The first of three maternal and newborn health trainings began in March for the staff of our Casa Materna in Guatemala. Thanks to funding from the Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation, special attention is being given to Newborn Resuscitation and Active Management of the Third Stage of Labor, which can prevent 66% of maternal deaths due to post-partum hemorrhage, the number one cause of maternal death in the region.
Two Casa Materna resident nurses and two Community Health Educators are the participants of these special trainings. Four volunteers along with Program Specialist Erin Pfeiffer are now in Guatemala to instruct part two of the trainings which focus on prenatal and post-partum care, maternal and newborn nutrition, and birth planning.
As seen in the photo, participants are excited to learn about these little-known subjects and they participate in lively discussions about cultural implications and practice of these new skills in the community. Participants are very engaged through hands-on practice using mannequins and anatomical models and role plays with real-life scenarios. Each woman leads a demonstration of her newly acquired skill set at the end of each training. In part three of the training in August, each staff member will become the trainer and they will be training local traditional midwives in the same skills.
