Helping Babies Breathe training held at Mercy Hospital

Saturday, January 12, five Mercy staff attended the "Helping Babies Breathe" training held in the Great Hall at the CRC.  The training, arranged by Carol Nelson of Rural Health Initiative was led by neonatologist Dr. Sulaiman Sannoh. Dr. Sannoh, a native of Bo, is currently working in New Jersey.

Helping Babies Breathe teaches the initial steps of neonatal resuscitation to be accomplished within the first few moments after birth.  The practice saves lives and gives a much better start to many babies who struggle to breathe at birth. The HBB curriculum was designed to specifically meet the needs of resource limited environments.  HBB neonatal resuscitation techniques that have been shown to reduce neonatal mortality by up to 47% and fresh stillbirths by 24%. ​​​

Mercy's lead midwife, Hawa Koroma, found the training highly effective.  "We were taught how to help babies breathe in case you deliver a baby that has a heartbeat, but is not breathing.  We were able to practice using a NeoNatalie newborn simulator, which was very much like a real newborn. Mercy was able to keep three of these simulators as well as a wide variety of face masks and supplies we did not have in the maternity unit.  Most of us had learned these techniques, but this was good practice, and we love having the new equipment."