Well it’s hard to believe it’s finally happening, but we are getting closer and closer to opening the doors at Boma la Mama Birth Centre.
Maureen, a colleague of mine in Edmonton is a Rotary member. Every year they fund shipping a sea container to a country in need in collaboration with the Emanuel Centre. The Emmuel gets a lot of equipment and supplies from the hospitals that are no longer in use. Basic beds, wheelchairs, delivery beds, linens, exam tables, gurneys, stretchers, IV supplies, gloves…. (also school desks!) Maureen suggested our project to the club and it’s go! We will do a presentation January 4th for club, and have already visited the warehouse to choose which items are the most useful for us.
Secondly, a private donor made a super donation which has allowed us to purchase blood pressure cuffs & stethoscopes, fetal dopplers, oxygen tanks, suction machines, newborn resuscitators, delivery & suturing instruments, a scale and a few others odds and ends. A friend of mine spent some time living in Ghana as a child, and her mother has continued to be involved with supporting projects in Africa. Over the last few years she hasn’t had an organization that she was comfortable donating to. When Therese told her Mom about Boma la Mama Birth Centre, she said she would like to see the funds go towards medical supplies. Perfect!
Finally several midwives from across Canada have responded to a Facebook request for any equipment and texts that they aren’t using. Shipping is tricky, but I am hopeful they will come through with their scales & slings, autoclaves, dopplers, opthalmasope, BP cuffs, suction units, textbooks, and more.
We will have almost all the equipment we need! Boma la Mama will still need to buy disposable items such as catheters, medications, umbilical clamps/ tape, cleaning supplies, and also will need to find money to pay salaries and rent.
Will it happen this year??? It totally might! Happy new year! can’t wait to see what will happen in 2017.
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