Neonatal resuscitation training, a success

Nov 21, 2010 News

– Thirty-seven graduate at Project Dawn Health Care Centre

Tuesday marked an important occasion for 37 individuals who participated in a two-day neonatal resuscitation training course called “Helping Babies Breathe”. The forum was held at the Project Dawn Health Care Centre, located at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
These individuals include nurses, doctors and mid-wives who were all graduates of the course which was conducted by the Humanitarian arm of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints.

Some of the nurses who graduated from the two-day neonatal resuscitation training held at the Project Dawn Health Care Centre at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara on November 16.

Doctor Dennis Hughes, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, who is also an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, said that this course has been extended to 38 different countries around the world with the aim of teaching medical officers neonatal techniques, which can help revive and resuscitate 99 per cent of babies who suffer from asphyxia during birth.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) an average of one million babies die per year at birth and as many as 10 per cent of all newborns have breathing difficulties at birth and require some assistance.
With proper training and minimal equipment, many of the deaths of newborns due to breathing problems can be avoided.
Dr Hughes explained that this course will allow health personnel to practise organised techniques with “fairly simple equipment” that will minimise the death rate of new born babies, who are susceptible to suffer from asphyxia.
He added that over 100 health personnel in Guyana are to benefit from this training.
Kaieteur News was told that this is a “hands-on training” with a lot of practical work, instead of a “book and pen” training. It will help people become more proficient in the relevant techniques while gaining additional skills.
The Doctor further stated that a quantity of equipment that was used in the training will be donated to a number of hospitals, clinics and health care centres, after the training at the various locations is completed.
He added that the team which conducted this training consisted of four individuals, Dr Hughes included, and that a number of medical doctors were also trained before the course began, to assist the officials who were in charge of conducting the course(s).
This newspaper was told that after conducting a survey, the team concluded that in Guyana, for every 1,000 babies that are born, an average of 42 die, and this is a very high neonatal mortality rate, which the team is working to minimise.
The Church works with national health organisations and Ministries of Health from countries around the world to identify areas where training in neonatal resuscitation is most desperately needed.
The Church then sends volunteer physicians and nurses to instruct birth attendants in these areas.