By Elizabeth Grezda | Executive Director
I wanted to share with you some of the messages we have received in the last couple of weeks.
"Help! My baby is refusing to nurse!"
"I don't think I have enough milk to feed my baby. I need your help."
"I need help in breastfeeding and in bathing my baby for the first time."
"We have a teenage mom under special care who just gave birth and needs clothes for her baby and support in the first days. What can you do?"
"It's my first baby and I am really scared of giving birth. Can I speak to a midwife?"
"Does your prenatal class help dads get prepared as well? Will other fathers be there?"
New parents need knowledgeable and compassionate care right where they are. Even though there is a lot more knowledge about baby care and parenting available to access online, new parents in Tirana are turning to MamiCare more and more as they hear about our services from friends. Our brand is becoming much more widely-recognised and trusted.
Our latest news is that we have added a midwife, Esmeralda, who has dedicated herself to the work of educating moms, providing home visits and giving hands-on help at the maternity hospital for new moms. Esmeralda has experience in the public and private hospitals, and has just come to us from a break to raise her two beautiful girls. She is really good at connecting with patients and courageous in entering any home and dealing with some quite difficult cases in a timely manner.
Esmeralda's work both with MamiCare and the breastfeeding/prenatal eduation projects of the Mother and Child Hospital Foundation creates a really strong bridge between our work in the hospital and the community.
Prenatal classes have filled up for September and October, and we are at a stage where they are running smoothly and sustainably. Ilva and Greta, both midwives at the main state Maternity Hospital do a very good job guiding the parents through what to actually expect (so often not ideal), and how to have the best experience possible. If we can continue at this level, we hope to be able to expand to offering the classes either twice monthly, or include a larger group. The Baby First Aid class has also been well-attended, and we will aim to hold them monthly, instead of every two months.
Your generous giving allowed us to purchase a total of 20 high quality Breast Pumps that we have continued to make available for rent to moms who need that. Again, most of our clients come from referrals of other clients, or even from staff at the maternity hospital. One mom has held onto her pump for 12 months now, but most use the pump for an average of 4 months.
I love my MamiCare team. Every day I work with my staff who are almost all twenty years younger than I am, I am humbled and grateful. We problem-solve together, we help eachother, and because of our cohesion, we can project that warmth to new parents. We often say "Together, we can!".
In fact, you are also part of our team all working with one goal in mind - healthier and encouaraged new parents and babies. It is because of your continued giving that we feel supported and able to generously give of ourselves.
Thank you, our team behind the scenes, for all you have made possible.
With love from Tirana,
Lizzy, for all of us at MamiCare
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
