News Bulletin July 2014

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A grant from One Sky Giving Circle is allowing HOPE Foundation to provide essential antenatal care to 500 women as well as providing 100 of those women with safe delivery of their baby at HOPE Hospital. This project

is of great importance as only 7% of women receive antenatal care in the area. The services they receive will not only help ensure a healthy pregnancy for the mother and baby but also determine whether the mother is carrying a high risk pregnancy for obstructed labor, eclampsia or a number of other risks that she would other-wise not know of. The project further educates the women on the importance of antenatal care, family planning and maternal health as a whole, and provides a fantastic platform for education and learning. Delivery by a skilled attendant will be at the core of the education campaign, regardless of whether in the home or in a healthcare facility. Thus far, HOPE has begun providing antenatal care to 284 women under the one year long program.

Obstetric Fistula Program Going Strong! HOPE is pleased to announce that in April an obstetric fistula repair camp took place with the help of Dr. Steve Arrowsmith, world-renowned fistula surgeon from the USA and Mrs. Jacqui Smith, experienced fistula nurse from Australia. This was achieved thanks to the ongoing support of our partner - Fistula Foundation. Dr. Arrowsmith provided guid-ance and surgical assistance on complicated fistula cases as well as worked as a mentor with HOPEs fistula surgeon, Dr. Nrinmoy Biswas. Mrs. Jacqui Smith provided unparal-leled operating room training as well as fistula-specific surgical education and training to our staff of nurses, and developed appropriate hospital protocol for the operating room. The difference she was able to make in a mere two weeks was incredible. So far 39 fistula surger-ies have been completed from January to July 2014, with a high rate of success.

Nurse Jacqui Smith training HOPEs nurses on best practices for sur-gical procedures.

HOPE staff providing group counseling on safe pregnancy and distri-bution of vital supplements.

Safe Motherhood Project: Driving Down Maternal Mortality

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Dermatology Clinic at HOPE Hosted by

Visiting Doctor from USA

For the first time at HOPE, a specialized-care camp provid-

ing dermatological care took place in April with visiting

physician Dr. Ron Patrick, a Florida based dermatologist.

Dr. Patrick hosted a 3-day camp that took place both at

HOPE Hospital and at one of HOPEs Rural Medical Cen-

ters on the island of Moheshkhali. Dr. Patrick quickly be-

came familiar with the common skin problems plaguing the

local area and provided consultation and treatment to the

patients, as well as trained our hospital doctors on how to

treat these conditions. Dr. Patrick, furthermore, has agreed

to provide consultation on a volunteer basis to support on-

going dermatology care at the hospital. During his visit he

provided free care to over 160 patients.

Cleft Lip/Palate Camp

In addition to our ongoing cleft

work throughout the year with our

partner Smile Train, HOPE held an

additional cleft camp in June to

help the great need in cleft work in

Coxs Bazar. The team of 5 was led

by Dr. Imran Choudhury, a plastic

surgeon from Dhaka, where 16 cleft

lip/palates were successfully re-

paired. This camp was privately

funded by Engr. ASM Haider, a

generous businessman from Dhaka.

HOPEs cleft program is the only

one in southern Bangladesh offer-

ing such important services for free

to the poor children.

Right: Dr. Patrick examining a young girls skin disease at HOPEs Moheshkhali Medical center.

HOPES Director Awards Midwifery Students

HOPEs director and treasurer Mr. Ali Munju visited HOPE Hospital in May and worked extensively with the midwifery students. In order to boost excitement and morale among them, Mr. Munju hosted a competition to see who was leading the class in BCG Behavior, Cleanliness and Grades. The winners are as follows: Behavior Shagria Nasrin Shammy; Cleanliness Sayeda Begum and Grades Ayesha Khatun. The 3 winners were presented with a gift from Mr. Munju for their achievements. The award program will take place every year and will be sponsored by Mr. Munju.

Mr. Ali Munju posing with our wonderful CMDP students.

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Through a partnership with Scope Global, HOPE Foundation is fortunate to have a long-term volunteer placed at HOPE hospital for the duration of 18 months. Ms. Land rom Australia came to HOPE with a background in providing healthcare in remote set-tings, as well as working with vulnerable populations such as refugees and marginalized people. Volunteer experiences have taken Ms. Land to the Philippines, India, and other regions where her service was greatly needed and appreciated. At HOPE she will be working as a Nurse Educator, which will involve training both degree and non-degree nursing staff, building local capacity and reforming hospital protocols to provide higher standards of care. Ms. Land began her work in June and we are excited to have her on the HOPE team.

Patient Spotlight: Jolchina Begum

Kelly Land, Nurse from Australia joins HOPE Hospital

Fourteen years ago Jolchina became pregnant with her first child and enlisted the help of a traditional birth attendant, as all of her neighbors and family members have always done. During labor Jolchina felt something was wrong and asked the attendant if she should seek care at a hospital. The attendant replied, No, every-thing is fine. Jolchina was enduring obstructed labor for three days before the attendant finally agreed she should go to the hospital. At the hospital they performed an emergency cesarean section to re-move the already deceased child. The urinary incontinence began a few days after her surgery. Jolchina became pregnant again and gave birth to a little girl, even while suffering with the fistula. That delivery was also an emergency cesarean section and the doctor performed an ovarian ligation. The doctor at that time informed Jolchinas husband that they should not come into physical contact because of her fistula; her husband divorced her immediately, taking her only daughter.

Jolchina came to learn about HOPEs fistula program from another patient who was successfully cured of her fistula at HOPE. Jolchina felt optimistic that if her friend is repaired, then maybe she too can be. She was operated on by HOPEs Fistula Surgeon, Dr. Biswas, and her first surgery was a success! As Jolchina is remarried, she wants very badly to have a child. Dr. Biswas will perform the com-plicated surgery of reversing the ligation, at an appropriate time after recovery, to hopefully enable her to bear a child. She is looking forward to a life without incontinence and becoming a mother again.

A cured Jolchina ready to be discharged in HOPEs in-patient ward.

A special thanks to our partner Fistula Foundation for helping us help Jolchina.

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A Special Thanks to Our Donors

We need YOUR support to continue our work! Please send your tax- deductible

contribution to:

HOPE Foundation 16401 NW 2nd Ave, Ste 202 Miami, FL 33169 Check payable to: HOPE Foundation

Or donate online: www.hopeforbangladesh.org

Editorial Board: Anjumanara Mahmood, Ashley Pugh For comments and questions please write to: hopefoundation.usoffice@gmail.com Phone: 305 318 0142

Special Announcement!

HOPE is planning on building a specialized 50-bed Maternity and Fistula Center

that will boast two operating theaters and laboratories. The fistula ward will consists of 20 beds, the maternity section will have 30 beds to provide for the maternal needs of Coxs Bazar. Education and training of mid-wives, village health workers and other healthcare staff in maternal care will take place within the center. It will serve as a center of excellence in the care of obstetric fistula and maternal health.

Adbdur Razzaque

Khan

Adory Khandaker

Ali Murshed

Amazon Smile

Anam Haque

Anonymous

Ashfaq Fatmi, MD

Aziz Osmani

Bhavani Vamshee

Basir Ahmed, MD

Dr. Lori Walton

Dr. Maimuna Islam

Tariq Kamran, MD

Ehsan Siddique, MD

Eric Ilinitch

Faruk Ahmed

Global Giving

Ibrahim Jamal Uddin

Khaled R. Khuda

Md. Zakir Hussain

Md Tanvir Rahman

Mohammed Ilias Khan

Mohammed Jamaluddin

Mohammed Shahed Noor

Mohammed Quader,MD

Nadim ElRowmeim Jr

Dr. Nasar U. Ahmed

Nasimul Ahsan, MD

Nora Brownell

Olakunle Olagbemi, MD

Ratan Majumder

Sabina Spencer

Sara Eberhardy

Shaikh Hasan, MD

Shantu Thakurta

Sidiqqa Miah

South Asian JHU

Students

Syeda Tahia

Tim Cho

University of MD Bangla-

desh Association

A burn team from ReSurge International, USA will visit again in November this year to offer

reconstructive surgeries to burn patients and pro-vide training to HOPE hospital staff. Please stay

tuned for details in our next bulletin.