On January 8th, Dr. Jeff Sullender, from The Center for Nutrition and Energetics Research, addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua, regarding the international project in Guatemala initiated by Jeff Sullender, Adrian Levesque, and Lyn and Ernie Marino. This project was to alleviate a high incidence of maternal & infant deaths among the indigenous Maya. With financial support and encouragement from the club and the grant from Rotary International, this mid wife project is well underway.
Jeff shared some insight on what was done in Guatemala, how it was done and for whom. An extremely gratifying experience and successful one. Guatemala is one of the challenging countries – there is a lot of discrimination against the indigenous population, the language barrier. The indigenous people have a hard time trying to get any health care. The most common reason for death in women during child birth is hemorrhage.
The midwife is a trusted & respected part of the community. The midwife is a calling, not something you normally train for as a profession. Very often in clinics, resources are lacking, and what resources they do have doctors don’t want to use, in turn many women don’t survive childbirth. The Rotary grant has made it possible for several girls who want to be midwives continue education, be provided with very critical medical equipment and supplies and critical training. Due to economic strain, no lab tests can be given – no one can afford it which means training needs to be modified to help those in need. To honor the girls first 3 day clinical weekend – certificates of participation were given, memberships & training. NGO was setup specifically for the advancement of midwives in Guatemala.
Jeff thanked Rotarians for their support and generosity. The second clinical round table is planned for May 5th.
Questions
If these women are Mayan women, why are they speaking Spanish?
Jeff: The girls we are training are native Mayan in terms of ancestry – they have learned to speak Spanish. 20 girls came to the first class – 6 different Mayan languages between them. They didn’t understand each other. Spanish was a common thread for these girls to communicate. 1 midwife would serve over 1,000 women over a course of a year.
Q: Is it normal for these women to hemorrhage during childbirth?
Jeff: Many of these issues come back to the fact that these women do not receive prenatal care. These women are in poor health to start with.
Q: What is the status of birth control?
Jeff: There is no access to family planning or birth control in many communities.
Q: Is there a way to increase the number beyond 25 girls in the program?
Jeff: This is part of the plan. The problem is many of the girls come in and have difficulty with being away from home while working and doing 2 years of school and then go back home. We hope with the NGO we created, we can bring other midwives in and expand the political, economic, social impact and include the following re training – that’s the long term goal. As we phase out, we train them to take over the association – bring more midwives in and expand the power of these girls.