Fund Life Saving Maternal Care for Women in DRC

Hope For Our Sisters, Inc. (HFOS) is pleased to share our twelfth update with all of the investors in our endeavor to help provide life-saving maternal care through the Maternal Health Fund at the Wellness Clinic in Goma, Democractic Republic of the Congo. Our partners at the Wellness Clinic report that our maternal funds helped to pay for 170 cesarean births between September and December of 2021! There were also 357 women who had vaginal deliveries with skilled attendants in this safe location. Additionally, 1,171 prenatal visits were conducted. For families who normally might not have the option to deliver their babies anywhere but at home, with only the help of relatives or friends, it is an incredible gift to have access to such a place. It is even more amazing that treatment is not only high quality, but also free of charge or partially paid for in the cases of families who cannot afford their care. You make this possible.  

In this particular report, we want to share updates about a few lives that were truly saved by the Wellness Clinic staff and due to your generosity in providing the funding that enabled that care. Our medical partner, Dr. Myron Glick, recorded a day in which 11 deliveries occurred in just 24 hours, eight vaginally and three surgically. A cesarean section was provided to a woman with a complete placenta previa (a condition in which the placenta covers the birth canal) whose baby had passed away in utero, and she was at risk for bleeding to death while trying to deliver the stillborn child. There was also a woman whose baby was in a suboptimal position for delivery and weighed 11 pounds at birth, which could have resulted in severe injury or death for both the mother and the baby if he had become stuck on the way out. There was also surgery performed in this period for two women whose pregnancies had implanted outside of the uterus (an ectopic pregnancy), a condition that can lead to hemorrhage and death if intervention does not occur. These lives were saved in a team effort, in which you played a critical role. 

Dr. Glick also described another day at the Clinic in the fall when he was present. A baby was born essentially unresponsive and resuscitation efforts were immediately initiated. The team kept at it for 20 long minutes. In even the most developed nations, this is a serious and grave situation. However, the newborn survived and while recovery was slow, he is doing well. If this mother had been afraid to seek care because of concerns over expense and had tried to deliver at home, which is common for women who are so very poor in places like DR Congo, the baby would almost certainly have died within minutes of birth. This is a life we can all celebrate together.

As you can see, this is a hardworking and dedicated team who is making a real difference in the lives of women and families living in their community. They are able to do so because of your support. We are so grateful to partner with both you and them.

Please reach out to us at info@hopeforoursisters.org with any questions about this project or HFOS' work in general.  We also invite you to share our project page with your family and friends, and visit our Facebook page (Hope For Our Sisters, Inc.). The more awareness we can spread about the great need for attended births and maternal care in Goma, the more lives we can touch and change together. 

Links:

• HFOS Homepage

Hope For Our Sisters, Inc. (HFOS) is pleased to share our quarterly update with all of the investors in our endeavor to help provide life-saving maternal care through the Maternal Health Fund at the Wellness Clinic in Goma, Democractic Republic of the Congo. Our US-based partners have a trip to the clinic planned for October, and will provide us with more patient stories after that time. We look forward to sharing these with you! Their administrators reported that in the period from May through August 2021, 163 cesarean deliveries occured at the clinic, of which 29 women could not afford to pay anything at all. Your investments covered the cost for them, and for the 134 patients who could only pay in part. There were also 314 assisted vaginal deliveries, 15 tubal ligations (the women chose to have their "tubes tied" to stop future pregnancies), and 1,008 prenatal visits. That is 1,500 women who received much-needed quality care, and is nothing short of amazing.

Our partners have also kept us up-to-date throughout the summer on the increasingly dire coronavirus situation in the country, in Goma specifically. In July, our primary contact Dr. Myron Glick wrote: 

We are so deeply grateful for the investment from GlobalGiving, for the continued dedication of the staff at the Wellness Clinic, and for each of you who have kept this project to fund quality and timely maternal care running, even in the face of natural disasters and a global pandemic. You have saved lives with your generosity. 

Please reach out to us at info@hopeforoursisters.org with any questions about this project or HFOS' work in general.  We also invite you to share our project page with your family and friends, and visit our Facebook page (Hope For Our Sisters, Inc.). The more awareness we can spread about the great need for cesarean deliveries and maternal care in Goma, the more lives we can touch and change together.

Links:

• HFOS Homepage