World Prematurity Day 2020
Every year, World Prematurity Day is observed on November seventeenth. It’s a day used to raise awareness of preterm births and the concerns associated with premature babies. And to observe the day in Belize, the K.H.M.H.’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit carried out activities to sensitize the public about the worrying increase in premature births. Reporter Andrea Polanco has more in the following story.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
This year alone, half of the babies delivered in Belize were premature. That’s one hundred and fifty-two babies who were born before the thirty-eight week gestation period. It’s an increase in preemies and a troubling one when it comes to a child’s development.
Neroli Williams
Neroli Williams, Unit Manager, N.I.C.U., K.H.M.H.
“The term is considered forty weeks so thirty seven weeks and under is premature. So, in Belize it is on the rise. We have one hundred and fifty-two so far. It’s like fifty point something percent and it does call for awareness because the more premature babies are born, the more difficult it is for survival.”
Andrea Polanco
“Once they grow up, what is their quality of life like? Is it similar to a child who was born at full term?”
Neroli Williams
“It can be but the risk increases for them to have problems like developmental delays. Sometimes they are slow in school. Sometimes they have problems to walk or the way they think is less.”
So, why are so many of the babies being born before their full term and what can mothers do to minimize the chances of having a premature baby?
Neroli Williams
“Some of the risk factors – a lot of people in Belize these days fast food; so dieting. We have a lot of mothers with hypertension and diabetes which are two of the main causes. We have a lot of mothers who are teenage mothers ages thirteen, fourteen – those are contributing factors. We have some old parents like maybe forties and they are also high risk for complications which prematurity is one. If you have one premature baby you expect that the other might have high risk of becoming premature as well and so we ask that the pregnancies are spaced at least two years. Attend clinics – sometimes we have parents who come for delivery and they have not attended clinic which increases the chances of the baby being born premature. One thing we encourage parents to do is to attend their prenatal clinics; attend their postnatal clinics and breastfeed as much as possible and we don’t encourage anything else but breast milk because it gives the baby all the vitamins and nutrients the baby requires. It’s best if you have your child between eighteen to twenty years old. So, if you are a young mother and old mother the chances of getting a pre term baby are higher. If you are planning to get pregnant, we advise that you visit the gynecologist; do your tests; make sure your body is prepared; take your vitamins, folic acid to prevent complications like spina bifida; take your nutrients; a well-balanced diet; exercise; family support is very important because with hormonal changes you can end up with stress and it can also affect the delivery.”
Premature babies require specialized medical attention and that is why they arecared for at the neonatal intensive care unit at the Karl Huesner Memorial Hospital. It’s the only one in the country and serves all sick babies, including premature babies – fitted with special lighting; ventilators, warmers and incubators manned by a staff of twenty-four.
Neroli Williams
“Every premature baby come to us and our capacity is twenty-six to include two isolation rooms but we cannot refuse them so we have to find space if the other districts have premature babies. Staffing, we have like twenty-four nurses working. A lot of the time we are understaffed but we still ensure that the work gets done. Equipment wise we have our ventilators. Warmers; incubators; of course depending on the amount of admissions we get, we may not have enough. A lot of the time, the nurses work more than the required time for the amount of nurse. For example, we may say you need two patients for a nurse if they are critical at times you have five to one which increases the work load and the efficiency that we provide. But so far we have been doing good with what we have.”
And it’s the work the team does in the NICU that helps babies to grow and develop – giving parents the opportunity to see their child take first steps; babble; and even dance – as captured in those home videos. One of those nurses who works around the clock in the unit Ashley Charlesworth. She says it is a fast paced environment with lots of work but even greater rewards.
Andrea Polanco
“What’s a typical day like for you working with premature babies?”
Ashley Charlesworth
Ashley Charlesworth, Registered Nurse, N.I.C.U., K.H.M.H.
“Whew! A typical day at NICU, first of all there is no sitting down at NICU. With babies, we have to do every single thing for them, if their oxygen slips out we have to be there to put it back in. We need to feed these babies; turn these babies; change these babies. We need to be on the lookout for signs that they are deteriorating or signs that they are doing better. Because if they are deteriorating, we need to be right there to catch it and do something else because in the blink of an eye these babies can lose their lives.”
Andrea Polanco
“What’s the most rewarding thing for you as a nurse working in the NICU?”
Ashley Charlesworth
“Oh my gosh! The most rewarding thing would have to be when the babies come so little and they go home, discharged healthy. There is no other feeling. Sometimes I cry and all when I meet them on the street and the parents come, ‘nurse, nurse, nurse, see yuh baby yah!’ It’s, oh my goodness, I am so overwhelmed with joy when you see that because you watched this baby fight for his or her life all those months because the babies sometimes stay at NICU five, six months and to see these babies prosper; pre-school; primary school – there is no greater feeling than that.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
