Iquitos, Peru Project
Helping Mother’s Survive Bleeding after Child Birth (HMS)
The International Project Committee of the Littleton Rotary Club was approached by Rose Danaher, a member in the Littleton community, who is also a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner and HMS Program Manager for Global Health Initiatives Centura Health (GHI), which is a non-governmental organization within the Centura Health system. Rose knew that Rotary is a humanitarian club known world-wide and was curious to know if our club would be interested in supporting this very important life-saving program in Iquitos, Peru. HMS simulation-based training program in Peru teaches health care providers multiple ways to reduce preventable maternal deaths from post-partum hemorrhage.In the United States, we take it for granted that mothers will survive a normal delivery in the hospital. Well, that is not the case in the Amazon rain forest. This area covers 140,000 square miles where the majority of the residents live in rural locations and 63% of the population lives below poverty, and 36% of the births are at home.
The program was presented to the international committee, club and foundation members. We agreed to accept the challenge. Since the entire program is broader than we could financially take on, we said yes to finance the training materials portion of the program, an $21,000.00 ask
Almost immediately, our International Committee Director, Cindy Rold, hopped on a plane and joined Rose and GHI team to see the program in action. A small batch of training materials was on hand to launch the training program. The 1st training session was set up with our partnering Rotary Club in Iquitos, Peru. Cindy and the GHI team were greeted with open arms and training sessions began.
Upon Cindy’s return with good reports of the importance of the program and the sustainability of it, fundraising began. Champion of the program, club member Dee Leh and Rose Danaher took the program details to other area Rotary clubs to raise the money for the program. We applied for a district grant. Within no time the money was raised.
Logistics of purchasing all the materials were completed. Buying materials began and then entered Covid-19 in 2020. Travel by GHI was suspended. The program was put on hold, storing purchased materials in Littleton, so the hospitals in the USA and Peru could concentrate all efforts combating Covid-19.
Fast forward to 2023, all materials are now secure at a local hospital in Iquitos, Peru. The program continues to improve lives by training and providing quality healthcare in Iquitos, Peru.
We’re saving lives, one Momma at time!