A big 'Thank You'

This post is to express our gratitude to a wonderful couple who makes life at NJH quite lively and facilitates neonatal care which has ensured quite a number of babies to live every year. 

Yes . . . you guessed right. It's Wendy and Gerry . . . the team from Grace Babies .. .. ..

Over the last 4 years, they have turned around a very docile neonatal unit to quite a busy place. About 400 babies were cared for last year. The training sessions continued this year too. Snaps from their visit. 

Of course, the gifts of baby blankets, caps and mufflers have made the place a lot colorful and the babies quite cosy. 

Well, the training sessions went a step ahead this year. Wendy trained nurses from 15 Catholic dispensaries, most of them in quite rural locales on neonatal resuscitation. 

So, the impact is going to be more widely felt . . . 

Neonatal Care . . .

Neonatal care has always been a challenge. However, we’ve been able to save quite a bit of little lives over the years. You can find quite a lot of stories on my blog. The post I can remember fast is that of KD's baby.

Jerry and Wendy

Now, a major influence in neonatal care in NJH along with many other EHA Units has been Mrs Wendy and Mr Jerry, a lovely couple from Maine, US. They have facilitated the setting up of the neonatal unit at NJH.  The construction of the unit had happened couple of years back and we also had the supportive equipment including warmers, incubators etc. Unfortunately, we found it quite difficult to operationalize the set-up because of the shortage of committed staff and the necessary administrative will-power. However, I was quite encouraged when Mrs Wendy decided to push through with the starting of the unit during her present visit to NJH.

And, she also was kind enough to give us an extended period of stay at NJH to facilitate opening of the unit. We are blessed and are thankful.

We’ve already have few very sick as well as small babies coming in. The tiniest one is about 26 weeks by gestational age born to a lady with abruptio placenta and placenta praevia. He’s just 700 gms and has made it so far.

I understand that Grace Babies, the movement through which Jerry and Wendy has been helping hospitals like us is a registered American charity with facilities for Tax Deductible Donations.

Of course, as we had been praying for quite a long time for a pediatrician, we have also been planning to upgrade the neonatal care unit with more equipment. For a start, we have realised that we need couple more each of baby warmers as well as phototherapy units.   In faith, we look towards a time when we will have a paediatrician coming in to be part of our team. . .  Meanwhile, we thank the Lord for the commitment Wendy and Jerry has shown towards the care of poor Indian babies many of whom would have died if not for their support.

And please remember the 750 gm hero in your prayers . . .