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Three Weeks until Nurses and Volunteers Training in Salavan

IMG_7526On December 20th, CleanBirth.org and our partner OVA will meet with the 16 nurses we have trained to date. We will check data, give a 6 month supply of birth kits and conduct a mini-training on educating Village Volunteers.

On December 21st, our 2nd Village Volunteers training will take place at Buengkharm Clinic: 3 nurses will train 11 Volunteers.

Not only will these Village Volunteers return home with knowledge about how to make birth safer, they will bring AYZH Clean Birth Kits to pregnant women in their village.

With the generous help of Carol Perks of Save the Children in northern Laos, we have developed a picture tool to track the use of the kits.  No reading required!

TBARecordOnce we see that the Volunteers can distribute and track the kits, we will be able to scale up the Village Volunteer program.  Our goal: to get kits and education into every village in Salavan Province to make birth safer.

 

 

 

 

Gratitude for Volunteers

marlawowAs I begin brainstorming about how to thank our donors this Thanksgiving, I want to give a special shout out to all of our volunteers who have made a huge difference!

First CleanBirth.org’s board has been amazing in pushing the project forward.  Jenny Fouracre, Shannon Lawton O’Boyle, and Max Zalota have enthusiastically devoted hours and so much heart to the cause.

Marla Katz, our superstar teen intern, has raised so much money I can’t believe it.  Her can-do spirit got her whole high school involved.

Dee and Kristyn with the US Ambassador
Dee and Kristyn with the US Ambassador

Dee Harlow’s efforts have put us on the map in Vientaine, Laos. Pip Boyce, Imogen Matthews and so many others made our fundraiser in Vientaine a huge success!

So grateful for the ongoing design support of Marcella Kovac atBananland, photography by Karissa Van Tassel Photography, videography by Ariana Thibodeau and invaluable SEO advice from Hoa Ton-That.

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Fundraiser at the Eli Whitney

Bill and Sally Brown at The Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop for donating the beautiful space for our New Haven Fundraiser.  To Susan Clinard whose beautiful giving, spirit made it all possible from start to finish. To Anna Festa, Kelly Bee, Holly Jermyn, Robin Ladoceur and Kiara Matos all the volunteers who pitched in.  Big thanks to the amazing businesses and artists who gave to our silent auction.

The Yale University Law School has provided us with free legal services. YaleWomenCT and Pecha Kucha enabled me to tell the CleanBirth.org story. The Fitness Haven New Haven hosted an event for us!  My fellow World Moms at World Moms Blog have spread the word about CleanBirth.org far and wide — literally!

A new and very important volunteer Natalie Gracia, an Australian medical student, is headed to Salavan this December to monitor the restocking of Clean Birth Kits and observing the next CleanBirth volunteer training.  In addition to her time she is covering the cost of her trip!

Wow I am so grateful for all of the hours all of you have spent!  With our donors, your free work has made it possible to stretch $20,000 to provide 2,000 birth kits, train 16 nurses and 20 health workers.  THANK YOU!

 

 

First CleanBirth Village Volunteers Trained!

IMG_7526We just received the most exciting email. What was an idea in July has become a reality in October.  Our partner in Laos, Our Village Association, with a local clinic in Ta-oiy Province have executed the first CleanBirth Volunteers Training!

IMG_7538The training “Making Birth Safe” was led by a local nurse, Ms. Chanpheng at Pachoudone Clinic, Ta-oiy District, SaravanProvince.  The workshop was under the chairmanship of Mr. Boundala, the head of Pachoudone Clinic.

There were 8 participants from 4 villages, unfortunately 7 others from three additional villages were kept away by heavy rains.  The participants were:

  1. Ms. Tha, woman’s union volunteer from SanaengVillage
  2. Ms. Vae, traditional midwife from SanaengVillage
  3. Ms. Koab, woman’s union volunteer from PhorbeiyVillage
  4. Ms. Koun, traditional midwife from PhorbeiyVillage
  5. Ms. Loiy, woman’s union volunteer from PachouchernVillage
  6. Ms Ms. Orn, midwife from Pachouchern Village
  7.  Ms. Lang, woman’s union volunteer from ChotaiVillage. Orn, traditional midwife from PachouchernVillage
  8. Ms. Kamouan, traditional midwife from ChotaiVillage

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The contents in the workshop included:

1. How to use the AYZH Clean Birth Kits

2. How to encourage breastfeeding

3. Warning signs in pregnancy and labor

Noi, the OVA employee tasked with coordinating CleanBirth.org’s activities on the ground, gave these details about the training:

The training room was cramped and we could not hold the training outside due to the heavy rain but the participants were interested in the topics.

The trainer used dialect language (Ta-oiy language) on the training made them clearly understand the lessons.

IMG_7554We could not be more thrilled that this training went so well, that it was led exclusively by local staff and monitored by Noi.  Locals helping each other make birth safe!

This is a great start to our CleanBirth.org Village Volunteer Training!

Global Handwashing Day!

Clean Hands Save LivesOne of CleanBirth.org’s main objectives is to prevent infection. Our AYZH Clean Birth Kits give moms everything they need for a hygienic birth.

While handwashing before delivery may seem so obvious, it is has not been the historical practice.

We have Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor, to thank for changing that. In 1847, Semmelweis proved statistically that the incidence of puerperal fever, aka childbed fever, could be drastically reduced by enforcing hand washing standards for OB doctors and nurses.

Thanks Dr. Semmelweis!  No go wash your hands!

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