Gift Suggestions
$2500 Natural Medicine for 6 months - Local plants and herbs have been used by indigenous women of the community for hundreds of years. The clinic works with a Naturopathic practitioner who sees more than 30 patients each day. Many herbs are grown in the cooperative’s gardens. $2500 can make available the plants, the gardener, and acupuncture supplies for this essential service for the community for half a year.
$400 Prenatal care for 10 women - For less than a quarter of what prenatal care would cost for one woman in the US, we can provide screening for anemia, sexually transmitted infections, malaria, diabetes and preeclampsia for 10 women. Nursing visits, vitamins and basic prenatal care for normal pregnancies is done in the woman’s village and ultrasound can be done in Mulukuku. Care at the Casa Materna is offered to all.
$250 A month’s salary for a nurse ($3000 annually) – Nurses provide much of the primary care assessment in the countryside; they educate women about birth control options and dispense appropriately, give immunizations and are essential members of the health care team. Often they travel by boat or horseback for hours to reach women in isolated villages.
$125 A month's internet access ($1500 annually) - Internet access is now available in Mulukuku and makes a huge difference. Medical information in Spanish is accessible for doctors and those patients who can read. The internet and email allow the exchange of information with the US as well as with other women’s groups in Nicaragua. Monthly fees and upkeep for the system is expensive but essential.
$150 Casa Materna stay for one woman– The Cooperative operates a Casa Materna which is an “inn” where women from far away can come to stay for up to two weeks before they deliver so that they do not have to risk travel during labor. They receive food, shelter, education in infant and child care and training in a craft along with a daily visit with a physician, an obstetrical ultrasound and neonatal clothing and diapers.
$100 Safe delivery- Maternal mortality in the RAAN is >300 per 100,000 births (compared to 10 per 100,000 in the US). Most births are at home and unattended. The clinic offers women a clean, safe place to have a baby with trained doctors and nurses, available medications for complications and compassionate care during labor, delivery and the postpartum day. Staff are trained in infant resuscitation if needed and early breastfeeding is encouraged.
$100 Emergency transport - for an obstetrical patient to nearest hospital (4 hrs away). Available emergency care is essential to saving women’s lives in childbirth, with ectopic pregnancies, and, of course, in situations of trauma. Every week, 1-3 patients need urgent transfer to a hospital 4 hours away. If they need a C-section or are hemorrhaging, they need emergency transportation by ambulance to Boaco or Managua. We have an ambulance and driver but diesel becomes more expensive all the time.
$75 Clinics in the countryside - This gift will staff a team of 6 people going to the campo to bring health care to the people for one day. This means a doctor and nurse will identify children suffering from dehydration, diarrhea, malaria, parasites, asthma, etc. and will bring immunizations. Almost 6 out of every 100 children die before age 5 from these preventable diseases in rural areas around Mulukuku.
$30 Well woman exam and Pap smear. Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women in Nicaragua. This almost entirely preventable disease has been the cause of many deaths among young women in Mulukuku who received no screening prior to the initiation of the Pap smear program at the clinic. The MLO clinic Pap program is the model for the region. Issues of family violence are addressed at every well woman exam.
$15– birth control for one woman for one year. Increasing the time between babies directly improves mortality for women and for children. Without contraception, women die from hemorrhage, children are born smaller and are more likely to die of dehydration and malnutrition, and families are trapped in the cycle of poverty unable ever to raise their standard of living.