“EVEN in rich countries childbirth is not a tidy affair. On an earthen floor in a dimly lit home in Bangladesh it can be a killer. Bangladesh has nevertheless reduced maternal deaths during childbirth by 40%, from 322 per 100,000 births to 194, during the first decade of this century. It has done so in several ways: by encouraging women to give birth in hospitals and clinics; by giving better training to the women who act as informal midwives for those who give birth at home; and by improving obstetric treatment when things go wrong. When exactly things are going wrong, though, is not always obvious. In particular, the blood of a healthy birth can be hard to distinguish from the blood of a life-threatening haemorrhage.

An invention by Mohammad Abdul Quaiyum of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Dhaka should help to change that by providing a simple indication of whether a woman who has just given birth is in danger of bleeding to death. This invention is a standardised birth mat.

Bangladeshi women often give birth on improvised mats, such as old saris. That gives them some comfort and hygienic protection, and also soaks up the blood of birth. Dr Quaiyum’s insight was that a standardised mat could distinguish, in a way obvious to those not medically trained (ie, most of those informal midwives), the natural blood loss of birth from that associated with a haemorrhage.

Losing more than half a litre of blood after childbirth is a sign of trouble. Dr Quaiyum’s mat, a 50cm square made of cotton and tissue paper, is therefore designed to absorb just over 400 millilitres. If it gets saturated, the midwife should seek medical help for the mother immediately.

To test the mat’s effectiveness the researchers collaborated with the Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS), a charity that distributes birthing kits to expectant women. They added the mat to these kits, which already contain thread to tie off the umbilical cord, a sterile razor blade to sever it, cotton gauze to clean the newborn, a plastic sheet for the mother to deliver on, and soap. They also added a dose of misoprostol, a drug that controls haemorrhages by causing the uterus to contract.

RDRS distributed 77,000 of the upgraded kits, and Dr Quaiyum’s team subsequently interviewed 3,000 of the women who had used them, to gauge their opinions. More than 97% said the mat had been beneficial and that they would be willing to pay for one during future deliveries (the cost would be 40 taka, or about 50 cents). It saved lives, too. Of those 77,000 new mothers, 37 fewer than expected died.”

Worldwide Healing Hands is proud to announce that we will partner with White Ribbon Alliance Uganda in the fall of 2014 for our next medical mission. The White Ribbon Alliance is a grassroots movement deep in these communities and thousands like them, making sure progress reaches all women. Betsy McCallon, Executive Director of White Ribbon Alliance made our decision that much more clear by writing this astounding article for the Huffington Post, linked directly below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/white-ribbon-alliance/maternal-death-making-it-_b_3140325.html

KELSEYVILLE — She was up all night until 5 a.m. For 12 hours, Jasmin Clarke was by the side of a woman in labor at a hospital in Nepal. Eventually, after letting a midwife rest for a few hours, she fell asleep on a staircase after the long night. However, Clarke said her mother was the one that was overworked, and she plans to follow in her footsteps.

For nearly three weeks last October and November, Clarke joined her mother, OB-GYN Dr. Paula Dhanda on the medical mission.The Kelseyville physician helped organize the trip, a partnership between Worldwide Healing Hands and Himalayan HealthCare.Dhanda has gone on several trips throughout the years, visiting isolated regions around the world, including Haiti, she said. During her trips, she provides medical training for local doctors and performs surgeries.

Clarke always wanted to go with her mother, but Nepal was the first place Dhanda said was safe enough for her daughter to go, and she challenged Clarke to raise $1,000 on her own; about half of the trip’s cost. “Jasmin is relentless when she puts her mind to do something, she gets it done,” Dhanda said. For about 5 months, Clarke asked for donations and sold bracelets, which she’s done for several years and gives half of the proceeds to charity. “I’m beaming with pride,” Dhanda said of her daughter.

They took a 33-hour journey half-way across the world, and lugged all of their necessary personal belongings. They also took two 40-pound suitcases that housed solar-powered electrical generators to donate to the hospital, where power outages occur on a regular basis, as well as heating blankets for newborn babies. Once they arrived, Clarke helped train 10 midwives on how to use the specialized equipment that has the potential to save a countless number of lives. Dhanda said Clarke learned to use the equipment with ease. “She had to teach them how to use and troubleshoot the equipment,” Dhanda said. “Kids are way smarter than we give them credit for.”During the birth, Dhanda said Clarke had the foresight to turn on the suitcase before loosing power later that night.After seeing first hand how medical mission trips can help, Clarke said she wants to do the same. “I was thinking about it before and actually being there, I don’t even know what say,” Clarke said “It was fascinating.” She is well aware of the long hours her mother works, both at home and during missions, but is ready for the challenge.

Berenice Quirino is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. She can be reached at 263-5636, ext. 36 or at bereniceq@record-bee.com.

Happy Mother’s Day

http://www.record-bee.com/news/ci_23222190/following-moms-footsteps-nepal

THE AWARD-WINNING HEROES AND THEIR STORIES

Animal: Mark Anello, Bodega Bay
Sponsor: Medtronic
Bodega Bay Fisherman Mark Anello and his two-man crew rescued a gray whale from life-threatening entanglement in fishing lines. Previous rescue attempts had been made from Laguna Beach, and up the coast for over two weeks. The risky rescue took 90 minutes before the whale was able to take a deep dive to freedom.

Education: Dr. Elaine Leeder, Sebastopol
Sponsor: Amy’s Kitchen
Early on in her life Dr. Elaine Leeder, Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Sonoma State University, committed her life to social justice and championing the underdog. For the past several years she has been providing classes to inmates who are serving 15 years to life at San Quentin prison, enabling them to understand themselves and how social class and upbringing contribute to criminality.

Environment: Mary Munat, Windsor
Sponsor: Sonoma Raceway
Helping to build a cleaner and healthier planet has been a lifetime passion for Mary Munat, also known as Green Mary. She has dedicated her life to educating and encouraging people about the importance of preserving our environment by promoting “non-garbage” wherever she goes. She has turned her passion into a business, Green Mary Zero Waste Events, to lessen the trash buried in landfills.

Heroic Deed: Trevor Kasimoff, Rohnert Park
Sponsor: American AgCredit
Twenty-three year old Trevor Kasimoff spotted flames coming from a neighboring apartment and ran to the scene. There he found people trapped on the second story of the blazing building. He encouraged a mother who was dangling a small child out the window to drop her two children into his arms below. Then the mother and another woman dropped from the window as well. He saved the lives of several grateful residents.

Humanitarian Adult: Matthew Nalywaiko, Santa Rosa
Sponsor: Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa
Helping others has been a lifetime passion for Matthew Nalywaiko. After volunteering for service in various countries, he was compelled to help those in need locally. He enlisted many volunteer repair people and founded “Serve a Little,” a service providing repairs and handyman services to single mothers and military wives needing help for the safety and well-being of their families.

Humanitarian Youth: Austin Morris, Ukiah (Mendocino County)
Sponsor: Wells Fargo
Then 17-year-old Austin Morris joined an environmental study with Project Kaisei on the 151-foot brigantine Kaisei. Standing night watch, he risked his own life to save the life of another student crew-member who had fallen overboard into the icy waters. The vessel was moving along in more than 30 knots of wind, and in heavy seas with 10-12 foot swells, and both could have been swept overboard to their deaths.

Law Enforcement: CHP Officer Adam Garcia, Lake County
Sponsor: Eileen Adams
CHP Officer Adam Garcia was the first to respond to a collision between Lower Lake and Hidden Valley. Upon arrival, he found one passenger outside of the smoldering car with two others trapped inside. He approached the vehicle as it became engulfed in flames, and proceeded to risk his own safety as he pulled each of the two victims to safety.

Medical: Dr. Paula Dhanda, Kelseyville, Lake County
Sponsor: St. Joseph Health System, Sonoma County
As a young girl in Bombay, Dr. Paula Dhanda watched her father, a surgeon, serve the city’s large indigent population, providing free medical care to those who could not pay. She now follows in his footsteps by providing women’s health services to women in impoverished countries, and also trains and educates their local health providers to be able to serve their own communities better.

Military: Army Specialist Stefan LeRoy, Santa Rosa
Sponsor: Merrill Lynch
While in Afghanistan, Pfc. Stefan LeRoy risked his life while running to the aid of a wounded soldier. As he approached, he stepped on an improvised explosive device, which resulted in partial loss of both legs, and multiple other injuries. After the incident, his enthusiasm for life have led him to ski, compete in marathons, and swim with sea turtles in the Virgin Islands. His positive attitude is a true inspiration to others.

Rescue Professional: California Peace Officer/Lifeguard Tim Murphy, Bodega Bay
Sponsor: Kaiser Permanente
Lifeguard Tim Murphy saved the lives of three people struggling in rough surf at Wright’s Beach. He first swam to a female having difficulty staying afloat, and secured her to a life tube. He then swam to a man and a young boy, secured them to the tube, and then while encouraging the three victims to stay alert, he towed them about 200 yards out to calmer waters until a Coast Guard boat arrived.

The Heart of the Red Cross: Volunteers down the street, across the country
Sponsor: Pacific Gas and Electric
Three local Red Cross volunteers, June Albor, Fran Condon (both of Santa Rosa) and Jim Plank (Kelseyville, Lake County) have hearts as big as any hero. Their generosity, kindness and dedication, as well as images of Hurricane Sandy and other disasters, will be featured in the Real Heroes Breakfast’s final video.

Acknowledging the significant interplay of women’s human rights with the overall health of women and society, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) ardently support efforts to improve the dignity, autonomy, rights and health of women in the United States and globally. ACOG endorses the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) resolutions regarding the rights of women, the relationship of these rights to human rights, and the social responsibility obstetrician- gynecologists have to promote and protect women’s health in their individual and professional encounters.1, 2, 3 To this end, ACOG commits to encourage and uphold policies and action in the United States and across the world to assure that women have:

1. The right to be full and responsible citizens of their countries, with equal property, economic, voting and freedom of movement rights.
2. The right to equal education.
3. The right to work and earn a living with equal pay for equal work.
4. The right to be free of all forms of gender based violence such as domestic violence, sexual assault, incest, female infanticide, honor killings, female genital cutting and self-immolation at a husband’s death.
5. The right to the best available, scientifically based health care, including health and sexuality education.
6. The right to autonomous decision-making, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality regarding their own health care. 4
7. The right to participate equally in ethically conducted clinical and other research.
8. The right to decide when and if to have sex, including choosing one’s partner, and freedom from coerced marriage and sex trafficking.
9. The right to decide whether to have children, the number and spacing of their children, and to have the information, education and access to health services to make these choices.
10. The right to safe childbearing, with resources available to reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality.

1FIGO professional and ethical responsibilities concerning sexual and reproductive rights. International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics; 2003. Available at: http://www.figo.org/files/figo-corp/Rights Based_%20Code_of_Ethics_October%202003.pdf. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
2FIGO resolution on professional and ethical responsibilities concerning sexual and reproductive rights. London: International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics; 2003. Available at: http://www.figo.org/projects/ethical_responsibility. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
3Resolution on reproductive and sexual health. London: International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics; 2000. Available at: http://www.figo.org/projects/reproductive_and_sexual_health. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
4Ethical considerations for performing gynecologic surgery in low-resource settings abroad. Committee Opinion No. 466. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Obstet Gynecol 2010;116:793-9.

Approved by the Executive Board July 2012
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
409 12th Street, SW, PO Box 96920 •Washington, DC 20090 Telephone 202 638 5577

Nepal’s Salyan District maternity ward
Photo: Phuong Tran/IRIN

KATHMANDU, 18 March 2013 (IRIN) – While health experts applaud Nepal’s declining maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in recent years, they say this gain is unsustainable if the country does not address its lack of qualified health staff, especially midwives, to keep women in childbirth alive.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97667/Analysis-Nepal-s-maternal-mortality-decline-paradox

I listened to Dr. Paula Dhanda speak about her Mission to Nepal at a presentation in Kelseyville on March 14, 2013. The presentation inspired me to write these words.  

She is more than a doctor. Dr. Paula Dhanda is a teacher. Her medical missions and practices are instructive; man of any age or ancestry can easily gain a better understanding of benevolence examining her treatment of human beings (patients) around the world.  She educated a group in Lake County one March evening; she shared with us her recent experiences in Nepal.  By her lesson, we learned that the quality of our existence is improved when we take action to alleviate needless suffering in our world.

Dr. Dhanda’s catalyst is the belief that women and babies should not die needlessly when the causes of their deaths are preventable. She supposes they should live. We are gathered in Kelseyville; however, she transports us to Nepal as she recalls her latest medical mission. Ushered by her words and her pictures, our minds and hearts are delivered to one of the world’s most impoverished places. The need for healthcare in that region is so immense her medical team performed seven major surgeries every day. Partnered with local agencies in makeshift facilities, Dr. Dhanda alleviated some degree of suffering for nearly 1,500 patients in less than 15 days. It is her life’s purpose to provide desperately needed health care for the neediest among us.

We can see from her example the benefits of involvement over idleness. Dr. Dhanda and her team arrived in Nepal as eager volunteers. As her students, we crave action. Without hesitation, we donate money to her organization, Worldwide Healing Hands, so that she may continue on her healing mission. She has ignited in each of us a need to act selflessly, and for the benefit of others. We also perceive a unique awareness of a potential for great vastness in a single person’s sphere of influence. Dr. Dhanda is beaming in every picture; she is aglow with the light of benevolence, and we want to imitate her luminosity.

Dr. Dhanda’s students are lifelong learners as she designs her medical missions to optimize sustainability of medical expertise, medical practice, and its implementation by local people in local areas. While in Nepal, she trained local midwives. We can only compare the enormity of her surgical feats to the exchange of knowledge that occurred with each procedure. Women, once isolated from critical, medical understandings and services, learned for themselves how to protect and promote some of man’s greatest miracles: birth, life, and motherhood. Dr. Dhanda generously donated the entirety of her medical knowledge, which is perhaps the greatest gift to Nepal, as it is lasting.

She is making rounds: as a wife and a mother, as a doctor treating patients in Lake County, and as a volunteer medical mentor in the poorest neighborhoods on earth. She is teaching us all to live purposefully, to commit ourselves to the service of our fellow man, and to donate the entirety of our knowledge to those less educated or inclined so that our world can thrive.

by Hilary Devine   March 17, 2013

Dr. Paula Dhanda is being recognized for her dedication to improving the quality of healthcare for women and children in the most under served areas of the world. She began her international medical work in 2009 when she was invited by a fellow surgeon to participate in a medical mission in Chad, Africa. There they performed 50 surgeries in 2 weeks, delivered many high risk babies and trained the local staff. Since then she has led medical teams on 2 missions to Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. In 2012, Worldwide Healing Hands embarked on a mission to Nepal where they trained 10 midwives in life saving procedures, gave care to 1500 women and performed numerous surgeries.

Her efforts to alleviate suffering and promote wellness received recognition in 2010 when Adventist Health presented Her with its “Physician of the Year Mission Award.” In 2011 she received the Soroptimist Ruby Award, which acknowledges women who are working in extraordinary ways to improve the lives of women and girls. More recently, at the 2012 Stars celebration she was named Humanitarian of the Year. In 2013 she was given the American Red Cross Real Heroes award, which “recognizes those in our community who have shown courage, dedication and character through extraordinary acts of heroism and kindness.”

In the words of Dr. Paula Dhanda “Something happens to you, when you leave your family, friends and comforts behind to care for strangers. You discover the opportunity to touch lives in a lasting way.”

Kathie made a very generous donation to Worldwide Healing Hands to help women all over the world. We thank her for believing in our cause and for being part of our team. We cannot help women and children without the support and generosity of people like Kathie. This donation will change the lives of many women forever.