"The ultrasound enables physicians at the clinic to triage challenging cases and send patients to the nearby magnet hospital for further evaluation and obstetric care. This will save the lives of pregnant women who might otherwise die in childbirth," she adds, noting that complications from pregnancy and childbirth are responsible for one third of the deaths of Malian women aged 15 to 49.
As the village and its chief welcomed the machine as a "great gift," Gerber, the GAIA director, clinic doctors, engineers, and electricians struggled with electrical conversions. Initially, the machine would drain so much electricity that the service would surge and could shut down to the entire clinic. It took about a week and a half to figure out how to configure the machine to convert the clinic's electricity.
"It was thrilling to be there when mothers would see their babies for the first time," Gerber says.
Now back from Mali, Gerber and GAIA are planning to find more machines for the community. In time, they hope to secure donated portable and stationary ultrasound machines that will afford more flexibility in terms of access to care. Currently, the machines are very expensive.
To learn more about GAIA or to donate, visit the organization's website at http://www.gaiavaccine.org.
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation's leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. The primary teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, Women & Infants is the seventh largest obstetrical service in the country with more than 9,000 deliveries per year. Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Center of Excellence from the American College of Radiography; a Center for In Vitro Maturation Excellence by SAGE In Vitro Fertilization; and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute's Gynecologic Oncology Group. The hospital was named Rhode Island's Best Place to Work by Providence Business News and a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health by the federal government. For information about Women & Infants, log on to www.womenandinfants.org.
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