (roughly USD 350 million) for the next three years from July 2021-June 2024, with half of the cost borne by the Federal Government and the remaining half by all the provincial governments combined. This will ensure that provinces will allocate their resources to fill their strategy gaps leading to long term financial sustainability. The Parliamentary Secretary for Health has also been very keen to drive legislation that helps to address the barrier in health service delivery at all levels.
As per the Reform Plan and financing plan by the upcoming project document, there will be a sharp focus on strengthening of the CMU, enabling it to take up all its federal roles including policy/vision development, health legislation, health information, health security, enhancing technical support to provinces, inter-provincial and cross-border issues, implementation of International Health Regulations, disease surveillance backed up by the National Reference Laboratory, monitoring and evaluation, fulfilling international commitments, operational research. and providing oversight to programmatic implementation in the federally administered areas, while bringing about extreme transparency in utilization of all the domestic spending and grant money.
Recognizing the fact that there are several unfunded areas in the national and provincial strategies, the project document or PC-I proforma will finance the implementation of these areas including enhanced quantum of private and community sector engagement to bring about a significant dent in the disease burden of the three diseases.
The main areas under the project components include a) leadership and governance and other salary costs, b) enhancing technical expertise of the provinces, c) health information and health security, d) Integrated National Reference Laboratory, e) Research and Development, f) monitoring and evaluation, g) inter-provincial coordination, h) program implementation in all the provinces and federally administered areas encompassing cost of anti-TB medication and diagnosis, other logistics and transport costs, i) expanding public-private mix activities through civil society organizations, j) GF grant management, k) behavior communication change and social mobilization to remove stigma and discrimination, l) office maintenance, logistic costs, travel costs and m) contingencies. The areas of infection control and expanding ART coverage will also be addressed for the HIV component at federal and provincial. The PC-I is expected to be prepared soon, along with its implementation plans to be developed in consensus with all the provinces, partners and communities concerned through provincial or regional workshops, enabling it to be approved by all the relevant economic forums and beginning implementation by July 2021. United Nations agencies including UNAIDS, WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF and UNODC are expected to collaborate on technical issues as members of a coordination committee notified by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation, and Coordination (MoNHRSC);
The CMU will be an integral part of the Communicable Disease Control Programme (CDC) section within the MoNHRSC, and not work as a standalone structure. This arrangement will also enhance the role of the National Reference Laboratory based in the National Institute of Health for TB, HIV/AIDS and Malaria, and will be coordinating with other health entities such as the National Health Information and Resource Center, Pakistan Health Research Council, Directorate of Central Health Establishments, Health Services Academy/University and Safe Blood Transfusion Authority. Linkages will also be developed to harness support from programs offering social safety nets. This approach will also be useful in targeting social determinants of health acting as barriers to HIV, Malaria and TB care services .
In order to retain complete program ownership, the MoNHRSC and provincial Health Departments will provide funding for certain core/permanent positions for the three programs within the CMU, while some positions will continue to be financed by the Global Fund, according to some mutually agreed and equitable formula. As part of the federal mandate, a Technical Support Unit will be fully established within the CMU that will provide long-term support to provincial programs and partners in implementing programmatic interventions. More importantly, both HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis have to be regarded as social issues and not just health issues, requiring a multi-sectoral approach with involvement of all social sectors and safety nets.
The task is by no means easy but has to be achieved at all costs. Public health victories seldom come about by default and always require a concrete and deliberate effort. While health programs are putting in their concerted efforts for communicable diseases control, their pace of effort needs to gather greater momentum. Let us hope that governmental efforts at federal and provincial level together with United Nations’ agencies/funds, private health sector, other stakeholders with robust civil society engagement prove to be enough for the task at hand, enabling to offer our children a safer future devoid of deadly communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss!
The writer is a senior public health specialist of Pakistan and can be reached at gnkaziumkc@gmail.com
With the publication of The Doctor's Case against the Pill; Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers; and Complaints and Disorders: The Sexual Politics of Sickness, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, feminist scholars and activists began to examine ways in which medicine produces diagnoses and treatments that are harmful to women, depicts women in textbooks and scholarly reports in stereotypical and negative ways, and is not objective and value free. Along the way, feminists uncovered ways in which medicine has also been beneficial to women, introducing further complexity into our critique. More recently, feminists have explored how medicine itself is riven with tensions, contradictions, ambiguities, and uncertainties, even at the same time that it retains power in relation to women. Today, feminist scholars are exploring the extent to which medicine is not a monolithic enterprise, while they continue to analyse its consequences and resist those that are negative for women.
This article explores tension in one domain of medicine, It focuses on the links between transformations in medical science and cultural ideas about women using evidence drawn from medical discourse about the safety of the first synthetic oestrogen, DES (diethylstilbestrol). In the 1970s and 1980s, North American feminists undertook the research, political action, and litigation that made DES an infamous instance of medical intervention into women's reproductive lives. Like the Dalkon Shield, DES initially appeared to be a benign and exciting reproductive technology but in the long run had profound and damaging consequences for women.
- Read the book online.
- Flickr albums DES books and DES Research.
More DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources
- DES studies on cancers and screening.
- DES studies on epigenetics and transgenerational effects.
- DES studies on fertility and pregnancy.
- DES studies on gender identity and psychological health.
- DES studies on in-utero exposure to DES and side-effects.
- DES studies on the genital tract.
- Papers on DES lawsuits.
- DES videos and posts tagged DES, the DES-exposed, DES victims.
Caption: KITGUM, Uganda, Oct 20 -- 1st. Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson (left) and Stella, the head midwife of the Pajimo Clinic in rural Kitgum, Uganda, work together to deliver a newborn. The 19-year-old mother arrived at the clinic run by U.S. and East African medical personnel and gave birth about 90 minutes later. Watson, a U.S. Army Reserve Soldier with the 7225th Medical Support Unit (MSU), is a labor and delivery nurse in her civilian occupation and was called upon to assist in the delivery. The mother asked Watson to name her son, and Watson chose the name "Cage." (Photo credit Maj. Corey Schultz, Army Reserve Communications.)
Full Story:
Army Reserve Nurse Delivers Baby in Rural Uganda
By Maj.Corey Schultz, U.S. Army Reserve Command
KITGUM, Uganda -- When 1st Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson deployed to Uganda for Natural Fire 10, she never imagined using her labor and delivery nursing skills during the exercise.
But when a Ugandan woman, Linda, arrived in labor at Pajimo medical clinic, where the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit was partnering with East African medics to offer healthcare to the Kitgum community, Watson sprang into action.
She checked her watch. It was nearly 2:30 pm when medics hurried the 19-year-old expectant mother from the clinic gates where hundreds had gathered to receive care.
During the 10-day exercise, the medics run a daily clinic to treat upwards of 700 Ugandans a day for ailments such as arthritis, minor wounds, skin infections --and dental and optometry care. Soldiers from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi are working alongside U.S. troops on medical, dental and engineering projects in the Kitgum region. Meanwhile, each nation is also taking part in security training and a simulated disaster relief exercise.
While pregnancy was not a planned treatment, the Pajimo clinic staffs a midwife and Watson was eager to assist. If the U.S. Army Reserve officer were back home in Abilene, Texas, she would do the same.
"This is what I do. I'm a labor and delivery nurse in my civilian job," Watson said, hurrying past Ugandan families clutching medicines and awaiting dental checks, "This is what I live for."
Watson serves with the 7231st Medical Support Unit in Lubbock, Texas, but volunteered to augment the 7225th for Uganda.
Once in the clinics maternity ward, Watson and Pfc. Kendra Hinds, a U.S. Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, joined Stella, the Ugandan midwife. Stella asked the lieutenant to work with her to deliver the child.
Stella and her Ugandan assistant prepared the delivery room. Watson's examined the woman - nine centimeters and having contractions. Her watch read 3 p.m.
Hinds never helped a woman give birth. So, Watson talked her through the exam as they felt the mother's stomach to see where the baby was.
"You can feel the contractions," Watson said to Hines. "Her sides and belly get hard. Feel here...that's the head. It's in the right place, that's good. The baby is aligned right."
The midwife, Stella Betty Lamono – who goes by Stella, produced a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device not often seen in America that is used to hear the baby's heartbeat. Watson and Hinds took turns listening.
Then Stella posed a question.
"You are delivering," Stella said. "You should name the baby."
"OK, I'll name the baby," Watson said, in a light-hearted way. "How about, let's see...Gracie for a girl? Yes, I like Gracie."
"And a boy?" asked Stella.
"Okay, for a boy...Cage. I like Cage."
Stella translated. The mother smiled, amused despite her obvious discomfort. It was nearly 3:30 p.m., the baby was coming but the delivery team still had things to do. They tried to start an intravenous drip.
There was a problem, they couldn't find a vein. They spoke with the mother and found she had not eaten anything for two days.
"She's dehydrated, she needs something with sugar," Watson said.
Soldiers offered sweet powdered drink pack from their daily rations - MRE's, such as lemon-flavored ice tea and a lemon-lime electrolyte drinks.
Watson stirred each drink in a green plastic cup and gave it to the mother, who drank thirstily.
The team then found a vein for an IV, the mother tried to relax. From time to time, she would lift a pink curtain and gaze through the window into the dusty yard. Things quieted.
Meanwhile, her sister arranged swaddling clothes on the receiving table at the other side of the room.
"How many weeks is she?" Hinds asked.
"Thirty-eight," Stella said, confidently.
Ugandan midwives determine the duration of the pregnancy by feeling the stomach for the size of the baby's head versus the height of the fundus -- how high the uterus has pressed upwards into the diaphragm.
"This is amazing," Watson said. "In the States, doctors run a sonogram over the belly, ask for the date of the last menstrual period, and go from there. We learn the 'old school' way, but we never actually do it like Stella has."
Certified Ugandan midwifes attend a three-year school, Stella said, herself a midwife with seven years experience who delivers up to 28 babies each month -- often in rural clinics.
The contractions continued. The mother remained stoic despite the lack of any pain medicine. Sweat beaded on her face, veins throbbed along her neck. She would lay calm more moments, the moan softly and slap the nearby wall. Hinds grabbed a cloth and patted her face and held her hands through contractions.
"Most girls in the States would be yelling and hollering by now," Watson said.
Unlike in the States, the clinic had no monitors, electrical gadgetry or air conditioning. It did have clean water, sterilized equipment and a trained midwife, plus her U.S. counterparts.
It was around 4 p.m., when the mother groaned and slapped the wall again.
"She's in second stage," Watson said. "All she has to do now is push."
A few minutes passed, the mother began to push – Hinds held her hand and continued to comfort her. Then came a loud cry from a healthy baby boy. It was 4:30 p.m.
Watson wiped him down. He waved his tiny hands and stared around the room with large, alert eyes. Stella tied up the stump of the umbilical cord
"You delivered the baby, what name did you pick for a baby boy,” Stella said, reminding Watson.
“Cage," Watson replied. "But I can't name her baby. It's her baby!"
Hinds placed the infant into his mother's arms. The new mom smiled.
"What is she going to name him?" Watson asked. Stella translated. The mother answered --and Stella began to laugh.
"What did she say?" Watson asked.
"She decided she liked the name you picked," Stella said. "She named her little boy 'Cage'."
Outside, U.S. and East African medics were closing up for the day, handing out the final doses of vitamins and routine medications, when they learned the good news. An officer took out the records reflecting the number of people treated, changing 714 to 715, to add Cage - Kitgum's newest resident.
"It's pretty amazing there's a little one out here that I named and that I helped bring into this world," Watson said. "Pretty amazing."
To learn more about United States Army Africa or Natural Fire 10, visit us online at www.usaraf.army.mil
Caption: KITGUM, Uganda, Oct 20 -- Pfc. Kendra Hinds, a medic deployed to Uganda with the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit (MSU) searches for a vein in order to give a patient an IV. The expectant mother arrived at the Pajimo Clinic in the north of Uganda and delivered a healthy baby boy about 90 minutes later. (Photo credit Maj. Corey Schultz, Army Reserve Communications.)
Full Story:
Army Reserve Nurse Delivers Baby in Rural Uganda
By Maj.Corey Schultz, U.S. Army Reserve Command
KITGUM, Uganda -- When 1st Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson deployed to Uganda for Natural Fire 10, she never imagined using her labor and delivery nursing skills during the exercise.
But when a Ugandan woman, Linda, arrived in labor at Pajimo medical clinic, where the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit was partnering with East African medics to offer healthcare to the Kitgum community, Watson sprang into action.
She checked her watch. It was nearly 2:30 pm when medics hurried the 19-year-old expectant mother from the clinic gates where hundreds had gathered to receive care.
During the 10-day exercise, the medics run a daily clinic to treat upwards of 700 Ugandans a day for ailments such as arthritis, minor wounds, skin infections --and dental and optometry care. Soldiers from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi are working alongside U.S. troops on medical, dental and engineering projects in the Kitgum region. Meanwhile, each nation is also taking part in security training and a simulated disaster relief exercise.
While pregnancy was not a planned treatment, the Pajimo clinic staffs a midwife and Watson was eager to assist. If the U.S. Army Reserve officer were back home in Abilene, Texas, she would do the same.
"This is what I do. I'm a labor and delivery nurse in my civilian job," Watson said, hurrying past Ugandan families clutching medicines and awaiting dental checks, "This is what I live for."
Watson serves with the 7231st Medical Support Unit in Lubbock, Texas, but volunteered to augment the 7225th for Uganda.
Once in the clinics maternity ward, Watson and Pfc. Kendra Hinds, a U.S. Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, joined Stella, the Ugandan midwife. Stella asked the lieutenant to work with her to deliver the child.
Stella and her Ugandan assistant prepared the delivery room. Watson's examined the woman - nine centimeters and having contractions. Her watch read 3 p.m.
Hinds never helped a woman give birth. So, Watson talked her through the exam as they felt the mother's stomach to see where the baby was.
"You can feel the contractions," Watson said to Hines. "Her sides and belly get hard. Feel here...that's the head. It's in the right place, that's good. The baby is aligned right."
The midwife, Stella Betty Lamono – who goes by Stella, produced a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device not often seen in America that is used to hear the baby's heartbeat. Watson and Hinds took turns listening.
Then Stella posed a question.
"You are delivering," Stella said. "You should name the baby."
"OK, I'll name the baby," Watson said, in a light-hearted way. "How about, let's see...Gracie for a girl? Yes, I like Gracie."
"And a boy?" asked Stella.
"Okay, for a boy...Cage. I like Cage."
Stella translated. The mother smiled, amused despite her obvious discomfort. It was nearly 3:30 p.m., the baby was coming but the delivery team still had things to do. They tried to start an intravenous drip.
There was a problem, they couldn't find a vein. They spoke with the mother and found she had not eaten anything for two days.
"She's dehydrated, she needs something with sugar," Watson said.
Soldiers offered sweet powdered drink pack from their daily rations - MRE's, such as lemon-flavored ice tea and a lemon-lime electrolyte drinks.
Watson stirred each drink in a green plastic cup and gave it to the mother, who drank thirstily.
The team then found a vein for an IV, the mother tried to relax. From time to time, she would lift a pink curtain and gaze through the window into the dusty yard. Things quieted.
Meanwhile, her sister arranged swaddling clothes on the receiving table at the other side of the room.
"How many weeks is she?" Hinds asked.
"Thirty-eight," Stella said, confidently.
Ugandan midwives determine the duration of the pregnancy by feeling the stomach for the size of the baby's head versus the height of the fundus -- how high the uterus has pressed upwards into the diaphragm.
"This is amazing," Watson said. "In the States, doctors run a sonogram over the belly, ask for the date of the last menstrual period, and go from there. We learn the 'old school' way, but we never actually do it like Stella has."
Certified Ugandan midwifes attend a three-year school, Stella said, herself a midwife with seven years experience who delivers up to 28 babies each month -- often in rural clinics.
The contractions continued. The mother remained stoic despite the lack of any pain medicine. Sweat beaded on her face, veins throbbed along her neck. She would lay calm more moments, the moan softly and slap the nearby wall. Hinds grabbed a cloth and patted her face and held her hands through contractions.
"Most girls in the States would be yelling and hollering by now," Watson said.
Unlike in the States, the clinic had no monitors, electrical gadgetry or air conditioning. It did have clean water, sterilized equipment and a trained midwife, plus her U.S. counterparts.
It was around 4 p.m., when the mother groaned and slapped the wall again.
"She's in second stage," Watson said. "All she has to do now is push."
A few minutes passed, the mother began to push – Hinds held her hand and continued to comfort her. Then came a loud cry from a healthy baby boy. It was 4:30 p.m.
Watson wiped him down. He waved his tiny hands and stared around the room with large, alert eyes. Stella tied up the stump of the umbilical cord
"You delivered the baby, what name did you pick for a baby boy,” Stella said, reminding Watson.
“Cage," Watson replied. "But I can't name her baby. It's her baby!"
Hinds placed the infant into his mother's arms. The new mom smiled.
"What is she going to name him?" Watson asked. Stella translated. The mother answered --and Stella began to laugh.
"What did she say?" Watson asked.
"She decided she liked the name you picked," Stella said. "She named her little boy 'Cage'."
Outside, U.S. and East African medics were closing up for the day, handing out the final doses of vitamins and routine medications, when they learned the good news. An officer took out the records reflecting the number of people treated, changing 714 to 715, to add Cage - Kitgum's newest resident.
"It's pretty amazing there's a little one out here that I named and that I helped bring into this world," Watson said. "Pretty amazing."
To learn more about United States Army Africa or Natural Fire 10, visit us online at www.usaraf.army.mil
Caption: KITGUM, Uganda, Oct 20 -- Pfc. Kendra Hines, a medic assigned to the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit (MSU), uses a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device not often seen in America that is used to hear the baby's heartbeat. The expectant mother arrived at Pajimo Clinic in the rural Kitgum district and gave birth 90 minutes later to a healthy 5.5 lb. baby boy. (Photo credit Maj. Corey Schultz, Army Reserve Communications.)
Full Story:
Army Reserve Nurse Delivers Baby in Rural Uganda
By Maj.Corey Schultz, U.S. Army Reserve Command
KITGUM, Uganda -- When 1st Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson deployed to Uganda for Natural Fire 10, she never imagined using her labor and delivery nursing skills during the exercise.
But when a Ugandan woman, Linda, arrived in labor at Pajimo medical clinic, where the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit was partnering with East African medics to offer healthcare to the Kitgum community, Watson sprang into action.
She checked her watch. It was nearly 2:30 pm when medics hurried the 19-year-old expectant mother from the clinic gates where hundreds had gathered to receive care.
During the 10-day exercise, the medics run a daily clinic to treat upwards of 700 Ugandans a day for ailments such as arthritis, minor wounds, skin infections --and dental and optometry care. Soldiers from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi are working alongside U.S. troops on medical, dental and engineering projects in the Kitgum region. Meanwhile, each nation is also taking part in security training and a simulated disaster relief exercise.
While pregnancy was not a planned treatment, the Pajimo clinic staffs a midwife and Watson was eager to assist. If the U.S. Army Reserve officer were back home in Abilene, Texas, she would do the same.
"This is what I do. I'm a labor and delivery nurse in my civilian job," Watson said, hurrying past Ugandan families clutching medicines and awaiting dental checks, "This is what I live for."
Watson serves with the 7231st Medical Support Unit in Lubbock, Texas, but volunteered to augment the 7225th for Uganda.
Once in the clinics maternity ward, Watson and Pfc. Kendra Hinds, a U.S. Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, joined Stella, the Ugandan midwife. Stella asked the lieutenant to work with her to deliver the child.
Stella and her Ugandan assistant prepared the delivery room. Watson's examined the woman - nine centimeters and having contractions. Her watch read 3 p.m.
Hinds never helped a woman give birth. So, Watson talked her through the exam as they felt the mother's stomach to see where the baby was.
"You can feel the contractions," Watson said to Hines. "Her sides and belly get hard. Feel here...that's the head. It's in the right place, that's good. The baby is aligned right."
The midwife, Stella Betty Lamono – who goes by Stella, produced a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device not often seen in America that is used to hear the baby's heartbeat. Watson and Hinds took turns listening.
Then Stella posed a question.
"You are delivering," Stella said. "You should name the baby."
"OK, I'll name the baby," Watson said, in a light-hearted way. "How about, let's see...Gracie for a girl? Yes, I like Gracie."
"And a boy?" asked Stella.
"Okay, for a boy...Cage. I like Cage."
Stella translated. The mother smiled, amused despite her obvious discomfort. It was nearly 3:30 p.m., the baby was coming but the delivery team still had things to do. They tried to start an intravenous drip.
There was a problem, they couldn't find a vein. They spoke with the mother and found she had not eaten anything for two days.
"She's dehydrated, she needs something with sugar," Watson said.
Soldiers offered sweet powdered drink pack from their daily rations - MRE's, such as lemon-flavored ice tea and a lemon-lime electrolyte drinks.
Watson stirred each drink in a green plastic cup and gave it to the mother, who drank thirstily.
The team then found a vein for an IV, the mother tried to relax. From time to time, she would lift a pink curtain and gaze through the window into the dusty yard. Things quieted.
Meanwhile, her sister arranged swaddling clothes on the receiving table at the other side of the room.
"How many weeks is she?" Hinds asked.
"Thirty-eight," Stella said, confidently.
Ugandan midwives determine the duration of the pregnancy by feeling the stomach for the size of the baby's head versus the height of the fundus -- how high the uterus has pressed upwards into the diaphragm.
"This is amazing," Watson said. "In the States, doctors run a sonogram over the belly, ask for the date of the last menstrual period, and go from there. We learn the 'old school' way, but we never actually do it like Stella has."
Certified Ugandan midwifes attend a three-year school, Stella said, herself a midwife with seven years experience who delivers up to 28 babies each month -- often in rural clinics.
The contractions continued. The mother remained stoic despite the lack of any pain medicine. Sweat beaded on her face, veins throbbed along her neck. She would lay calm more moments, the moan softly and slap the nearby wall. Hinds grabbed a cloth and patted her face and held her hands through contractions.
"Most girls in the States would be yelling and hollering by now," Watson said.
Unlike in the States, the clinic had no monitors, electrical gadgetry or air conditioning. It did have clean water, sterilized equipment and a trained midwife, plus her U.S. counterparts.
It was around 4 p.m., when the mother groaned and slapped the wall again.
"She's in second stage," Watson said. "All she has to do now is push."
A few minutes passed, the mother began to push – Hinds held her hand and continued to comfort her. Then came a loud cry from a healthy baby boy. It was 4:30 p.m.
Watson wiped him down. He waved his tiny hands and stared around the room with large, alert eyes. Stella tied up the stump of the umbilical cord
"You delivered the baby, what name did you pick for a baby boy,” Stella said, reminding Watson.
“Cage," Watson replied. "But I can't name her baby. It's her baby!"
Hinds placed the infant into his mother's arms. The new mom smiled.
"What is she going to name him?" Watson asked. Stella translated. The mother answered --and Stella began to laugh.
"What did she say?" Watson asked.
"She decided she liked the name you picked," Stella said. "She named her little boy 'Cage'."
Outside, U.S. and East African medics were closing up for the day, handing out the final doses of vitamins and routine medications, when they learned the good news. An officer took out the records reflecting the number of people treated, changing 714 to 715, to add Cage - Kitgum's newest resident.
"It's pretty amazing there's a little one out here that I named and that I helped bring into this world," Watson said. "Pretty amazing."
To learn more about United States Army Africa or Natural Fire 10, visit us online at www.usaraf.army.mil
KITGUM, Uganda, Oct 20, 2009 -- 1st. Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson (left) and Pfc. Kendra Hinds (right), Army Reserve Soldiers deployed to Uganda with the 7225th Medical Support Unit (MSU), watch over the five-minute-old Cage. Cage's 19-year-old mother was in an advanced stage of labor when she arrived at the Pajimo Clinic, run by US and East African medical personnel as part of US Army Africa's Natural Fire 10. Watson is a labor and delivery nurse in her civilian occupation and was called upon to deliver the baby boy, who was born healthy and weighing 5.5 lbs about 90 minutes later.
U.S. Army photo by Maj. Corey Schultz, Army Reserve Communications
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
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Full Story: Army Reserve Nurse Delivers Baby in Rural Uganda
By Maj.Corey Schultz, U.S. Army Reserve Command
KITGUM, Uganda -- When 1st Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson deployed to Uganda for Natural Fire 10, she never imagined using her labor and delivery nursing skills during the exercise.
But when a Ugandan woman, Linda, arrived in labor at Pajimo medical clinic, where the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit was partnering with East African medics to offer healthcare to the Kitgum community, Watson sprang into action.
She checked her watch. It was nearly 2:30 pm when medics hurried the 19-year-old expectant mother from the clinic gates where hundreds had gathered to receive care.
During the 10-day exercise, the medics run a daily clinic to treat upwards of 700 Ugandans a day for ailments such as arthritis, minor wounds, skin infections --and dental and optometry care. Soldiers from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi are working alongside U.S. troops on medical, dental and engineering projects in the Kitgum region. Meanwhile, each nation is also taking part in security training and a simulated disaster relief exercise.
While pregnancy was not a planned treatment, the Pajimo clinic staffs a midwife and Watson was eager to assist. If the U.S. Army Reserve officer were back home in Abilene, Texas, she would do the same.
"This is what I do. I'm a labor and delivery nurse in my civilian job," Watson said, hurrying past Ugandan families clutching medicines and awaiting dental checks, "This is what I live for."
Watson serves with the 7231st Medical Support Unit in Lubbock, Texas, but volunteered to augment the 7225th for Uganda.
Once in the clinics maternity ward, Watson and Pfc. Kendra Hinds, a U.S. Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, joined Stella, the Ugandan midwife. Stella asked the lieutenant to work with her to deliver the child.
Stella and her Ugandan assistant prepared the delivery room. Watson's examined the woman - nine centimeters and having contractions. Her watch read 3 p.m.
Hinds never helped a woman give birth. So, Watson talked her through the exam as they felt the mother's stomach to see where the baby was.
"You can feel the contractions," Watson said to Hines. "Her sides and belly get hard. Feel here...that's the head. It's in the right place, that's good. The baby is aligned right."
The midwife, Stella Betty Lamono – who goes by Stella, produced a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device not often seen in America that is used to hear the baby's heartbeat. Watson and Hinds took turns listening.
Then Stella posed a question.
"You are delivering," Stella said. "You should name the baby."
"OK, I'll name the baby," Watson said, in a light-hearted way. "How about, let's see...Gracie for a girl? Yes, I like Gracie."
"And a boy?" asked Stella.
"Okay, for a boy...Cage. I like Cage."
Stella translated. The mother smiled, amused despite her obvious discomfort. It was nearly 3:30 p.m., the baby was coming but the delivery team still had things to do. They tried to start an intravenous drip.
There was a problem, they couldn't find a vein. They spoke with the mother and found she had not eaten anything for two days.
"She's dehydrated, she needs something with sugar," Watson said.
Soldiers offered sweet powdered drink pack from their daily rations - MRE's, such as lemon-flavored ice tea and a lemon-lime electrolyte drinks.
Watson stirred each drink in a green plastic cup and gave it to the mother, who drank thirstily.
The team then found a vein for an IV, the mother tried to relax. From time to time, she would lift a pink curtain and gaze through the window into the dusty yard. Things quieted.
Meanwhile, her sister arranged swaddling clothes on the receiving table at the other side of the room.
"How many weeks is she?" Hinds asked.
"Thirty-eight," Stella said, confidently.
Ugandan midwives determine the duration of the pregnancy by feeling the stomach for the size of the baby's head versus the height of the fundus -- how high the uterus has pressed upwards into the diaphragm.
"This is amazing," Watson said. "In the States, doctors run a sonogram over the belly, ask for the date of the last menstrual period, and go from there. We learn the 'old school' way, but we never actually do it like Stella has."
Certified Ugandan midwifes attend a three-year school, Stella said, herself a midwife with seven years experience who delivers up to 28 babies each month -- often in rural clinics.
The contractions continued. The mother remained stoic despite the lack of any pain medicine. Sweat beaded on her face, veins throbbed along her neck. She would lay calm more moments, the moan softly and slap the nearby wall. Hinds grabbed a cloth and patted her face and held her hands through contractions.
"Most girls in the States would be yelling and hollering by now," Watson said.
Unlike in the States, the clinic had no monitors, electrical gadgetry or air conditioning. It did have clean water, sterilized equipment and a trained midwife, plus her U.S. counterparts.
It was around 4 p.m., when the mother groaned and slapped the wall again.
"She's in second stage," Watson said. "All she has to do now is push."
A few minutes passed, the mother began to push – Hinds held her hand and continued to comfort her. Then came a loud cry from a healthy baby boy. It was 4:30 p.m.
Watson wiped him down. He waved his tiny hands and stared around the room with large, alert eyes. Stella tied up the stump of the umbilical cord
"You delivered the baby, what name did you pick for a baby boy,” Stella said, reminding Watson.
“Cage," Watson replied. "But I can't name her baby. It's her baby!"
Hinds placed the infant into his mother's arms. The new mom smiled.
"What is she going to name him?" Watson asked. Stella translated. The mother answered --and Stella began to laugh.
"What did she say?" Watson asked.
"She decided she liked the name you picked," Stella said. "She named her little boy 'Cage'."
Outside, U.S. and East African medics were closing up for the day, handing out the final doses of vitamins and routine medications, when they learned the good news. An officer took out the records reflecting the number of people treated, changing 714 to 715, to add Cage - Kitgum's newest resident.
"It's pretty amazing there's a little one out here that I named and that I helped bring into this world," Watson said. "Pretty amazing."
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
Official Vimeo video channel: www.vimeo.com/usarmyafrica
Caption: KITGUM, Uganda, Oct 20 -- Pfc. Kendra Hines, an Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, currently deployed with the 7225th Medical Support Unit (MSU) in northern Uganda, hands a newborn to his mother. The 19-year-old expectant mother arrived at the Pajimo Clinic in an advanced state of labor, and Hines was called upon to assist. The mother gave birth to a healthy, 5.5 lb. baby boy about 90 minutes later. (Photo credit Maj. Corey Schultz, Army Reserve Communications.)
Full Story:
Army Reserve Nurse Delivers Baby in Rural Uganda
By Maj.Corey Schultz, U.S. Army Reserve Command
KITGUM, Uganda -- When 1st Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson deployed to Uganda for Natural Fire 10, she never imagined using her labor and delivery nursing skills during the exercise.
But when a Ugandan woman, Linda, arrived in labor at Pajimo medical clinic, where the Army Reserve's 7225th Medical Support Unit was partnering with East African medics to offer healthcare to the Kitgum community, Watson sprang into action.
She checked her watch. It was nearly 2:30 pm when medics hurried the 19-year-old expectant mother from the clinic gates where hundreds had gathered to receive care.
During the 10-day exercise, the medics run a daily clinic to treat upwards of 700 Ugandans a day for ailments such as arthritis, minor wounds, skin infections --and dental and optometry care. Soldiers from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi are working alongside U.S. troops on medical, dental and engineering projects in the Kitgum region. Meanwhile, each nation is also taking part in security training and a simulated disaster relief exercise.
While pregnancy was not a planned treatment, the Pajimo clinic staffs a midwife and Watson was eager to assist. If the U.S. Army Reserve officer were back home in Abilene, Texas, she would do the same.
"This is what I do. I'm a labor and delivery nurse in my civilian job," Watson said, hurrying past Ugandan families clutching medicines and awaiting dental checks, "This is what I live for."
Watson serves with the 7231st Medical Support Unit in Lubbock, Texas, but volunteered to augment the 7225th for Uganda.
Once in the clinics maternity ward, Watson and Pfc. Kendra Hinds, a U.S. Army Reserve medic from Lubbock, Texas, joined Stella, the Ugandan midwife. Stella asked the lieutenant to work with her to deliver the child.
Stella and her Ugandan assistant prepared the delivery room. Watson's examined the woman - nine centimeters and having contractions. Her watch read 3 p.m.
Hinds never helped a woman give birth. So, Watson talked her through the exam as they felt the mother's stomach to see where the baby was.
"You can feel the contractions," Watson said to Hines. "Her sides and belly get hard. Feel here...that's the head. It's in the right place, that's good. The baby is aligned right."
The midwife, Stella Betty Lamono – who goes by Stella, produced a Pinnard Horn - a wooden listening device not often seen in America that is used to hear the baby's heartbeat. Watson and Hinds took turns listening.
Then Stella posed a question.
"You are delivering," Stella said. "You should name the baby."
"OK, I'll name the baby," Watson said, in a light-hearted way. "How about, let's see...Gracie for a girl? Yes, I like Gracie."
"And a boy?" asked Stella.
"Okay, for a boy...Cage. I like Cage."
Stella translated. The mother smiled, amused despite her obvious discomfort. It was nearly 3:30 p.m., the baby was coming but the delivery team still had things to do. They tried to start an intravenous drip.
There was a problem, they couldn't find a vein. They spoke with the mother and found she had not eaten anything for two days.
"She's dehydrated, she needs something with sugar," Watson said.
Soldiers offered sweet powdered drink pack from their daily rations - MRE's, such as lemon-flavored ice tea and a lemon-lime electrolyte drinks.
Watson stirred each drink in a green plastic cup and gave it to the mother, who drank thirstily.
The team then found a vein for an IV, the mother tried to relax. From time to time, she would lift a pink curtain and gaze through the window into the dusty yard. Things quieted.
Meanwhile, her sister arranged swaddling clothes on the receiving table at the other side of the room.
"How many weeks is she?" Hinds asked.
"Thirty-eight," Stella said, confidently.
Ugandan midwives determine the duration of the pregnancy by feeling the stomach for the size of the baby's head versus the height of the fundus -- how high the uterus has pressed upwards into the diaphragm.
"This is amazing," Watson said. "In the States, doctors run a sonogram over the belly, ask for the date of the last menstrual period, and go from there. We learn the 'old school' way, but we never actually do it like Stella has."
Certified Ugandan midwifes attend a three-year school, Stella said, herself a midwife with seven years experience who delivers up to 28 babies each month -- often in rural clinics.
The contractions continued. The mother remained stoic despite the lack of any pain medicine. Sweat beaded on her face, veins throbbed along her neck. She would lay calm more moments, the moan softly and slap the nearby wall. Hinds grabbed a cloth and patted her face and held her hands through contractions.
"Most girls in the States would be yelling and hollering by now," Watson said.
Unlike in the States, the clinic had no monitors, electrical gadgetry or air conditioning. It did have clean water, sterilized equipment and a trained midwife, plus her U.S. counterparts.
It was around 4 p.m., when the mother groaned and slapped the wall again.
"She's in second stage," Watson said. "All she has to do now is push."
A few minutes passed, the mother began to push – Hinds held her hand and continued to comfort her. Then came a loud cry from a healthy baby boy. It was 4:30 p.m.
Watson wiped him down. He waved his tiny hands and stared around the room with large, alert eyes. Stella tied up the stump of the umbilical cord
"You delivered the baby, what name did you pick for a baby boy,” Stella said, reminding Watson.
“Cage," Watson replied. "But I can't name her baby. It's her baby!"
Hinds placed the infant into his mother's arms. The new mom smiled.
"What is she going to name him?" Watson asked. Stella translated. The mother answered --and Stella began to laugh.
"What did she say?" Watson asked.
"She decided she liked the name you picked," Stella said. "She named her little boy 'Cage'."
Outside, U.S. and East African medics were closing up for the day, handing out the final doses of vitamins and routine medications, when they learned the good news. An officer took out the records reflecting the number of people treated, changing 714 to 715, to add Cage - Kitgum's newest resident.
"It's pretty amazing there's a little one out here that I named and that I helped bring into this world," Watson said. "Pretty amazing."
To learn more about United States Army Africa or Natural Fire 10, visit us online at www.usaraf.army.mil
Sri Lankan midwives protest in Colombo, on January 16, 2014. President of the Government Midwifery Service Association (GMSA), Devika Kodithuwakku said that the nurses were trying to drive midwives out of labour rooms by taking over their duties and attempting to coerce them into caring for people over 65 years with a so-called special nurses training course. "Our service has been in place since the 1880s and was commenced at the De Soysa Maternity Hospital," Kodithuwakku said. (Pic by – Sanka VIDANAGAMA)
All Rights Reserved © 2013
VISIT -
/www.facebook.com/sankavidanagamaphotography
In Afghanistan we visited project sites of Healnet TPO, a Dutch based NGO with years of experience in Afghanistan. We visited project sites in Jalalabad and around to learn more on their midwifery programs that run throughout the government. Their policies have now been implemented by the Afghan government through the whole country.
"Before the 1700s the practice of obstetrics had been in the hands of midwives, but in the 18th century there was a big effort to set the scientific grounds for the practice and turn it into a medical specialization.
In the course of the century, the art of childbirth became a subject worthy of being taught to surgeons and midwives. Giovanni Antonio Galli (1708-1782), a Professor in the School of Surgery of the University of Bologna, set up a School of Obstetrics at the Palazzo Poggi. There, the science of birthing was taught both to physician and to midwives according to a method devised by Galli himself. It included the use of three-dimensional wax tablets and clay models of the uterus as well as instruments such as the so-called "birthing machines" which simulated the real situations of gestation and childbirth.
With his teaching Giovanni Antonio Galli set forth an original educational methodology by which scientific knowledge and professionalism were achieved by the acquisition of both theoretical knowledge and practice. Together with the valuable equipment specifically developed for the teaching, it became a rare example for those years of a School of Obstetrics within a medical and surgical school."
Quoted from: www.museopalazzopoggi.unibo.it/65/dettaglio_collezione/th...
Hamisu Aduma, 33, helps to teach students nursing skills at the Jigawa midwifery school. In Jigawa State, women's illiteracy is 94% and nearly 80% of all healthcare workers are male.
Background
In Spring 2012, the British Government launched a new scheme – Women for Health – to support 7,000 girls and women to train as health workers in northern Nigeria by 2016. The new skills they learn will help save the lives of thousands of mums, babies and children.
Find out more at www.dfid.gov.uk/midwives-in-nigeria
Picture: Lindsay Mgbor/Department for International Development
Apologies for the title - It made me laugh!
I was right there are babies in the air this last week !. Last minute order for 50 cupcakes for a function for the local midwives. The theme was purple somehow so i have put wee teddies, babies wrapped in blankets and some tootsies as well as a selection of flowers. Vanilla cupcakes in silver foil cases topped with a variegated vanilla buttercream in purple shades. Sprinkled with tiny silver sugar pearls and edible holographic glitter.
The midwives are a fantastic bunch and i had two very lovely ladies for my children.
My father with Major GK Lim. c 1944. I have no further information about the latter. He is certainly sporting a racy wristwatch. I suspect he was of Malay origin. He is not listed among British army officers of World War II. The whole group with african uniformed contingent is seen here
林廣泉
:www.familyrelatives.com/search/data_medical_register_midwives.php
LIM Gim Kheang 1940 Medical Register 1940
LIM Gim Kheang 1943 Medical Register 1943
LIM Gim Kheang 1938 Medical Register 1938
This must be our Doctor. Let;s see
The Straits Times, 17 November 1958, Page 14
Singapore doctor's colt wins in UK
Article also available on microfilm reel NL1804 [Lee Kong Chian Reference Library - On shelf]
Singapore doctor's colt wins in UK LINGFIELD PARK, Sun.
Dr. G. K. Lim of Singapore won the November Nursery Handicap for two-year-olds here today with his colt Signal. Signal, by the Epsom Derby winner Blue Peter out or Lovely Day, drew away in the final stages of the seven
Signal was trained by Fred Armstrong at Newmarket, but I see no owner listed.
Dr Lim seemed to be a member of the Singapore Turf Club. Perhaps the same chap.
Ah, here we go...
www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35236/supplement/4500/d...
August 5 1941
ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS
Lieutenant
26 June 1941
Gim Kheang Lim M.B. 191348 林廣泉
There's a 1933 note here to say he was registered to practice in Hong Kong at no. 32 Hill Road
hkmd1841-1941.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/dr-lim-gim-kheang-19...
and a post-war BBC programme from 1947
genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctv/1947-07-11
Dr. Neville Whymant, who knows China well, will be the English guest, Dr. and Mrs. G.K. Lim (in China Lim Gim-Kheang and Lee Yu-Lan) the hosts, and the four medical students will be Chien Jo-Lung, Kiang Tao, King Sing-Yui and Tan Sien-Sen. The conversation takes place in Dr. Lim's house in Hankow - now recovering from its heavy aerial bombardment during the war.
eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Issue/straitst...
5 June 1990
322 Acknowledgements [Articles + Illustrations]
Page 32
322 Acknowledgements Tha FamMy Of The Late DR. LIM GIM KHEANG wishes to extend their heartfelt thanks and appreciation to relatives, friends L business associates for their attendances, condolences, wreaths, donations tt assistance during their recent bereavement. Thanks appreciation Is also extended to doctors nurses of Gleneagles Hospital the Wesley /Methodist Church for their care during his illness.
More about Dr Lim
In 1937 he was living at 30 Osnaburgh Street NW1 with Shan Young Lim, who may have been his sister.
In 1938 he lived with Boon Hean Chew and Shan Yong Chew, who may have been Shan Yong Lim at 14 Havergal Villas, [Green Lanes Turnpike Lane N15. [which is the address quoted in the 1939 medical directory]
The following year only Dr GK Lim and Chew Shan Yang lived at the above.
He was described as a physician and surgeon, MB BS DCF, DTM+H[Engl] in the phone books of that tme. Telephone BOWes Park 1174.
By 1943, he had moved to 38 Heath Street, Hampstead, NW3 Telephone HAM 6816 which was also current in 1946, but by 1949, into 1950 he had again moved to 29 Hampstead High Street.
At Heath Streeet, his wife appears to be Phyllis Lee, with an additional voter, Maximin E L Limfat [perhaps Lim Fat], who published as a nuclear scientist in 1951 ***
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2965722
The last entry for 1951 shows him with Phyllis Lee Lim and Pamela Lau, *** after which they departed from Southampton for Penang, Malaysia on the P&O Liner Canton on June 29 1951, described as a Doctor and housewife, aged 42 and 36 respectively.
A further entry from 1955 shows him leaving Southampton again on the Willem Ruys bound for Singapore.
An entry for 1933 at 9 Taviton Street, NW1 may also have been during his student days.
On November 12, Chew Shan Lim, aged 36, of the Green Lanes address left Liverpool for Penang on the Shanghai bound Markunda of the P&O Line
Chew Shan Yong Lim now aged 43 arrived back in the UK at London, presumably having left in 1940 on March 23 1948 along with Kean Chye Lim, a student aged 29 who was intending to reside at 4 Meadway Gate, Golders Green NW11. Her intended address was that of Dr GK Lim.
Kean Chye Lim b 1919 left for Penang in 1949 again on the Carthage from Southampton
Subsequently Chew Shan Yong Lim moved to Australia, living variously at 31 Kensington Road, Summer Hill NSW in the 1960s, and later at 34 Devonshire Street, Chatswood, NSW.
www.namoogle.com/surname/L/Chew-LIM.html
in Western Australia in 1979
A further reference to Dr GK Lim in this 1933 volume 12 issue 1 of the Caduceus
books.google.co.uk/books?redir_esc=y&id=hdFXAAAAMAAJ&...
where Lim Gim Kheang had passed a medical exam
At the time, just Mr G. K Lim, he is listed as an Hon Treasurer of probably a medical organisation in Hong Kong.
beneath
Dr DK Samy MD BS LM [DK Samy Pillay or Pillay, actually]
Major D McKelvey RAMC
Dr Chau Wei Chung MB BS Chairman
Daniel McKelvey, MD FRCS MC and 2 bars, born 1891 - 1938 born Gortin Co Tyrone served in China 1929 to 1933
www.ramc-ww1.com/profile.php?cPath=275_136&profile_id...
final address of McKelvey - Tattynagole, Knockmoyle, Co Tyrone.
Some details of Dr Cheung Wai Chau (周懷璋醫生) here
www.hkmj.org/abstracts/v28n6/504.htm
Caduceus was the journal of the Hong Kong University Medical Society.
hkmd1841-1941.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/dr-chau-wai-cheung-1...
10 Havergal Villas remains a medical practice to this day. Indeed, in 1954 a Polish doctor gained British citizenship at this address, a Dr Artur Haber. No 11 is the current highest number, 12-14 seem to have been demolished and a public utility building inserted in the vacant space.
*** This would be Professor Sir Edouard Lim Fat of Mauritius
uomnews.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/official-naming-of-engin...
after whom the Engineering towerer of Mauritius University was named...
Prof. Lim Fat, as we usually call him at the university, was born in the village of Bon Accueil on 5th October 1921, as the last child of a family of six children. His parents, who were shopkeepers, called him Man Ten. Man means full, and as he was the last born, it meant that the family was full. Ten stands for the clan name. He relates his early days in a book the Prime Minister, Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam launched on 11th August last, entitled ‘From Vision to Miracle’ his memoirs. I invite every one of you to get a copy and read the book. It is full of revelations on the life of this great man who has contributed so much to the development of our country. The book tells you how, at the ripe age of 3, he was married to a small girl in their village in China where he had gone for a short while. While the parents and in-laws were busy praying at the Buddhist altar, he was playing hide and seek in the yard with his bride! After the wedding, as was the custom, the bride went back to her parents’ home in the neighboring village, and soon Edouard or Man Ten, escaped to Mauritius with his family because of the violent unrests of the peasants in China.
Here he spent his early years in Bon Accueil, then in Montagne Blanche and then in Port Louis, before sailing to UK where he completed his degree in Chemical Engineering at Imperial College, London. He worked for a while there, including at Harwell Atomic Research Establishment, before he returned to Mauritius. Here he found his lovely wife Denise whom he married, this time at really a ripe age of 31, in 1952. He has three children, Kenny, Linda and Alan.
Died March 2 2015 aged 93
www.lemauricien.com/article/necrologie-pere-la-zone-franc...
*** Pamela G Lau [b.1927] married Leslie H McLean [b.1926, whose mother's maiden name was Hoahing and who had a younger brother George P McLean, parents George D McLEan and Ella V Hoahing....+++] in Hampstead in 1954 and they both sailed to Trinidad in 1955 on the Antilles from Southampton after a son David A McLean was born the same year. Perhaps en route to Guyana?
+++ Benjamin Hunter Hoahing a successful businessman from Hong Kong d 1942 aged 61 of Neville House 137 London Road, Twickenham probate to Susan Singcha Hoahing, widow, who was also a qualified doctor. £14,225 3s, who only died in 1990 aged 104. A daughter was a successful tennis player, Gem, who only died in October 2015 aged 94
www.tennisforum.com/59-blast-past/412186-little-gem-gem-h...
Update 2023
Online is an extract from the minutes of the Hong Kong University Medical Society Journal, The Caduceus
in which Dr GK Lim was chairman in 1933-4 and a committee member 1934-5
hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/138790/42/B46509471-1934-May-V...
Here are the 1933-4 key players:
President :*Prof. W. I. Gerrard. @@@
Chairman :*Mr. Lim Gim Kheang.
Hon. Treasurer :*Prof. L. T. Ride.
@@@ William Innes Gerrard
William Innes Gerrard
b.13 May 1884, Aberdeen MB 1909 Aberdeen d.7 March 1956 Aberdeen Naval surgeon, worked in Hong Kong 1929-1939
hkmd1841-1941.blogspot.com/2013/09/dr-william-innes-gerra...
history.rcplondon.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians/william-inne...