Judith Michel — Part Two
Part two: Meet Judith, student midwife with Midwives for Haiti.
Tell me a little more about your professional life so far.
After graduating from nursing school, I worked as an Infermere in Port-au-Prince. I learned a lot of basic health care skills from my four years of schooling and past experience. But it’s different learning a specialty in the Midwives For Haiti program. This instruction is much more detailed and focused specifically on care of moms and babies.
What is the most practical or important thing you’ve learned in the last few weeks?
I’ve learned a lot of important things so far [grins, stressing big hand movements]. Maybe the most practical skills so far would include finding the position of the baby in utero, doing vaginal exams, pelvic assessments, and, one of the hardest ones, suturing.
How has your clinical experience been so far? What do you think about the hospital?
I’ve loved being in the clinical setting so far; I like putting the skills we’re learning in class into action. I’ve mostly been working in the mobile clinic so far, so there’s not a lot I can say about the hospital. But we are working directly with and under a Midwives For Haiti preceptor each time so we follow their lead. Sometimes this is different than how some hospital staff work. Protocol is fine, but we need to be working above and beyond that. The preceptors teach us to be better and more compassionate than just the standard care; they teach us to pay more attention to each individual patient.
Did you see an interesting case at the mobile clinic or hospital this week? Did it connect to something you learned in class?
Yes; as I said, I’ve been going on the mobile clinic. In one site I had to rapidly teach a women what I had learned that same week. This mom was coming for a pre-natal check up and she had already previously had two babies die because her babies’ blood types were not compatible with hers. I was able to teach her that that often causes problems in pregnancy and the risk signs she should look for and when to be referred to the hospital.
What did you think of working with the Matwons?
[The last Friday of each month Midwives For Haiti schedules continuing education for local Matwons. These local, traditional birth attendants have been trained by MFH graduate Midwives on pregnancy risk signs, nutrition and the like. Current students often attend these sessions to see modeled teaching of these issues.]
I loved working with the Matwons a lot. The midwives do a great job teaching with repetition. Especially the teaching that happens in song form; that is very practical. The words and verses of the songs help you remember exactly what you need to do when attending a birth- each thing, each step.
How do you feel Midwives For Haiti is helping women in this community?
They are helping very much. To me, I think one of the most important programs is the outreach done by the mobile clinic. Many people do not have the money to go to the hospital to receive pre or post-natal check-ups or tests. So when the mobile clinic goes out and provides that care, that’s very good for the rural communities and the health of the women there.
For more updates from Judith, explore the below:
