2. Midwives For Haiti’s mission is
the reduction of maternal and
neonatal mortality in Haiti.
Haiti has the highest maternal
mortality in the Western
hemisphere. This is largely due
to the lack of skilled birth
attendants to assist women with
their pregnancies and deliveries.
95% of the poorest one-fifth of
women do not have skilled help
at their deliveries.
Without skilled care pregnant
women are at risk of dying from
postpartum hemorrhage,
eclampsia, obstructed labor or
infection.
Maternal Mortality 350 per 100,000 Births
“Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of
the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.”
Helen Keller
3. Simeus’ first wife died during
childbirth and his newborn son
died a few months later.
Simeus’ second wife, Ismerelda,
delivered her youngest daughter
in 2012 with the help of a
Midwives For Haiti graduate.
The number of orphaned or
abandoned children in Haiti can
only be guessed. Before the
earthquake it was estimated to
be 380,000 and after the quake
the number at least doubled.
The death of a woman in
childbirth puts the lives of all of
her children at risk.
Ismerelda , Simeus and Children Outside Their Home
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They came
through you but not from you and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”
Khalil Gibran
4. Midwives For Haiti had a very
simple and humble beginning. In
2006 a few midwives led by
Nadene Brunk came to Hinche,
Haiti to educate 9 Haitian women
as skilled birth attendants. These
women were being trained to
work in a birth center that was
under construction.
Those women would never work
in that birth center but a greater
vision was born. They became the
first of many classes that would
go on to serve women all over
Haiti.
The way forward was not clear
but the need was seen with great
clarity. Women would continue
to die needlessly until there were
more midwives in Haiti. The
essential question was “If we
don’t do this who will”?
Midwives For Haiti’s First Classroom
“For me, an area of moral clarity is: you’re in front of someone who’s suffering and you have the tools
at your disposal to alleviate that suffering or even eradicate it, and you act.” Paul Farmer
5. Our first school was located in a
rural area. Homes were simple
and without running water or
electricity. The best structures
had tin roofs and concrete floors.
The worst dirt floors and roofs
open to the sky. In the U. S.
those structures would not be
used to house animals.
Getting to the hospital took a 1-2
hour walk. Once there a woman
was unlikely to find an
obstetrician or midwife to care
for her after 4pm or on
weekends. The hospital was
little used by women in labor.
They did not feel safe there.
The doctors and nurses at the
hospital had the knowledge to
care for patients but not the
means.
Rural Haiti
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?'
But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'
Martin Luther King, Jr.
6. The hospital in Hinche is government
run and free of charge but everything
was in short supply in 2006. This
included medications , electricity and
water.
Conditions at the hospital have
improved in 2013. The maternity wards
are better staffed because MFH pays the
salaries of 11 midwives and the hospital
is able to pay 5 more. Electricity and
water are now available most of the
time. Medications are usually found in
adequate supply although there can still
be isolated shortages. For instance,
sometimes the hospital has no spinal
anesthetic medication.
That the hospital functions as well as it
does is impressive given that the per
capita health care expenditure in Haiti
is just $79 per year. In the U.S. it is
$8,233.
St. Thérèse Hospital Hinche, Haiti
“The poorest parts of the world are by and large the places in which one can best view the worst of medicine
and not because doctors in these countries have different ideas about what constitutes modern medicine. It's
the system and its limitations that are to blame.” Paul Farmer
7. When the rainy season came it was
necessary to find a place indoors to
hold class. We were able to find space
in a small room in the laundry of the
local hospital. In Haiti you make do
with what you have.
Midwives For Haiti’s Second Classroom
“Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.”
William Shakespeare
8. In 2007 our small annual budget
was reflected in the condition of
our transportation.
This Toyota truck is 33 years old.
It is held together by duct tape,
wire and the ingenuity of our
driver Ronel.
One day the drive shaft fell on
road when the universal joint
broke. Ronel had the truck going
again in 90 minutes.
Making Do and Getting By
“You must do the things you think you cannot do.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
10. MFH students learn to treat life
threatening complications. Here
students are starting an IV and
giving magnesium sulfate to a
woman having eclamptic
seizures. This woman survived.
Her baby did not.
High blood pressure during
pregnancy (pre-eclampsia) is the
most common complication of
pregnancy and its more
advanced form, eclampsia, the
leading cause of maternal
mortality in Haiti.
Eclampsia can only be prevented
by making prenatal care
available to all pregnant women.
Emergency
“Half a million women die each year around the world in pregnancy. It's not biology that
kills them so much as neglect.” Nicholas D. Kristof (author of Half the Sky: Turning
Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide )
11. Midwives treat burns a
patient received from a
“traditional medical therapy”
commonly used after a
delivery.
Without a skilled birth
attendant pregnant women
are cared for by family
members or a traditional
birth attendant (TBA). In
Haiti TBA’s have no formal
training and may resort to
treatments that are ineffectual
or harmful.
First Do No Harm
“If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.”
Dalai Lama
12. Prenatal care is vital to the
health of women and babies.
The pink jeep (a significant
improvement over Ronel’s
truck!) carries our midwives to
16 rural villages each month to
provide this dependable service
for woman who do not have
access to medical care.
In the first 3 months of 2013 our
midwives saw 897 women and
made 10 emergency transports
to the hospital.
Mobile Prenatal Clinic
“A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.”
Khalil Gibran
13. The mobile prenatal clinic
midwives examine each
patient, determine a due
date, screen for high risk
problems and provide
education.
Caring, Compassionate, Competent
“The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.”
Albert Schweitzer
14. Every woman attending the
prenatal clinic receives
vitamins, iron supplements
and treatment for intestinal
worms. Women with chronic
hypertension, a common
problem in Haiti, receive anti-
hypertensive medication.
Traveling Pharmacy
“Gardeners know that you must nourish the soil if you want healthy plants. You must water the plants adequately, especially
when seeds are germinating and sprouting, and they should be planted in a nutrient-rich soil. Why should nutrition matter less
in the creation of young humans than it does in young plants? I'm sure that it doesn't.”
Ina May Gaskin
15. Each patient is tested for
HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea,
chlamydia and malaria.
Patients with HIV or
syphilis are referred to the
hospital for further testing
and treatment.
Patients with gonorrhea,
chlamydia or malaria are
treated by the midwives.
Without the mobile prenatal
clinic these infections would
go untreated risking the
health and life of mother
and baby.
Rapid On-Site Lab Tests
“I still believe in a place called Hope.”
William J. Clinton
16. At $10 an exam, the mobile
prenatal clinic is our most
expensive activity. We
believe it is priceless because
of the lives it has saved.
Priceless
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”
Dalai Lama
17. The hands that deliver a
baby in Haiti are usually
those of a matrone, Haiti’s
traditional birth attendant.
75% of pregnant women in
Haiti deliver without a
skilled birth attendant.
Matrones do not have the
training or medications
needed to treat eclampsia
or postpartum hemorrhage,
the leading causes of
maternal death in Haiti.
Matrones do have the trust
and respect of women in
their community and need
to be part of the solution.
Connecting With Tradition
“God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with.”
Billy Graham
18. These matrones were
among the 30 that attended
our first matrone training
program. This 20 lesson
course taught techniques
for performing a clean birth
and how to identify danger
signs in pregnancy. The
matrones are encouraged
to bring their patients to
the hospital and they are
allowed to stay with them
while in labor.
By reaching out to Haiti’s
traditional birth attendants
we bring them into the
medical community and
improve the care that
women receive.
Fort Resolu Matrone Class of 2012
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”
C. S. Lewis
19. These women are graduates of
the Midwives For Haiti program
who now work at St. Therese
Hospital in Hinche.
47 graduates are now working in
14 locations around Haiti.
Midwives For Haiti graduates
have an employment rate of 85%.
This is remarkable in a country
with an unemployment rate of
40%.
Of course we are thankful for the
care these midwives give to their
Haitian sisters but we are equally
grateful for all of the other
benefits that come from work. A
secure income for themselves
and their families is the obvious
benefit and cannot be
overestimated in a country
without an economic safety net.
Yet it is the confidence, dignity
and professional pride that
comes from their work that
changes their lives the most.
Education Brings Employment
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with
painstaking excellence.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
20. Few people that visit Haiti
remain unchanged.
Haitians endure hardships
that are unimaginable to
most Americans and they do
so with grace. Material
things mean less and
personal relationships mean
more. Even in deprivation
there is a sense of being
protected by the favor of
God.
The Spirit of Haiti
“Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. Physical relationship divorced
from spiritual is body without soul.” Mahatma Gandhi
21. We need midwives, labor and delivery nurses, obstetricians, pediatricians and nurse
practitioners (family practice, pediatric, and women’s health) to work with us in
Haiti. Volunteer online at www.MidwivesForHaiti.org.
Most of our donations come from people like you. Our average donation is about
$450 but any donation helps us train midwives and bring skilled care to women in
Haiti.
Please lend your support. Donate online.
“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”
Mahatma Gandhi