Baglung Hospital

(I can't upload the photos right now as our internet connection is poor, but you could visit Kristi Rose Mintz on Instagram if you are interested, I will try and get them on this post soon!)

May 11/2016
I'm sitting down to write a new post as a mid-afternoon thunder and rain storm is blowing over.  In Nepal we are just about to enter the monsoon season. In the morning we see the sun and then the intense building of humidity and pressure begins culminating finally in the relief of rain and thunder around 3pm.  It is a welcome reprieve from the heat as it is over 30 degrees every day.  The countryside has been experiencing a drought, rivers are extremely low and the farmland yellow and waiting to spring into the life that only water will bring.

The last few days we have been in Baglung and have finally started our clinical placement.  We have witnessed and participated in the births of three babies in the last two days. We have also spent a lot of time trying to overcome the language barrier so that we can get to know the nurses here who are primarily in charge of managing birth in the public facility in which we are working.  The public facilities here in Nepal are free for women.  In fact women receive a monetary incentive to give birth here.  If they also attend 4 prenatal appointments the government will give them another small additional amount.  All in an effort to have women deliver their babies with a Skilled Birth Attendant. (SBA)

The hospital we are working in has some of the best conditions for a public facility in the country and as you can see by the pictures it is still very different than a facility in Canada.  The infant resuscitation table is 30 years old, and there are no cozy beds or bathtubs.  As a healthcare worker, there isn't even water readily available to wash our hands and if there is soap that is a bonus.  We bring our own gloves, sanitizer, soap and toilet paper so that we don't use up what little of these items that the hospital may have.

We have done some teaching already with some of the nurses and student nurses.  We have brought them birthing dolls and newborn dolls so that we can teach using them.  We will also leave these tools with them so that they can continue to practice emergency skills and use them for further teaching once we go.  We have several workshops to do with these dolls in the next few weeks with Skilled Birth Attendants who live in the more remote district of Baglung.

We have been challenged, we have been brought to tears and we have found our inner momma bears roar at numerous things that we see and experience and this is only just the beginning.