By Tim Holmes | Fundraising Coordinator
Funding and maintaining specialist hospital equiment is one of our biggest challenges in Haiti. The harsh environment and sometimes unstable power supply can mean sensitive equipment like incubators have a limited lifespan and need regular repairs and replacement.
Thankfully, the hospital has recently received four new infant incubators, which is a welcome upgrade to their NICU facilities. These are vital tools in caring for premature and critically sick babies, providing a controlled environment where they can be closely monitored and protected from outside infection.
These new incubators are not a model the staff have previously used so they have all been receiving training on how to safely and effectively use them.
One recent story shows how important every element of our maternity and NICU service is, from the personnel in the community to the specialist NICU equipment like these new incubators.
One of our community-based Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) recently attended a birth where the baby quickly suffered breathing difficulties. The TBA arranged rapid transport to our NICU unit where the staff quickly determined the baby's lungs and liver were under developed. Treatment including CPAP breathing support and phototherapy thankfully saw the baby improve over a few days and safely returned home with Mum. Without the trained TBA, the NICU capacity to receive the baby, and the specialist knowledge and equipment to treat him, the result could have been a tragic one.
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