St. Isidore does a lot to reach out to those in need both locally and beyond. The following is a letter of gratitude from The Mission of DB Peru, a group that provides access to healthcare knowledge and delivery, and imporving living conditions of the people of Peru.
I would like to share about our work resulting from a grant with St. Isidore Church for our midwife education.
We used initial monies for our Advanced Midwife Class September 29 and 30 in the local village of San Pedro on the lower Napo River in the Peruvian Amazon. We invited only previous participants from our other classes who had had at least 15 years of midwife experience.
A strong focus was placed on coaching and preparing the first-time mother for the birth process, which was named as the number one risk in labor and delivery that was identified by midwives in our previous classes. We also gave out a medication misoprostol to be used in bleeding emergencies. Written material was given for dosage and side effects.
The midwives came away from the class feeling as if they knew a great deaf more about how to proceed when there are problems.
We feel our classes are extremely important as there is no government oversight or education for lay midwives available. And even though we all agree that having a baby in a clinic or health post is ideal, traveling to that clinic in an open canoe for several hours or more is not the ideal place to be going through the labor process or possibly delivering a baby. Having trained lay midwives available in the villages is the safest way for mothers to be checked prenatally and available to assist safely with births, especially those that have problems.
For 2019 we will be using the remaining monies from the grant for a class for new midwives, with the experienced ones on board to teach. Please convey our appreciation to St. Isidore Church for once again supporting our work in this remote area.
Sincerely,
Diana Bowie
President DB Peru
