9 March 2010

An organization called Asociacion de Mujeres Salvadoreñas, contracted by the Ministry of Health, works in Estancia to provide preventative health care for women and children. AMS holds monthly medical brigades in CAIPES to perform well-child checks, and community health promoters visit pregnant women, women who have just given birth, and neonates. Silvia, Ramiro’s wife, is one of the community health promoters.

On the day following International Women’s Day, Silvia asked me to accompany her to see two women who had just returned home from giving birth in the hospital. Both were young women in their twenties, and both had delivered via cesarean section about a week ago. I agreed to go with her, help with the initial post-delivery evaluation, and remove their stitches from the surgery.

I met Silvia at her house early in the morning, and we began the hike to the two houses. She warned me early in the walk that we would be going straight up hill, and she was right. However, as we walked, she would turn back to point out various landmarks, especially sites that had been important during the war. She showed me the top of one mountain, where a giant massacre of civilians had taken place, and as we walked we talked about how much the community had suffered, but how much the community has also overcome.

We arrived at the first house. The mom was resting on the hammock with her baby girl, and Silvia and I worked together to examine them both. Part of Silvia’s work is to make sure that babies are gaining weight and are breastfeeding, and she evaluates the feeding of every newborn. She and I checked the C-section wound, and I took out the stitches. We talked to the mom for a while about feeding, emotions after giving birth for the first time, and things to expect over the next couple of days. Silvia made an appointment with the family; she would come back to visit in three days to check up.

The second house was a little more removed. The mom had given birth before, but this was her first C-section. Once again, we set about examining the mom and her new son. Both were doing well, and the wound was closed and without signs that made us worry about infection, and we took the stitches out. Once again, we spent time talking with the parents about what to expect. Silvia also talked with this family about obtaining a birth certificate, as this process had not yet been completed.

When we finished, Silvia walked me back to the road that leads to the clinic. She continued on, as she had three pregnant women to visit before the end of the day.

--Calla