Help end maternal deaths - send your photos or stories about health workers who have helped you.

[Carriemumsnet]

Our friends at the White Ribbon Alliance want our help in celebrating health workers as superheroes. They're demanding that the G8 leaders act to fill the global shortfall of health workers, and they want us to send photos or stories of ordinary health workers who've been doing extraordinary things in their everyday work, to show our support. If you're involved in events to celebrate the International Day of the Midwife on May 5th, or International Nurses Day on May 12th, send a photo! If not, then please send a story or photo of a health worker who's touched your life, to show the G8 leaders how important health workers are. You can download a full action pack here and read more about Mumsnet's involvement with the Maternal Mortality campaign here. But just in case you don't get round to downloading the pdf all you have to do is.... email your photo/story to Maeve Shearlaw on [email protected] by the 25th of May 2010, along with

Name(s):
Organization affiliation (if applicable): Please put MN somewhere so we can see how many folks take part!
Address:
Country:
Telephone Number:
Email Address:

Your superhero health worker:
What is their name?

Where do they work? (i.e. hospital, region, country)

What is their story? Why are they a superhero?

Thanks all

MNHQ

I'm not sure of the persons full proper name or spelling.
I know how to say it but not spell it. Should I bother?

Absolutely - don't think they are wanting to track down the individuals just give a sense of what having a dedicated health worker can mean, particularly to a pregnant woman. So any pix you have of you with babe and midwife, even if you can't recall her name - send 'em in!

And please post here if you do send a comment or photo - might encourage others to join you

I'll always remember the first time my Health Visitor came round to do the check up on my first-born. She held DD1 in her arms and said to me "Don't I just have the best job in the world?"

She's a lovely lady.

P.S. She said exactly the same with DD2 [lump in throat]

My midwife, who'd come here to work from Holland, and who pronounced 'physiological' in startlingly new way .

She had already spent several years in the developing world and was here to make money to go back unpaid. Her shift ended, she stayed for another 3 hours, then went home for 2.5 hours sleep, then came back, then pressed the scary green button at just the right time when things started to go wrong.

Shamefully, I can't remember her name. But I will never ever forget her.

EEEk! is it the wrong thread to say taht none of the midwives I encountered in 2 pg and labours inspired much confidence in me? but I really like what these folks are up to.

onebat - this is probably completely off beam but were you in London, and was she small and slight with long mid-brown hair? If so I think I might know her (although there may be quite a few Dutch midwives who periodically work in developing countries)!

Everyone I encountered during pregnancy, birth, and afterwards were so fantastic. Especially during the last stages of delivery - they were so calm and generally wonderful that I didn't have the faintest clue there was a problem, and I will always be so appreciative of that.

goes off to post box of chocolates to the hospital

Ooh giddly - yes, it was UCH in 2001! With glasses, I'm sure. How amazing if you know her - I'm sure I would recognise her name if I saw it.. And I'd love her to know how very much we appreciated everything about her.

That's the right hospital. Was her name Addie? I'm not at all surprised you were so impressed - she's great - worked overseas with her!

YES!!!!! HOW AMAZING!

Oh,oh! will you tell her how amazing we all thought she was, and what an enormous difference she made! Oh, I'm weeping! Tell her she came to our flat in Parkway NW1 for a home visit especially. Oh, how absolutely lovely. She was everything I could have hoped for.

AS soon as I saw your post I just knew it was her!

Have a look at this and see what she's up to now ( this is a bit out of date but I think she still goes back and forth to Aghanistan quite a lot!)
www.merlin.org.uk/Lists/Feature-Detail.aspx?id=606
I think she also went and assisted in the Haiti earthquake, and I know whe was involved in the Asian Tsunami response.
She's a bit of a legend.
I've lost touch a bit but still hear what she's up to and admire her greatly.

Oh giddly, thanks so much! I've made a (rather pitiful) donation in her name to Merlin, whom I hadn't heard of before but will definitely watch out for now.

What an astonishing coincidence - I've had a residual sense of guilt at not having said thank you to her properly, and now I feel I've done so.Thank you so much!

I was very, very lucky to have a brilliant health visitor called Ann Burnip with both children. With my first baby she listened to me rambling on in tears and diagnosing PND and persuading me to see my GP for treatment, and with my second baby she just listened and humoured a mother happy to be a mother but wanting adult conversation and encouragement to engage outside the house.

A good health visitor is worth their weight in gold, literally.

I had a lovely midwife called Steff Carr at my homebirth in 2006 with my first child. I felt in such control and everything went so well i ended up thinking childbirth was a breeze.

DS1 wasn't so easy but come ds2 i called up the local team and along came a midwife. She was with me for 15 mins before my second son was born. It was astonsihing and amazing and talking to the midwife afterwards i realsied it was her. It made the birth even more special so thank you Steff in Brighton.

My god, this has been up nearly a week and only 15 posts. And Foxy's post was that she didn't even have good let alone outstanding care.

I think this speaks volumes.

I was lucky enough to have several fantastic midwives, notably my community midwives. Especially Bev who attended my attempt at homebirth (well, day 3 of it) then accompanied me to hospital. Was with me 12 hours in total and she just about stopped me from losing it altogether. Lovely lady.

My midwife Stephanie at East Surrey hospital was amazing. It was my third time but she made me feel so calm even tho i had a ruptured placenta. When i was in the worst of pain it was her i asked for and she made sure i got a bath and something to eat (which i didn't get on either of my first 2 labours) even though it was the middle of the night and they were busy (and waiting for my delivery room) She made the experience bearable and memorable (for being so good). Thank you Stephanie!!!

Hello
Thanks for all your lovely messages about Addie Koster. We'll definitely send the link to this thread on to her as I'm sure she'd be delighted to see the difference she made to you.

Also, we noticed your interest in celebrating healthworkers as heroes. We're absolutely delighted to see this, and thought you would be interested in our Hands Up for Health Worker's campaign www.handsupforhealthworkers.org

We want to hand 10,000 signatures to world leaders at the UN Summit in September, calling for health workers to be trained, paid, supported and championed! We believe that world leaders must recognise that unless they direct health funding towards health workers global health targets will never be reached. And thousands of people will continue to die needlessly.

We know that ending needless deaths starts with training health worker so if you could put your hand up for a health worker that would be amazing!

Thank you so much

MerlinUK

Addie Koster! She helped me deliver my daughter on the car, just outside UCH, 23 years ago. Like me, she'd worked in Rwanda after the genocide. We saw each other a few times after my daughter was born, but then I lost touch; I've tried several times to find her but couldn't.
If somebody knows how to find her please let me know! Or please give her my name and email ([email protected]) so that I can reconnect with her! Thank you!