February 2012
2 posts
Post from the Field: Lauren Abrams
This post from the field comes from Lauren Abrams, a certified nurse and midwife who has worked with Saving Mothers since the very beginning. She just recently traveled to Guatemala and spent a week living with a Guatemalan comadrona to immerse herself more deeply in understanding the challenges and opportunities that exist in providing health care to local women. We hope you enjoy reading her...
Post from the Field: Leiann Lopez
Happy Monday everybody! Today we have a post from the field from one of the newest additions to our Saving Mothers team, Leiann Lopez. Leiann is our new Donors & Members Liason and she recently took a trip down to Guatemala to get a feel for the work Saving Mothers is doing there. I hope you enjoy reading her account of her experience, as well as checking out some of her lovely photos. Without...
January 2012
5 posts
MAMA
There was a great article written in the Huffington Post today by the Executive Director of the International Museum of Women Clare Winterton about how we as a society value mothers today. Ms. Winterton addresses some of the realities of motherhood in modern society from the stigma surrounding issues like infertility or postpartum depression to the larger social issue of equality between women and...
Birth Kit Event @ the Museum of Motherhood
On Saturday, January 7, Saving Mothers hosted a Birth Kit event at the Museum of Motherhood. Joy Rose, the museum’s founder, was gracious enough to share her beautiful space with us.
Much to our surprise, eight wonderful women along with their children volunteered their time to help us put together birth kits for our trip to Guatemala next week. Not only did they help us make the kits, but many...
Saving Mothers 2011 Newsletter
As we come to the end of the year, I thought I’d share a link to our 2011 Newsletter! It’s been a busy year for Saving Mothers, what with field work in Guatemala and Liberia, our Mother’s Day campaign, our 2nd annual fundraising event, and numerous other projects to promote maternal health and wellness in the US and abroad. Thank you to all of you out there who have supported us...
December 2011
1 post
WatchCheck out some footage from the recent event at the Museum of Motherhood in NYC, where our Saving Mothers team members Jessica Oliveira and Sam Smith spoke about our ongoing public health initiatives. We hope you enjoy the video and please check out mediamom.com to check out other videos of presentations at the conference!
November 2011
6 posts
Spreading the Word about Saving Mothers' Midwifery...
Last week, Saving Mothers Medical Director Tara Shirazian spoke at the recent meeting of NYC Midwives, the local chapter of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Forty midwives and 13 midwifery students listened to Dr. Shirazian’s presentation on global health and Saving Mothers’ vital work in the developing world.
Dr. Shirazian focused in particular on the Saving Mothers Guatemala...
Saving Mothers' Samantha Smith wins...
This month, Saving Mothers’ Student Chapter Director Samantha Smith won a seed grant for $500 from DoSomething.org for her Buttons for Birth Campaign to raise awareness about maternal health issues in Guatemala.
Here is the piece Do Something published on their website about Samantha’s project:
After volunteering with Saving Mothers, Samantha decided she wanted to start a project...
Participate in Afya's Annual Sortathon!
On Saturday, Nov. 12, the Afya Foundation is holding its annual sortathon to organize medical supplies to be shipped to Haiti and Africa. Afya is a nonprofit dedicated to collecting medical and humanitarian supplies for distribution in under-resourced countries. Since Afya’s founding in 2007, its done an amazing job providing essential aid to people all over the world. Saving Mothers is...
From the field: Jessica Oliveira on Saving Mothers...
Saving Mothers Guatemala Program Director Jessica Oliveira recently returned from Guatemala. Here are some reflections on her experience:
So things keep going better each day here. We are building great connections and receiving lots of support for our programs. I am falling in love more and more everyday with these beautiful people in this beautiful place. We had some great meetings with the...
October 2011
3 posts
New recommendations for HPV vaccine cause...
The HPV vaccine Gardasil has been controversial ever since it received FDA approval back in 2006 for the prevention of certain strains* of the human papilloma virus (HPV) in women. Since the vaccine doesn’t work against existing infections, the FDA recommended that Gardasil be administered to girls around the age of 11 or 12, before the onset of puberty and sexual activity.
The...
The Beauty of Small Fixes
I love the New York Times’ Small Fixes section. Touted as “A special section on low-cost innovations that can save thousands of lives” it takes on everything from biodegradable toilets used to turn waste into fertilizer in the developing world to providing mother-baby packs to HIV-positive pregnant women. I find it endlessly fascinating to read about creative and inexpensive...
Post from the field
This week, we have a guest post from Alexis Tran, a third year ob-gyn resident who’s volunteering with Saving Mothers in Guatemala. Alexis will be sharing the details of her experiences in Santiago Atitlan with us in a series of posts.
Five Days in Santiago Atitlan
The days unfold slowly. My walk through the highlands to the Hospitalito calms me as I pass local women, children, animals,...
September 2011
6 posts
Free Formula for New Mothers: Do or Don't?
There’s been a lot of media buzz around the common hospital practice of providing free formula samples to new mothers when they leave the hospital after giving birth. For years, hospitals all over the U.S. have distributed formula samples to new mothers as part of their post-partum care packages. However, in recent years, organizations like the CDC have criticized this practice, claiming that it...
Maternal Health Monday
Monday was a big day for maternal and child health as Every Woman Every Child held events at U.N. headquarters in New York City. In just one year, Every Woman Every Child has made great progress advancing the Millennium Development Goals for women’s and children’s health.
The goals they’ve set for are extremely ambitious: saving the lives of 16 million women and children, ending...
Every Mother, Every Child
Today, the Lancet published a piece about the U.N.’s most recent report from the Every Woman, Every Child Innovation Working Group. The report discusses different innovative approaches to address maternal and infant mortality around the world. The focus is on self-sustainable models that can be scaled up from small to large as fitting given the situation.
The report goes into detail on a...
Notes from Guatemala: Volunteer update
Happy Labor Day everyone! Today we’re sharing the latest post from Jackie Candido, who’s been writing about her experience volunteering as a nurse with Saving Mothers in Guatemala.
Aug. 31, 2011
Obstetrics without a safety net
In case you only read the first line of this post, I am going to start off with a plea: If you are an obstetrician and are looking to do some volunteer work,...
August 2011
7 posts
Notes from Guatemala: Window into delivery
Here’s the second installment from our amazing Saving Mothers volunteer Jackie Candido, writing to us from Santiago, Guatemala about her experience at the Hospitalito Atitlan.
Aug. 25, 2011
An OB patient arrived at the Hospitalito today for rule-out labor, and it was like Christmas for the Hospitalito gringos. Anjie, our UVA med student, is dying to do her first delivery. Isobel, our...
Jacaranda Health: Mobile Health in Nairobi
Here at Saving Mothers, we are always excited to hear about the launch of new programs and initiatives designed to help improve maternal and newborn health in the developing world. It is always inspiring to see the innovative approaches people take in trying to make a difference, which is why I so enjoyed reading about the launch of the Jacaranda Mobile Health Clinic in Nairobi.
Jacaranda...
Notes from the field
As part of a special series, I’ll be posting updates from Jackie Candido, RN, BSN, who is spending three weeks volunteering through Saving Mothers at the Hospitalito Atitlan in Santiago, Guatemala. Jackie has worked for the past two years on the Labor and Delivery floor at Mount Sinai hospital in NYC, though just relocated to the west coast this month. She received her BSN from UPenn in...
The Male Perspective
Here at Saving Mothers, we spend a lot of time talking and thinking and writing about the experience of birth from the mother’s perspective so I thought it would make for a nice change of pace to share a birth story from the male point of view.
Alex Williams is a staff writer for the New York Times and he has written about his experience during the birth of his first child as well as about...
America's Home Birth Trend
Over the past decade, an increasing number of American women are chosing to give birth at home rather than birthing centers or hospitals. The number of home births is still less than 1% of the 4.2 million births that take place in the U.S. each year, but the number is growing rapidly as many women seek out a more “natural” way to deliver.
In most cases, women go to hospitals to...
Healthy babies are worth the wait
The March of Dimes has launched a new campaign called “Healthy babies are worth the wait.” The goal: To reduce the number of babies born pre-term due to the trend of inducing labor early and elective Cesarean sections.
According to medical guidelines, fetal development is complete at 39 weeks. But the number of deliveries taking place earlier is on the rise. In a New York Times article, Dr. Uma...
The Significance of World Breastfeeding Week
Today is the first day of World Breastfeeding Week. As a social and political issue, breastfeeding has been a hot button topic in recent years. For years, women have been trying to balance the recommendations of doctors and health organizations with their own routines, abilities and expectations. Why is breastfeeding so important, and how can women learn to breastfeed in a...
July 2011
5 posts
Mitali's Story -- An Editorial by Christy... →
Health screenings for infants: Always the right...
Testing a few drops of blood from a newborn’s heel can screen for a multitude of medical conditions. According to The Wall Street Journal, this type of testing identifies at least 3,400 newborns with medical issues annually. Some of these diagnoses can be profoundly life changing. For example, phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder that leads to brain damage if left unchecked, can be...
Sierra Leone jumpstarts maternal health services
The New York Times reports that the government in Sierra Leone is waiving fees for hospital services for pregnant women and children, leading to a sharp increase in the number of women and children receiving care. According to the article, “Since waiving the fees, Sierra Leone has seen a 214% increase in the number of children under five getting care at health facilities, a 61% decrease in...
The Ambulance on Foot: Improving Access to...
This morning, I read an article on the IRIN website that piqued my interest. Titled “Hammocks make a difference to maternal health,” it focused on maternal health in the Philippines — specifically, an initiative that has worked to bring more women into clinics and hospitals when they are ready to give birth.
The program revolves around the ayod, a sort of portable hammock or...
Fetal Programming: A study to improve fetal...
Today, the Wall Street Journal published an article on fetal programming: the act of trying to influence bodily processes in the developing fetus while still in the womb through use of drugs or changes to the mothers’ diet. The reason for scientific research into fetal programming is simple: during fetal development, the human body establishes innate set points that can’t be altered...
June 2011
6 posts
Thank you for your support!
Yesterday evening, we at Saving Mothers hosted our second annual benefit.
Thanks to all the wonderful supporters who turned out at the Mason Jar last night or made contributions to mark the occasion, we raised over $6,000. All of us at Saving Mothers want to extend our heartfelt thanks for the generosity of everyone who helped us make this event such a success, from the folks at the Mason Jar...
Don't Miss Saving Mothers' Second Annual Benefit...
Saving Mothers is hosting its annual benefit in New York City tomorrow. Exciting stuff- not only because the event itself will be awesome (food! drinks! silent auctioning!) but because of what events like this enable our organization to accomplish.
As a non-profit, Saving Mothers relies on the support of people who believe in our cause and want to make a tangible difference in the lives of women...
Midwifery & Maternal Health 2011
This past Monday, the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) released a report entitled The State of the World’s Midwifery 2001: Delivering Health, Saving Lives in response to the ‘Global Call to Action’ issued at the first-ever Symposium on Strengthening Midwifery in Washington D.C. last summer. The report presents data on midwifery around the globe, and provides profiles for 58...
Countdown to Zero: Preventing Mother-to-Child...
Last week, UNAIDS (the joint United Nations program combating HIV and AIDS) launched a new global initiative with the ambitious goal of eliminating new HIV infections among infants and dramatically improving the quality of life for HIV-positive mothers and expectant mothers by 2015. The plan is designed to cover all middle- and low-income countries, but focuses specifically on the 22 countries*...
Indispensable: Family Planning Services in America
You can hardly open a paper these days without reading about another state attempting to end family planning services or cut funds from Planned Parenthood. Indiana has gone the farthest — actually enacting a law that would ban the use of Medicaid funds for Planned Parenthood — but other states like North Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin and Tennessee have introduced similar measures.
...
May 2011
7 posts
U.N. presents plan to improve maternal and child...
On May 19, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon set out on a trip to visit Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ethiopia and France as part of the “Every Woman, Every Child” global health effort launched last September, which focuses primarily on maternal and child health.
During his time in Nigeria, Mr. Ban announced the release of a plan for implementing nutritional guidelines,...
Get your tickets for Saving Mothers' Annual...
Today, I’m writing to invite you to a special event coming up next month. It’s the Saving Mothers annual benefit!
What: The Saving Mothers Annual Benefit — a night of food, fun and entertainment in support of Saving Mothers. There will be a silent auction, and all proceeds from the event will go toward our ongoing health programs in Guatemala and Liberia.
When: June 28,...
Maternal Health Challenge: And the winner is...
A few months back, ABC News, the Duke Global Health Institute and the Lemelson Foundation launched a challenge for university students. Called the “Be the Change: Save a Life Maternal Health Challenge,” it was designed to encourage students to think about the issue of maternal health and provide creative and implementable strategies to help women and children around the world.
...
Mother's Day follow-up: Nicholas Kristof on...
It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Nicholas Kristof here at Saving Mothers. Over the years, he has done an amazing job of bringing attention to key pubic health issues around the globe.
For Mother’s Day, Kristof wrote a poignant piece for the New York Times titled “Mothers We Could Save.” The article uses the example of Hinda Hassan, a woman in Somaliland —...
Mothers Day is just around the corner...
So remember to celebrate your mother with a special card from Saving Mothers! Today is the last day to purchase physical cards (we’ll be selling electronic cards up until the weekend) Visit our website to read about the details and buy your card today!
April 2011
10 posts
Social Media and Women's Health
Last week, I read an article about Mama: Together for Safe Births in Crises, a new type of social media tool developed by the Women’s Refugee Commission and M4ID to connect maternal health practitioners in areas affected by crises to other healthcare providers and experts using Facebook and text messaging. The overarching goal is to save the lives of women in conflict and post-conflict...
Mother's Day Campaign: It's on!
This week, Saving Mothers is kicking off our annual Mother’s Day Campaign to raise funds to support its ongoing maternal health initiatives around the world.
It works like this:
1) You decide that you’d like to send your fantastic mom a special Mother’s Day card, making a $25 donation in her name to Saving Mothers
2) You visit the Saving Mothers website to fill out the...