Each week the Heartline Pre-natal program sees twenty pregnant women. They come from the surrounding area and are anxious to join our program. Most of them have never received pre-natal care. Our program has been consistently full for two years with a wait list of twenty women desiring to get into the program.
In the USA or other developed countries each of these woman's pregnancies would be considered "high risk". We are seeing and working with ladies that are malnourished, anemic, and suffering from diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis.
These situations mean that we need to work with them and monitor their pregnancies
very closely. We check their vitals and offer them vitamins and pre-natal/health education each Thursday. On a rotating schedule and when extra attention is needed they are seen in the exam room for a full pre-natal check at least once a month. At the end of their pregnancy we see them in the clinic room weekly.
When it comes time to deliver their babies the women can come to the Women's Center to have their baby delivered under the care of a Certified Professional Midwife. Most women in Haiti will deliver at home without the help of a medical professional. Often times women will attempt to get into a hospital to deliver, only to find out that the hospital is full or to learn that the expense is too great. Over and over again we've seen horrible outcomes for women who could not get help when they were in labor and needed immediate medical attention. Haitian women have very few choices.
This is where we come in ... Heartline offers the women in our program a safe, clean, peaceful and loving place to experience labor and delivery with trained Midwives to assist the ladies throughout their labor and delivery. There is no cost to the woman. We are here to serve them.
The difficult reality is that because these pregnancies are high risk, often times women will need to be transported to a hospital in order to receive emergency-level care.
The chief goal is to deliver a healthy baby to a healthy mom. When that becomes impossible we will be transporting our women to a local hospital. We are responsible to help them get the care they need and will get them to the hospital and act as advocates for them until they are checked in and being cared for by hospital staff.
The money being raised by the multiple men and women running the Marathon for The Heartline Women's Program will be used to purchase a make-shift ambulance. It will not be a traditional Western ambulance, but instead will be a sturdy utility vehicle that will be transformed into an ambulance and outfitted with necessary medical equipment. Our goal is to purchase a Land Cruiser similar to the one pictured below.
This vehicle will be used to save lives and to offer Haitian women better options for delivering their babies into the world safely. We want to be prepared to offer them the level of care they need and deserve. As you consider sponsoring your favorite runner please keep in mind that your dollars will be used to bless Haitian women and to save lives.
Thank you so much for caring.
(Praying with Gina after her prenatal check-up.)
With Thanks,
The Heartline Team
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