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•   La Casa de Luz- Dar la luz

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_____Newsletter______

La Casa de Luz- Dar la luz

La Casa de Luz-Midwife Training Program La Casa de Luz ( House of Birth ) was conceived to improve the lives and educational opportunities for the Traditional Indigenous Midwives and the families who occupy 8 rural shoreline communities of Lake Atitlan. While living on the lake in the year 2000, I was able to involve myself in the communities by intimately working with the local midwives, providing collaborative care for the indigenous population. What had transpired over a period of 2 years, were my observations as follows: during pregnancy and birth, traditional midwives who have received minimal or no training, attend more than 80% of the indigenous women; the midwives had few skills in which to handle complications; they failed to use basic aseptic techniques; were unfamiliar with life saving skills, such as fundal massage and proper infant stimulation; and worked under poor conditions and limited training resources. Even though most of the midwives attend the " Ministry of Health" training course once a month, they lacked basic knowledge of safe obstetric practices. An alarming fact, Guatemala ranks third in maternal and infant mortality rate in the Western world and First in Central America. Due to logistics of the rural communities here on the lake, lack of proper skills of the midwives, lack of adequate and affordable transportation, and minimal and understaffed medical facilities for receiving emergency transports, many deaths could be avoided if the midwives were thought simple techniques to provide a safe clean birth. The Government of Guatemala estimates that it has the capacity to provide in hospital obstetric care for only 20% of the population. And this will not change in the foreseeable future. The Traditional Midwife provides the indigenous population with an important source of maternity care. Therefore,the Midwife is and will continue to be, a key provider. To reduce infant and maternal mortality rates, there must be adequate training. So efforts to improve maternal and infant health must be directed towards educating and supervising these traditional Midwives. We at Clinicas Maya, believe that a pilot training school and in the future, a birthing facility, provides unparalleled opportunity for the immersion of sound Western and Traditional methods. Clinicas Maya midwife classes combine field and in class training. There are 3 different languages spoken amongst the midwives in our immediate area so this created the need to standardize the communications by holding spanish literacy courses over the past 2 1/2 years. Now we are able to offer a broader range of training and subsequent success in these areas. Our local Traditional Midwives attend classes 2 times a week for 21/2 hours. They also participate in the Dept Of Health training programs held once a month. Our curriculum includes subjects ranging from basic hygiene and nutrition, care of mother and baby during the childbearing years, to fundamental traditional practices of the Mayan People. We also offer a safe and confidencial enviornment for Midwives, pactients and individuals to discuss personal concerns or community problems.

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