HBB Class 6 - Training the Trainers - Hoang Hoa Medical Center March 28, 2015

Today we had 8 people return for the HBB Trainer class.  Physicians, nurses and midwives.  All very experienced and knowledgeable.  We start our HBB Provider classes by having the students introduce themselves and tell us where they are from, where they work, and how far they traveled to be here.  At the Trainer classes, we ask the students to introduce themselves and tell us who they plan to teach.  Today I got chills when they told us who they plan to teach.  One of the physicians from the Hong Da Medical Center said the he plans to teach his colleagues, his residents - and around 200 midwives who work in small ethnic villages.  Another physician said that she works with midwives and birth attendants in 199 different ethnic villages and she wants to teach them.  Amazing!  This is exactly what HBB is about and for.

Since we have been here, we have heard varying stories of who delivers babies and where babies are delivered.  Some have a planned C-section so the baby can be born on a 'lucky' day.  Some say everyone is born in a hospital.  Others said that everyone would like to have their baby in a hospital but that many can't get to a hospital, can't pay for a hospital, or are just not close enough to a hospital.  This group of experienced health care providers, validated the underlying fact that many babies in Vietnam are born at home and, without the HBB knowledge and equipment, babies will die.

Our new HBB Trainers each teach a portion of the class.  We dialogue about ways to teach certain concepts but, basically, the Trainer class is a time for them to practice teaching what they know and what they have learned.  Our new Trainers are so good!

 

Minh - our driver - on the right.  He has been amazing, navigating the roads, taking care of our equipment, helping us load and unload.  An important part of the team!

 

Our new HBB Trainers had many animated discussions about how to teach certain concepts.  It was great to see them so interactive.  Changing behavior - in anyone and for anyone - can be a challenge.  When people have done something for a long time, it is often hard to convince them to change.  A challenge we face in the US every time there is new research and we have to change how we do things.  It is good that they had these discussions as many people in Vietnam have been doing things that are considered outdated in the US.  Our ability to help our new Trainers understand the rationale for the changes, will help them teach others and convince others to try something new.

 

Our donated Illinois ENA symposium bags have been wonderful!  We came with extra equipment - just in case we had extra students.  Today we gave a lot of our extra equipment to these new HBB Trainers.  They will have larger classes and train a lot of people and we think the equipment will be put to good use.

Our 8 new HBB Trainers and our team of Master Trainers and Instructors, along with a representative from the Hoang Hoa Medical Center.

After class, we were invited to lunch - all of us, including our students/new Trainers. We had a great meal of traditional food, including sticky rice deep fried with chicken inside.

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we loaded up the van and headed for Hue.  Our hotel in Khe Sanh was wonderful and I will miss our little neighborhood, particularly the morning music from the school across the street.

 

We brought toy cars, beanie babies, baby clothes, and baby blankets to give away to someone.  The people in the ethnic villages tend to be very poor and can use these things.  Children in the ethnic villages do not have many toys.  So, we stopped along the highway - there were several houses set back from the road - an ethnic village.  At first there were just about 10 or 12 children but, within minutes, there were perhaps 30 people - adults, teens and children - pressing around us to receive a toy.  Betsy found a pregnant woman and a woman with a newborn and gave them soap, blankets, and baby clothes.  I practically got trampled as the people were pushing so much and Minh finally put a stop to it, had us get in the car and we left.  It was very sad.  These people have so little that they would push and shove their friends to get anything.  Next time I will bring more.

 

Vietnam is a multi-ethnic country with over fifty distinct groups (54 are recognized by the Vietnamese government), each with its own language, lifestyle, and cultural heritage.  Many in these communities are not educated, schools are not available or the people cannot afford to send their children to school. 

 



 

 

We stopped in Dong Ha and had coffee at Tam's Café.  The GCSF Offices are upstairs.  It was nice to sit and talk and reflect on the past week.

 

 

Lots of traffic on the drive from Dong Ha to Hue.  Minh is such a good driver and so patient.  Traffic here can be anything from bad roads to lots of cars and motorbikes to livestock!

 

 

Then on to Hue for our last two classes.  We are at a lovely hotel in Hue.  This is very touristy.  Many foreigners here and it seems that everyone speaks English.  I sort of miss our little towns without tourists.