Regular readers of this blog will know that we often talk about Skin to Skin Mothercare (S2SMC) or Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) as the most appropriate way of keeping babies warm, promoting bonding, preventing infection, augmenting growth and supporting breastfeeding. Mothers can also be taught to keep an eye on their baby’s breathing and general health and alert the nurses if any apnoeas (pauses in breathing) or other concerns. But mothers too need looking after.

Mothers need washing facilities for themselves and for their clothes and baby’s wraps. They need to be able to prepare food for themselves and to have access to clean drinking water. They need somewhere to sleep themselves. You can see the cook house in the background of this picture and the dormitory on the left. Some of these resident mothers are in the hospital for many weeks, either antenatally or postnatally if their baby is born early.

Women with high risk pregnancies come in antenatally and this project alone has had some impressive results when it comes to delivering the women before their babies run into trouble and therefore preventing hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (formerly “birth asphyxia”) in particular.

Having facilities like these available to the mothers of premature babies after delivery encourages them to stay on site and therefore be available to their baby for skin to skin mothercare.

We’re back in Bwindi Community Hospital for the first Generic Instructor Course (GIC) to be run here, followed by 2 x Neonatal Care Courses (NCC) where we will be supervising the newly trained instructors as they facilitate their first 2 courses.

U.S missionaries Dr. Scott and his wife Carol Kellerman started the hospital in 2003 when it was a simple outreach clinic under a tree for the Batwa people, who had been evicted from Bwindi Impenetrable forest when it was turned into a mountain gorilla sanctuary. That small clinic is now a fully-fledged hospital with 155 beds, which also houses the Uganda Nursing School and Uganda College of Health Sciences Bwindi.

The close proximity of the Impenetrable Forest makes it a beautiful place to come and teach.

Tomorrow we start work properly – 2 full days of instructor training for the 12 candidates chosen this time last year during the first 2 NCCs we ran here. There is a lot of enthusiasm from all involved and we are looking forward to getting going.