I have been blessed to see the work of Maison de Naissance in Haiti first hand, as well as know Dr. Wickstrom. Her heart, as well as their entire team, is the catalyst that is changing the lives of the pregnant mothers and babies in Haiti. I have seen it with my own eyes and continue to be amazed at the impact they make in so many lives. Keep up the amazing work!!! If you haven't been involved with Maison de Naissance , make it a point to do so and watch how they make a difference!
As a member of Truman State's GlobeMed chapter, I have had the opportunity to work with Maison de Naissance in Haiti and The Global Birthing Home Foundation in Kansas City. The dedication from everyone to ensure that the community is able to have healthy mother and babies is inspiring and extremely effective. MN has delivered over 3,600 babies without a single infant or maternal fatality by providing HIV/AIDS screening, prenatal care, and postpartum vaccinations. The staff also provides family planning and community health education. It is clear that this organization was founded on grassroots principles because strides are always taken to ensure that the community's needs are being met for their specific situations. The commitment and hard work of staff of MN and The Global Birthing Home Foundation to ensure care for mothers and babies sets a paradigm for what all organizations should strive to be.
Although it has been 7 years since I went to Haiti and actively served MN, I still speak of the experience to anyone who will listen. My heart, spirit, and strength will be forever stronger due to the profound people I met, traveled with, and served while in Torbeck. People always praise me when I speak of the work I did, and MN does. I always reply, "Haiti, its people, and MN did more for me than I could ever repay"
My visit to MN last summer changed my perception of how effective one Non profit organization can be. I had minimal involvement with this type of program an what I found inspired me to hopefully one day start an birthing clinic in another location. MN will be my inspiration and model. I have been extremely moved and motivated by how MN functions and by the impact MN has had on the community. I plan to continue a partnership with MN and am currently working towards a return trip soon.
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Maison de Naissance has successfully provided the women in their zone of service access to experienced and knowledgeable obstetrical health care. Through MNs employment and education of a primarily Haitian staff, she has made her work and services sustainable. This is paramount to alleviating the burden of inadequate and unsafe maternal/child care that is prevalent throughout the globe. My experience while volunteering at MN allowed me to get a first hand view of the inspiring facility that is MN. Everyone involved lives and breaths for healthy moms and babies and will do everything in their power to continue making this a reality. If only they could donations to increase space and staffing Mn would be able to serve more moms and babies daily.
At Maison de Naissance, it is their mission to provide every mother with the opportunity for a safe delivery of a healthy baby, which includes 3 prenatal visits, HIV/AIDS testing, midwife supervised delivery, one postpartum visit, one family planning consultation, and a well baby visit, all for $115! That is one percent of the cost here in the USA, and their total cost to deliver a healthy baby at MN. They have delivered over 4,000 babies at MN, without a single maternal mortality, and a neonatal mortality rate of less than 2% – one quarter of the Haitian national average.
You can donate through their website. More than 90% of your donation goes directly to the cause and it is tax deductible. What a wonderful thing they do for these women and their families by helping transform an entire community. Brilliant!
First world care to women in rural Haiti, HIV negative babies born to HIV positive mothers, Free prenatal care, birthing and post natal care in to women who would otherwise have to choose between feeding her other children and caring for herself while she is pregnant. Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies it's what they call Dekabes! A double win!
Every effort is made to have the experience be in balance with the culture of the community while providing this level of healthcare. What a great way to celebrate your mother or your motherhood by donating to this wonderful foundation. Perhaps one of the lowest administrative costs you will find for your dollar, this is funded by your love and donations, please give generously.
This is the most amazing place! The thing I like best is that it provides excellent care for women and babies in a country where their lives are not valued. They are afraid to go to hospitals as they are so often abused there and the care is inadequate care anyway. MN also provides care that is culturally appropriate which is so important in so many ways. Oh, and 100% of donations go directly to care for the women and babies. They can keep women and babies healthy and alive for a tiny fraction of what it costs in the US and the women are so happy for it that they often walk miles to get there, even when in labor. Can you imagine that? Walking MILES for good care?
Since its inception in 2004, this birthing home has delivered thousands of women, giving them healthy babies, birth control options, vaccinations, and a chance at a better life. Our support of this foundation goes directly to Haiti (over 90%), as there is a very limited staff here in the US. We believe that every mother and baby in the world has a RIGHT to prenatal care and someone to help them through delivery. Maison de Naissance makes that miracle happen, free of charge, every day.
What a great way for to help some of the most needy in the world, babies and their mothers by starting Maison de Naissance. My friend, Betsy Wickstrom MD an OB in Kansas decided to help mothers and babies by starting a midwife program and birthing center in Haiti. What a wonderful way to help those in need by starting a life giving program where there was not medical assistance nearby. She goes several times a year to Haiti to support this program. If all doctors were so caring and shared their knowledge with others in need our world be a better place.
This is an absolutely wonderful non profit group, that makes it their true goal to help mothers and babies have a healthy start in Haiti. Their saying is "dekabes" happy mothers, happy babies, and they live up to that every day. They have drastically reduced infant mortality rate in their area, and far beyond, as people come from everywhere to be treated at MN. It is absolutely wonderful, and volunteering there was life changing for me, because it helped me to remember how absolutely blessed I am to have everything I do, and reminded me that I need to help as many people as I can, through this and other organizations.
MN has done some amazing things in an region that is nearly without any medical assistance for women. Their staff of employees and volunteers are dedicated and hard working, and though I have yet to visit myself, I plan to in the near future. I am very proud to donate any time or money to the foundation because I know that the money will go directly to helping people who need it.
I have visited Maison De Naissance's facility on the ground in Haiti and seen first hand the many women lined up for well baby checks, and the delivery rooms in full service. The community around the center has so much pride in the work being done there that they have even become advocates for the center as well. The best part the services are all free to the patients and no on is turned away. 1st world medicine in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Fiscally responsible, and accountable for all spending. Perhaps one of the most efficient ways to help the people of Haiti. Programs so strong that they are used to teach other centers around the nation.
Maison de Naissance opened in 2004 with the intent of breaking down barriers to prenatal care and safe delivery for women in rural southern Haiti. After almost 8 years and over 3500 deliveries, no mothers have been lost in a region where maternal mortality is distressingly common. Though initially the concept of American physicians, the protocols and procedures have been adapted by the Haitian staff of expert certified nurse midwives. Constant effort to support the local community by hiring local builders and workers, purchasing supplies in the nearby town, and interviewing patients, neighbors and community health committee members has produced a clinic and delivery service which are prized by the national health department as the reference for maternity care in Haiti. Next steps include expanding HIV care to include case management and nutrition, and integrating assistant midwives into the care team.
There is something very pure and deeply touching about the sense of relief a mother has knowing so many others value her and the life of her child. Follow MN. It will warm your heart.
Maison de Naissance was started by two doctors in Kansas City who wanted to ensure that women in the southwestern peninsula of Haiti had access to professional healthcare at the time of delivery. Their efforts to bring modern standards of healthcare to the poorest of the poor have had a dramatic effect, reducing infant mortality rates in the region by 75%. The hospital is staffed entirely by Haitians with the exception of a single ex-pat clinical director.
Since the fall of 2004 Maison de Naissance has delivered nearly 3,000 babies and conducted over 42,000 healthcare visits with women and their babies.
In Haiti, women typically have to bring their her own medical and surgical supplies and pay for medical care in advance, before being admitted to a hospital for delivering a child. Maison de Naissance provides its services free of charge.
