News Release - Midwives For Haiti to begin off-roads “adventure”
September 10, 2010
Richmond-based effort will improve access to care for as many as 4,500 Haitian women
(Richmond, Va. – September 10, 2010) To celebrate its fourth anniversary, Midwives For Haiti is using a unique vehicle to triple the number of pregnant Haitian women that midwives reach: a hot pink Jeep. Painted to match the color of scrubs worn by the student midwives of the teaching program, the off-road vehicle is designed to enable prenatal care and skilled birth assistance for women in some of Haiti’s hardest-to-reach villages.
The 1987 Jeep Wrangler, specially refurbished for third-world conditions, is made possible thanks to generous donations from Central Virginia organizations and individuals. It will be on tour for those supporters, beginning September 10.
- Friday, September 10, 7 a.m.-noon: Physical Therapy Solutions in Mechanicsville (across from Pasta House)
- Friday, September 10, 1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.: Virginia Women’s Center’s office at the Forest Medical Plaza, a block east of Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, off Discovery Drive
- Sunday, September 11, West Richmond Church of the Brethren, 7612 Wanymala Road, off Skipwith Road
- Monday, September 13, 7:30 a.m.: Western Henrico Rotary Club, at the Westwood Club
- TBA: St. Mary’s Hospital for special blessing; other Bon Secours locations tba
- Updates are being posted at twitter.com/midwives4haiti and on Facebook.
Following the Central Virginia tour, the Jeep will be shipped to Hinche (about 60 miles northeast of Port-au-Prince) where the midwives will coordinate with Caritas, an organization associated with the Catholic Diocese of Hinche that supports agricultural and health-care initiatives, to visit 12-15 rural clinics each month.
Founder of Midwives For Haiti Nadene Brunk, a certified nurse midwife practicing with Virginia Women’s Center in Richmond, said, “The Ministry of Health in Haiti has recognized that long distances, inadequate transportation and lack of information mean that many women do not get to medical facilities in time to save their lives. The World Health Organization estimates 1 in 17 women may die from childbirth in Haiti, mostly due to pregnancy-induced-hypertension, eclampsia, sepsis and postpartum hemorrhage. Haiti’s maternal mortality rate is 65 times higher than that of the United States. The infant mortality rate is eight times higher.
Midwives For Haiti effort will improve access to care for as many as 4,500 Haitian women
“We are eager to get to these women,” Brunk said. She estimates that the Jeep will allow midwives and volunteers to reach as many as 4,500 women per year living in the rural mountains of Haiti.
Midwives For Haiti made its first official visit to meet and teach skills to Haitian women in 2006. Two years later, the group graduated its first class of eight midwifery-trained Haitian women. A second class of eight women graduated in 2009. A third class of 11 students will graduate this fall. Then, the fourth class of 12 to 15 women will be selected for January enrollment.
All graduates are employed, using their skills in Hinche, Fond Parisiene, Thomassique and Circa La Source to administer prenatal care and help deliver babies safely. Midwives For Haiti estimates that the midwives are seeing close to 1,500 women annually.
The Jeep cost about $70,000, not including customs fees and tax. Funding was provided by Bon Secours Health System, the Western Henrico Rotary Club and Heidi Braun, M.D. of Virginia Women’s Center and husband Alan Pietruszkiewicz of Physical Therapy Solutions. It is the third of its kind refurbished by Jeff Daniel’s Jeep of Harleysville, Pennsylvania.
The Jeep’s built-in features include:
- 110-watt converter for running ultrasound equipment and recharging phones
- Stretcher for transport to St. Therese Hopital
- Combination snake-jaw suspension, designed for third-world countries
- Five-foot above-ground air-intake snorkel
- Full stainless steel exhaust system and stack with stainless steel heat shield
- Interior air-conditioning
- Room for six people in the main cab. Side seating in the back can hold eight people comfortably. Up to four people can stand on rails on the Jeeps exterior
- Roll-cage with canopy features an eight-foot spooled awning that extends 12 x 24 for shade and privacy (with six-foot side drops)
- On-board compressed air for filling tires; two spare tires in overhead roll-cage
- Five-speed manual transmission
- Two utility lockboxes for spare parts and medications
- Extra-ply Kevlar tires for sidewall puncture protection
- 4 BT Cummins engine, typically found in midsize vans
- Hydro brakes and power steering
- Rear differentials from a three-quarter ton pickup truck Dana 60 front and rear axels
Dan Ziegler, owner of Jeff Daniel’s Jeep Customizing, which performed the refurbishment, and a frequent traveler to Haiti, said the vehicle was built to last 10 to 20 years.
Brunk said most of the village stops have been two to three hours outside Hinche and nearly impossible to reach by car. “With the Jeep we anticipate being able to reach them successfully in about an hour and a half,” she said.
Ronel Elficasse, the driver for volunteers of Midwives For Haiti since 1996 said he is looking forward to parking his 1974 Toyota.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Bon Secours Richmond Health System
Jeff Daniel’s Jeep Customizing
United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals
Last updated September 10, 2010
