The following brief summary of the Armenia program's progress was submitted by Co-Team Leader Dr. Gordon Yuill.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
News from Armenia: Kybele's 5th Teaching Visits Continue to Advance Women's Healthcare
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
News from Ghana: Kybele Sponsored Three Nurse Managers of Ridge Regional Hospital, Ghana
Article by Yemi Olufolabi, MD
Using simulation to learn about acute maternal care.
In October, Kybele had the opportunity to sponsor three NICU nurses/nurse managers from Ridge Regional Hospital in Accra, Ghana. Partially funded through a multi-year grant from the PATH organization, nurses Rebecca Agyare Asante, Vivian Koffie, and Fauziya Rabiu were able to spend a two-week observership at Duke University Hospital in Durham, N.C., and they definitely packed a lot into their visit. The women were able to visit the Duke Neonatal Unit and all related wards, the Duke simulation center, the education center, and the maternity operating room. They attended clinical meetings, a neonatal resuscitation training session, in-service training for new staff nurses, and safety rounds. They also visited with Dr. Lisa Washburn from Wake Forest Medical Center in Winston-Salem, where they discussed current protocols and improvement potential at Ridge Hospital. In addition, they visited the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill maternity center, which is operated by midwives.
Neonatal resuscitation simulation.
During all of this observation, the Ridge nurses had extensive exposure to a system that prevented and treated infection in babies. Given that new breathing methods (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure - CPAP) were recently introduced at Ridge Hospital, a special session with nurses and respiratory therapists on the CPAP machine proved highly educational. Other important observations involved infant feeding techniques, customer care best practices, and the environmental factors that nurture optimal brain development. The Ridge nurses were impressed by the dedication of the Duke nurses and their intensity of focus while caring for babies. The meticulous and attentive approach in the management of each baby really stood out for them.
Finally arriving at Raleigh Airport and meeting Dr Olufolabi.
The Ridge nurses returned home excited and reassured that they could further raise standards of care at Ridge Hospital. They resolved to make changes that would improve outcomes. As a result of their visit, they planned to incorporate changes by sharing their experiences with their colleagues and ensuring infection prevention became a priority, because it is one of the major causes of maternal and infant mortality. The nurses promised to improve customer care practices by engaging parents and improving communication among staff through the use of technology and by refining old protocols or developing new ones.
While their visit was jam-packed with educational experiences, the nurses also had the opportunity for some fun by attending a local festival, shopping, and visiting with local nurses and Kybele team members. They said they were grateful to those who made their stay such a memorable experience, especially the Duke NICU nurses, Christine Phillips, Dr. Ron Goldberg, Kybele and Yemi and Lola Olufolabi, who hosted them in their home.
See MORE PHOTOS of the Ridge nurses' trip to North Carolina.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Language Retention and the International Adoptee
Source: http://time.com/3593064/an-infants-brain-maps-language-from-birth-study-says/
The infant's brain retains language that it hears at birth and recognizes it years later, even if the child no longer speaks that language.
Vladimir Godnik—Getty Images
A new study study reveals that an infant’s brain may remember a language, even if the child has no idea how to speak a word of it.
The finding comes from a new study performed by a team of researchers from McGill University’s Department of Psychology and Montreal’s Neurological Institute who are working to understand how the brain learns language.
As it turns out, the language that an infant hears starting at birth creates neural patterns that the unconscious brain retains years later, even if the child completely stops using the language. The study offers the first neural evidence that traces of so-called “lost” languages remain in the brain.
Because these lost languages commonly occur within the context of international adoptions—when a child is born where one language is spoken and then reared in another country with another language—the researchers recruited test subjects from the international adoption community in Montreal. They studied 48 girls between the ages of nine and 17 years old. One group was born and raised speaking only French. The second group was bilingual, speaking French and Chinese fluently. And the third was Chinese-speaking children who were adopted as infants and later became French speakers, but discontinued exposure to Chinese after the first few years of life. They had no conscious recollection of the Chinese language. “They were essentially monolingual French at this point,” explained Dr. Denise Klein, one of the researchers, in an interview with TIME. “But they had been exposed to the Chinese language during the first year or two of their life.”
Monday, June 2, 2014
Teach your Baby to Sign - 6 Week Series Begins Today at 10:00 am
Few Spots Left for this Monday's Class! This is a six week series starting June 2 and ending June 30.
Last Chance to Register! Begins this morning at 10:00 am.
Come sign with us! Your baby will be happy you did. Introducing infants and young children to sign language empowers them to be understood and gives you a special time to bond, learn, and communicate with your baby. Help your baby to replace crying with communication as they learn to share their world with you through sign language.
Register here.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Hopscotch Adoptions, Inc Announces Successful North Carolina Re-licensing
