Underneath heavy spring showers, SANA headed back to Btourmaz today to another most moving mission in the Dinnieh mountains.

 

SANA travelled its usual route alongside farmers who had proudly decorated their vans with their produce where a most unforgettable sight was a cucumber-decorated truck!

 

SANA arrived to the health dispensary in Btourmaz where Nurse Ghinwa, together with a large number of mothers-to-be, both Lebanese and non-Lebanese, were waiting with their toddlers in tow…

 

The morning commenced with an educational session addressing maternal health in general, and proper nutrition in particular. SANA addressed various questions from the audience, and most involved clarifying cultural myths pertaining to issues of reproductive health.

 

Subsequent to that, SANA carried out thorough medical evaluations of the expectant mothers and they were all scanned. Nurse Ghinwa carried out most of the scans and demonstrated skill in carrying out the majority of the constituents of ISUOG’s 6-Step Approach to Obstetrical Sonography.

 

However, today was marked by a high number of complicated cases seen. The first was a set of 21 week twins where one of the fetuses was found to have a congenital abnormality. Another was a mother pregnant in the first trimester, with a history of preeclampsia, who was found to have critically high blood pressure. Arrangements were made for further care for these patients. In addition, 58% of the patients seen had had a maximum of 1 prenatal care visit this pregnancy, 37% were on pregnancy 4 or more, and 16% had wrong dates and were re-dated.

 

SANA expresses its sincerest appreciation to Mr. Dory Mansour and Levant Alie Houses SAL for providing all of the nutritional supplements for today's mission.

 

SANA’s day ended with a heartbreaking encounter with an expectant mother who had just fled into Lebanon with her family in the past 48 hours after having spent many days in the fields. Her memory was flooded with horrific deeds…Her sense of loss, of displacement, of guilt at having left her homeland and neighbors were repeatedly echoed by her…There was absolute despair written all over her face that for a fleeting moment, the sight of life within her managed to erase: her face lit up at seeing her baby moving freely within…

 

And with that, SANA headed back home with a heavy heart mirrored by purple haze covering the sad skies.  Many prayers were said for a final resolution of this cloud that is so heavily obscuring the future of our children…

SANA carried out an educational/medical mission today with MSF. The day started at the MSF headquarters in Tripoli where SANA carried out an educational training session to a new group of health care providers that have now joined MSF discussing all issues pertaining to maternal health in pregnancy: physical, dietary, as well as psychological. SANA  stressed the key diagnostic labs and  sonographic evaluation that are needed at the various trimesters of pregnancy in order to optimize both maternal and neonatal outcomes, and ensure as safe a delivery as possible.

 

SANA’s team then headed to Dar Al Zahra’ (DAZ) in Abu-Samra where a large number of expectant Syrian refugees were seen. And what was most striking today about the mothers seen was their young age, 15-33 years, all between the 3^rd and 9^th month of pregnancy, and where 37.5% were pregnant on their first child. In addition, because of their young age and inexperience, most had wrong dates and SANA re-dated 68.8% of the pregnancies seen sonographically.

 

The group was a high risk group with 50% requiring a repeat cesarean delivery, one patient with a suspected anomaly, another with a history of preterm birth, another with a history of a child with congenital renal disease,  all of whom were properly counseled and further plans were made for their prenatal care.

 

SANA’s team headed back home after a long day, haunted by the image of two young innocent sisters, Nour and Fattoum, who had accompanied their mother to DAZ today: the haunting look on their faces reflected their deep-rooted sadness and the harshness of the life that they have lived, tugging at the core of our consciousness to protect these innocent minds and shelter them from the ruthlessness of our leaders…

Today SANA completed the didactic and hands-on training of the midwives and nurses at the Governmental Hospital of Seer Al Dinnieh (GHSD).

 

And after several months of twice monthly sessions, SANA was ever so proud of the GHSD team today at the skill level that they have now acquired. This was evident in the practical evaluation that SANA carried out on the team in accordance with "ISUOG's 6 Step Approach to Obstetrical Sonography".

 

Midwife Loulou Yaghi started the practical session by reviewing the 6 step approach and explaining the practical evaluation to the trainees, since she had passed the practical exam herself with flying colors on March 19.

 

The practical exam was then carried out, and the trainees successfully demonstrated the required steps... As such, plans have now been set for the closing session of this first phase of training, in order to acknowledge the trainess, and this has been planned for next month, in the presence of the GHSD's Medical Director, Dr. Omar Fatfat.

 

SANA travelled back with a magnificent backdrop of melting-snow-covered mountains, and intensely green trees, ever so proud of the huge strides taken by the outstanding team at the GHSD...