By Elizabeth Grezda | Executive Director
Thank you so much for your generous giving to safeguard the futures of new mothers and newborns at maternity hospitals in Albania through our foundation.
Regular prenatal classes with expecting and new mothers, hands-on help for newborns to start to breastfeed, video and booklet educational materials accessible to mothers, and life-saving equipment for the neo-natal intensive unit have helped us see medical staff and parents apply best practices for mother and baby care.
I just wanted to highlight two of our projects in the last quarter.
Work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Donation of Electric Syringes
A very generous partner helped us to secure 10 electric syringes for the doctors in the Neonatal Intensive Unit to deliver vital medicines and food to very ill pre-term babies at the hospital. Equipment like this is in short supply and we continue to have a long list of other items doctors need to fight for these tiny babies' lives. Your giving can make the difference between life and death for these fragile babies and can encourage these brave medical professionals to continue to fight with the tools they need in their hands.
Breast pumps and support
Most mothers who have their babies in the NICU need to pump to provide the milk their babies need before they can breastfeed. We are partnering with the hospital to provide weekly classes to the mothers who come in to bring milk to their babies. Topics we cover include: power-pumping, kangaroo care, breastfeeding, and taking care of their babies once they go home.
In addition, we are making available good breast pumps and individualized support to mothers who may not have access so they can avoid expensive and lower-quality formula. Pictured is the "golden" milk of one of the mothers who received a pump and instruction from our midwife Anne last week.
Breastfeeding
In order to help mothers initiate breastfeeding as early as possible, Bethany and Anne make the rounds of the ward where mothers are resting after giving birth and offer individual help. It is very common in Albania that mothers are told they have no milk and need to switch to formula on the first day after they give birth. Mothers are carefully shown how to get the precious colostrum milk on the first day, techniques of breast massage and hand expression, as well as what to look out for when they go home to make sure their babies are getting enough to eat.
Boxes of Joy
We continue delivering Boxes of Joy to mothers in great need who give birth at the Queen Geraldina Maternity Hospital. We just made up 100 boxes to keep us well-supplied for months to come in 2024!
Projects at Koco Gliozheni Maternity Hospital
- We placed 14 more TV monitors to deliver educational materials for new mothers on baby care and breastfeeding.
- We were able to donate important respiratory equipment to the NICU thanks to a generous donor like you.
Your giving truly makes a difference on individual lives and on the lives of whole families. Health needs to be protected from the first days of life where the dividends will pay off over a life-time. Thank you for being a part of the change with us and helping Albania meed its goals of lowering infant and maternal mortitly rates.
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By Elizabeth Grezda | Executive Director
By Elizabeth Grezda | Executive Director
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