Sunday 17 June 2012

Zonta Birthing Kits - Canberra midwives helping babies around the world

Zonta wise I am kept fairly busy. However, most of my Zonta work is boring admin stuff. I am about to start as District Secretary for this upcoming biennium. I could post photos of me taking minutes. I suspect there are already enough blogs about that sort of thing.


Yesterday, I got out from behind the computer and went out to a Birthing Kit packing session. I had the magical opportunity for a bit of 'drive-thru' service. I pulled up in my car, ran in, did some work, ran out, drive off. Such a luxury! 

This was a small packing session - 600 kits. Small compared to our massive 4000 kits day. The Canberra branch of the Australian College of Midwives organised a packing session held at the University of Canberra - in the midwifery practice room of course.


A couple of us from the Zonta Club of Canberra Breakfast went along to do a bit of training and help out. Kerri did a spot on job at teaching. I worked on post-packing quality control. These ladies were great! Organised, friendly, all got stuck in and completed the session in under 2 hours! They were proud to be part of a bigger, greater outcome.


Primary target for birthing kits is mothers in developing countries who are giving birth on the ground. By providing a few simple items, such soap and a scalpel, that increase the cleanliness of the surrounds, the risk of potentially fatal neonatal tetnus is reduced.


Similar to this Canberra group, the University of Sydney Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery put together a short video of their birthing kit experience, which is up on the homepage for the Birthing Kit Foundation. It is very short and shows the lovely young women with a passion for their profession - go now and watch!


If you are interested in supporting Birthing Kits, the Foundation also maintains this Facebook page, and this list of upcoming packing days being run all over Australia. Here in Canberra, we are packing 3000 kits on 31 July. Come and join us! See the details on my Event Gadget - up there - on the right of this page. There'll be cake.

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