Mount Alvernia Hospital | Partner

Mount Alvernia Hospital is a not-for-profit private Catholic hospital in Singapore, founded in 1961 by the nuns from the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood (FMDM). The hospital shares in the world wide mission of the FMDM, providing compassionate, excellent and holistic healthcare to serve all with love. As a not-for-profit hospital, Mount Alvernia is deeply committed to being agents of change for the greater good in the wider community, especially to the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized. Mount Alvernia Hospital has supported numerous successful community outreach activities in Singapore and around ASEAN, including the recent collaboration with Water and Healthcare (WAH) Foundation.“We leverage on our core skills—which is health care; so, we reach out to people and help them by providing health care support. We do this largely through partnering effective partners—and WAH is one good example,” explained Goh Hock Soon, Director of Corporate Development of the Mount Alvernia Hospital.

In support of WAH’s program to provide quality medical training in Kampong Chnnang Province in Cambodia, Mount Alvernia Hospital have completed two training sessions in 2017: The Breastfeeding and Massage Technique for Colic and Infection Control Training in May, as well as The Immediate Newborn Care Training in October.

Immediate Newborn Care Training

The Immediate Newborn Care training was conducted by Mount Alvernia team on 20 October 2017 in Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia. WAH brought 34 trainees from ten health centers, two referral hospitals, and one provincial hospital together to receive a specifically-targeted program for newborns focusing on proper and successful resuscitation skills—the skills and techniques involved in safe and effective newborn resuscitation. The objective of the training is to improve the ability of the local doctors, nurses, and midwives on life-saving resuscitation. This aims to significantly decrease the mortality rate in the province. Mount Alvernia team presented the training in a highly personal and engaging way by starting with a theoretical presentation followed by individual practice. Every trainee must demonstrate practical skills under close observation and assessment by a specialist trainer. This ensures they are well equipped with the knowledge as well as the ability to do to perform this procedure in a competent and professional manner.

TRAINING-THE-TRAINER PROGRAMS

WAH is committed to create sustainability as much as possible, in every aspect of the work we carry out. With the Train-the-Trainer program we carefully select the most able doctors, nurses, and midwives who are able to extend the knowledge they have received from the training. The trainers were chosen from the hospitals or health centers. This way, they are able to maximise skills and train others, reducing further dependence on KKH and Mount Alvernia. This creates long-term sustainability as it enables CORE trainers to train on the ground, in the same language, and maintain high standards through refresher training.

Providing What’s Needed

WAH’s research and development team has been actively and carefully researching common medical challenges in Kampong Chhnang. The lack of high quality medical equipment turns out to be one of them. Hence, WAH focus on providing modern, user friendly equipment for resuscitation in the hospitals and health centers in Kampong Chhnang. The training program also ensures that the trainees are able to correctly use and maintain the equipment. The combination of installing quality equipment and correct usage, plays a key role in achieving successful resuscitation results.