Today I completed our statistics for 2016 for our clinic.
Number of women enrolled with us for prenatal care: 531
Number of prenatal check-ups performed : 2276
Number of babies born at our clinic: 214
Transport rate for women in labor: 14%
Percentage of deliveries that were first-time moms: 32%
Number of postpartum visits done: 817
Percentage of women who had previously delivered unattended: 24%
Thank you for all of your support!!
Last week on Wednesday we started hearing that the typhoon headed towards the Philippines may affect us here in the middle of the Island of Luzon. Many of us were unfazed as we have numerous typhoons a year and it usually just means a cooler day with some rain. By Wednesday evening reports started coming in that the typhoon was picking up speed and Kalinga should expect a Signal number 5 (more than 200km/hour winds). I admit that I started to get a bit nervous.
By 11pm on Wednesday night the winds started ripping through the Province of Kalinga. For the next four hours we were bombarded with wind and rain with whole trees being uprooted and roof tops being torn off houses.
Our clinic was flooded on every floor by the rain coming in through every nook and cranny while the office roof was shredded by the winds.
At our home it was only our garden and trees that were destroyed with our house and car thankfully being spared. Oh and the kids are loving playing amongst all the felled coconut trees next door.
Driving through town the next day however, Tabuk looked like a different place. So many of the squatter homes at the side of the road were completely demolished. Almost every power line was down. Most of the beautiful tree lined roads were now covered with branches, trees trunks and electrical wires. In our beloved village of Pakak many homes were destroyed and the roof of the church was blown off.
Tabuk is in the middle of the clean up now. Burning of branches, leaves and garbage is continuous (*cough cough) and the power company is working overtime to get electricity restored. We have heard though that it may take up to two months before we get the electricity back!
Amazingly enough there were very few casualties and for that we are thankful. So we continue to press on with clean up and caring for the women that still need to have their babies.
Oh, another crazy thing, we were bombarded with labors for the week before the typhoon with all six beds full on two occasions. We just finished discharging all our postpartum mothers on Wednesday afternoon … just before the typhoon. Then, two days after the typhoon we started getting busy again! Could it be that a baby knows when its safe to come out?
(If anyone would like to donate money towards families who have lost their homes or would like to help the church in Pakak to repair their roof, you can click on the donate tab of this website. Be sure to designate the funds for typhoon relief and I will make sure it gets to some of those who need it.)
This month we celebrated the 2000th baby born at our clinic!
For me, this was another signpost of how God keeps providing for us at Abundant Grace of God.
The mother who delivered with us had delivered her other two babies with us as well, so this was an especially joyous occasion.
Mother and baby were given a gift of a new baby bath full of newborn clothes and supplies.
Welcome to the world baby Eduardo! We are so happy that you made your entrance at our clinic!
I thought it may interest everyone to hear some numbers from Abundant Grace of God.
One of the best things about being supported by a German organization (Geshenke der Hoffnung eV: www.geschenke-der-hoffnung.org) is that they have forced me to keep track of the things we are doing so that we are able to calculate our effectiveness and impact. Let me tell you that statistics are not something that I enjoy, but since doing this I have been excited to see the numbers of people we have been reaching with God’s love.
2014 Statistics!
588 ~ women were enrolled in prenatal care.
3287 ~ prenatal visits were done.
Midwife B-Lyn during prenatal check-up
1360 ~ postpartum visits were done.
286 ~ women delivered at AGGMC.
Bugnay clinic patients at Christmas party.
236 ~ women attended a prenatal seminar with devotions.
5030 ~ is number of times that we prayed for patients at AGGMC.
Well-Baby graduates.
50 ~ mothers were trained in an 8-session program of basic childcare.(Well-Baby Program)
40 ~ outreaches were done in villages surrounding our clinics in Tabuk and Bugnay.
Outreach into Lacnog.
31 ~ Filipino student midwives received short-term training at our clinic.
8 ~ of the AGGMC staff had babies this year 🙂
Claire (L) our nurse and Kate (R) our Social Worker.
6 ~ missionary midwives received training.
3 ~ new Registered Filipino Midwives were trained and hired at AGGMC.
9% ~ of women were transferred to hospital during labor.
32% ~ of women who delivered with us were first-time moms.
40% ~ of women who delivered with us had previously delivered at home unattended.
0 ~ Maternal deaths
0 ~ Newborn deaths
100% ~ of women surveyed said that they experienced God’s love at AGGMC.
Thank you for your continued support to make 2015 an even better year than last!
“Midwives are the unsung heroes of maternal and newborn health. They can prevent about two thirds of deaths among women and newborns. And midwives deliver much more than babies: They are the connective tissue for communities, helping women and girls care for their health, from family planning all the way through the postpartum period.” ~UNFPA State of the World’s Midwifery 2014
I don’t think that I could say it any better than that!
“Midwives need hands-on training to enable them to acquire and maintain competencies to provide high quality care to women and newborns.”~World Health Organization
AGGMC Staff Midwives being trained in Neonatal Resuscitation.
“Countries need to improve distribution and retention of midwives, especially in poor and remote areas.”~World Health Organization
The Bugnay Staff Midwives doing regular prenatal check-ups for the women living in the remote mountains of Tinglayan.
“Many trained midwives work abroad for better salaries and more favourable working conditions. This creates a dearth of skilled staff in countries that need them most.”~World Health Organization
Training local student midwives on basic prenatal care. Many of the students we help to train, we eventually hire as staff midwives at AGGMC.
“[Midwives] check the health of the newborn and also counsel the mother on newborn care, birth spacing and family planning.”~World Health Organization
Our monthly Well-Baby seminars in which we train mothers how to keep their babies and themselves healthy.
It is my hope that at AGGMC we are making an eternal investment into the lives of our midwives and in turn, the mothers and babies of Kalinga.
(UNFPA quote taken from unfpa.org)
(WHO quotes taken from http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/midwifery/en/)
It has been a while since my last post so I thought I would give a quick catch up on what has been happening at the clinic.
Baby John Lester
We are continuing our support and follow-up for baby John Lester as his last operation was not a success and he has to undergo another operation. Please pray for things to go well this time and that he would have lots of improvements this year. Although it is quite shocking to see his enlarged eye, he is quite a smiley and interactive baby now as opposed to before the first surgery when he was continually crying.
Baby John Lester before his second surgery.
I love Austrian Midwives!
We have had the opportunity to work with three wonderful ladies from an Austrian midwifery school this past month. They have been so much fun to teach and also to learn from! Marlene, Manuela and Johanna contacted me earlier this year about the possibility of coming to intern with us. Although we had never had Austrian midwives before it sounded like a great adventure to me. It is so interesting to hear how different midwifery is in Austria; they are very hi-tech there! They seemed to really enjoy our low-tech methods here at the clinic though – and we enjoyed them!
Manuela on prenatal day
Baby Ashley
We delivered baby Ashley at our clinic a year ago. Soon after birth she was experiencing breathing difficulties so we referred her to the hospital for further care. Ashley’s family lives far away and after they were discharged from the hospital we didn’t see them again – until this May. On May 4, Ashley and her mom Julies came for a Well-Baby Seminar which we hold monthly at the clinic as a way of following up on babies and moms after their six weeks of postpartum check-ups. We were really worried about Ashley as she was so thin and seemed to be having a lot of trouble breathing. Her mother said that she had been sick on and off since birth and that they often didn’t have the money to buy the prescribed medications for her so they stopped going for check-ups. She also said that Ashley had to sleep sitting up or she couldn’t breath! We offered to help them and the next day we accompanied Ashley and her mom for a check-up at the local pediatrician. She was diagnosed with massive pneumonia and had to be hospitalized. Julies and her family are with a government program which enrols them with the national health insurance. She knew that they were enrolled in the program but didn’t know how to use the benefits. Our social worker Kate was able to help them figure out all the paperwork and red tape and Ashley was admitted the following day for treatment. She recovered from her pneumonia after two weeks of treatment and we are continuing to follow up with Ashley to make sure she continues to gain weight and stay healthy.
Baby Ashley with her mom Julies
Well-Baby Seminar Attendees
A trip to Bugnay
On a personal note, we finally took Zion up to Bugnay to meet all his relatives! We had a great time and they boys loved all the attention that they got. Zion had his “soob” which is a tribal birthday party for all Butbut boys. The whole village came out to celebrate (well it sounded like the whole village at 3am when I was trying to sleep 😉 ). We have such a special family up in Bugnay and I am so thankful for the incredible culture that my kids get to be a part of.
Christmas is just days away – although we have been playing Christmas music here in the Philippines since September! We have so much to be thankful for this year.
We are thankful for:
• the 200 plus babies being delivered safely at our clinic.
• Marivic and B-lyn passing their board exams and becoming full-fledged Registered Midwives!
• our wonderful midwives Anie and Karen Grace for joining our team and sharing their lives and skills with the women and families of Kalinga.
• volunteers Sara and Kayla learning how to become midwives in order to serve God in the far flung areas of the world.
• Crystal coming all the way from the US to deliver baby Lucas and help me run the clinic.
• Belen, who helps take care of my family and makes it possible for me to continue directing the Abundant Grace clinic.
• all of our supporters through prayers and finances who make this clinic possible.
• Jesus, whose birth, death and resurrection is the most amazing thing to ever happen to any of us!
