Neonatal Resuscitation Training -

900,000 babies die each year because they can't breathe at birth. Humanitarian Services of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who operates LDS Charities, sends volunteers to train in-country medical personnel who in turn train others to assist with resuscitation of newborns with breathing difficulties.

Last year, Humanitarian Services provided neonatal resuscitation training to 24,000 people in 22 countries. They included training 900 doctors, nurses, and midwives in Namibia, 500 in the Dominican Republic, and 600 in Ecuador. One hundred percent of every dollar donated is used to help those in need without regard to race, religion, or ethnic origin.

On October 9 and 10, 40 doctors and nurses here in the Ancash Region were able to receive this valuable training in our chapel here in Huaraz. Three volunteer doctors from the U.S. (pediatricians from Logan, St. George and American Fork) and a doctor and nurse from Lima came to Huaraz to conduct the two day training. For one of the U.S. doctors and his wife, this was their 67th trip abroad during an 11 year period, all donated time from their medical practices at home.

We slipped away from the archives for a few hours each day to witness this wonderful program in action and to take a few photos.

"Helping the babies to breathe" is the caption on this poster at the entrance to the Stake Center.

This cute poster was at the entrance to the chapel.

The cultural hall with tables set up for the training.  This picture was taken from the stage at the back of the cultural hall facing the chapel.  We are pretty sure this is one of the nicest buildings many of these people have been in in Peru.

The equipment at each table. The water is for filling the dolls so they weigh and feel soft, about the same as a newborn.

The star of the training is "NeoNatalie". These are dolls, each of which costs hundreds of dollars. The Church sent 35 of these to be distributed to the hospitals and clinics from which the doctors and nurses came for the training.

NeoNatalie as she comes out of the box.

Ready for training. They have an umbilical cord and can cry when one of the green bulbs is squeezed.  They can also choke, and not sure what else.

This training outline was used by the trainer at each table and then boxes of these were sent with the dolls to the medical facilities whose medical professionals had participated in the training.

In addition, this poster was on the wall at each table and was also sent with the kits to the hospitals. It outlines the step-by-step procedure for resuscitating a newborn with respiratory problems.

A group of trainees at their table.

Here the doctor is simulating a recently born baby laying on its mother's stomach in preparation for assistance with breathing problems.

One of the nurses said "this is the only time you will see a man having a baby" as they go over the procedures for saving the baby's life. But for the most part, they were very serious and intent on learning the procedures.

Both days the Church provided lunch for the doctors and nurses. Here a group is getting ready to tackle the appetizer, a delicious traditional Peruvian staple, "papas a la huancaína" (potatoes Huancayo style)

Another group in one of the classrooms enjoying lunch.  One meal was chicken and the other was goat, which is eaten quite often here and is very good.

Here is Pilar Bejarano, the Relief Society president of our ward in the kitchen of the chapel preparing the luncheon. She and her husband and other family members cooked and served the meals both days for about 50 people. As you can see the chapel has a pretty basic kitchen (just this wall in one of the classrooms).

The group of trainees in the chapel for the closing meeting.

Trainers from left to right, Lima doctor, Lima nurse, Dr. Zollinger, Dr. Rogers, Dr. Twigs. The gentleman at the pulpit was the moderator for the closing ceremony and works in the local health department here in Huaraz.

Elder Jeffrey Talley, the senior missionary serving as the leader of humanitarian services in Peru. He and his wife are based in Lima. His mother, Arlene Talley, was a counselor to Marilyn in the district Relief Society presidency when we lived in Puerto Rico. Small world in the church!

Each participant was presented with a certificate of completion of the neonatal resuscitation course by the visiting doctors.

Group photo of the trainers and trainees.

These doctors and nurses will now return to their respective hospitals and clinics throughout the region with the knowledge and obligation, and the necessary training materials, to train their fellow medical personnel in these lifesaving techniques for the newborn. What a wonderful program sponsored by the Church.

Peruvian election campaign posters (Part III) -

The following is a sampling of the numerous campaign posters from the recent election. As you can see, they come in all sizes.

This is a sample of the small posters by lesser known candidates who probably didn't have the funds to compete with the main candidates. Her symbol is the River Santa, which runs the length of Ancash to the ocean. The "X" means the voter should mark her symbol. You will see these on many of the posters.

Apparently, the supporters of Waldo decided to cover up the lady candidate.  The lady who runs this little corner store was quite angry that they put all these posters on her walls without permission.  She came outside with a knife trying to scrape them off.

Here the "corn" candidate with an"X" on the corn symbol to indicate how to vote for him.

The posters get bigger. This was above a building. He was a candidate for mayor of Huaraz. The title says "Together we will recover Huaraz".

Eloy was running for mayor of Independencia and Ortiz for mayor of Huaraz. You see that these were large signs on buildings.

Another mayor combo. Holger running for Independencia and Romero for Huaraz. The title at the bottom says "For a government with management ability, honest and transparent".

Dr. Cerrón, candidate for mayor of Huaraz. He was one of the favorites of the taxi drivers we polled before the election. Local doctor and well thought of. 

This candidate's version of Superman.

This was on the top of a building.

As you can see, they like to put their photos on their campaign posters.

Thumbs up, I'm your man! "Words for others, acts for us". Mayor candidate.

Waldo was everywhere. Here he is promising work for university students after their junior year. Also, 500 soles (US$ 179) per month for every family.

More Waldo. He says in this ad that the 500 soles per month to each family "Is not a gift, it is a right".  Many people we talked to (mostly taxi drivers) think he is crazy and a liar.

Three for one. Two candidates for the two mayoral positions and one for regional president.

I believe these are former presidents but there is no indication which party put this up. It says "Enough! Peru needs order. Ancash - a region with order, a region that progresses." At the bottom is reads "No more corruption, no more demagogues. Don't elect unprepared and opportunistic persons." Good advice, whoever posted it.

"An iron lady" - for mayor of Huaraz. This was on a rooftop.

One of the lesser, unknown candidates for mayor. It reads "Clean and safe Huaraz"

"Join the honesty" and "The hoe/pickaxe/shovel returns with strength" are this candidate's slogans in her campaign for mayor.

Here is a building under construction partially covered by campaign posters.

These are really big posters!  We think it is interesting that each candidate can choose their own political symbol. A few of the parties have been around for years but many are new every year.

Campaigning really takes over everything here. This is a candidate's stage being assembled for a big rally later in the day. This is blocking the main street of the city. Traffic was re-routed on side streets.

This is another campaign rally on another day on the main thoroughfare of the city. His supporters filled more than a block of the four lane street.

We thought this was an interesting idea at the rally pictured above while they waited for the candidate to arrive. They passed out bingo cards and played bingo and gave small prizes to the winners. Here are a number of folks watching their cards on the streets. Others sat on the curb when they could find some space.

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Ricardo Narvaez of the Cat symbol with the endorsement of Sonia Morales, a popular singer in Peru, won 18% of the vote and will be in a runoff election on Sunday, December 7, for Regional President.  Several people said they liked him because he stole less than the others when he was in office previously.

Apparently his offer of 500 soles per month to every family was believed by enough voters to give him 17% of the vote for Regional President and force a runoff election with Narvaez. 

Dr. Cerrón was the winner of the race for mayor of the city of Huaraz with 27% of the vote. There is no runoff at the city level.

And Eloy Alzamora was the winner of the mayor's office for the city of Independencia with 35% of the vote. There will be no runoff here either.

The percentage of the population of the Region of Ancash that voted in this election was 84%. Not bad!  (Remember, if they don't vote they get fined.)

Finally, this picture of two ladies of the region enjoying the sun on the main plaza of town and probably discussing the election results. They were a little irritated that we took their picture and didn't buy anything.

Peruvian election campaign posters (Part II) -

As we mentioned in the previous posting, the election campaigns here are very colorful with multiple parades and literally thousands of posters of all sizes all over the city promoting the different candidates. There were three main leadership positions to be voted on, plus the regional council. The regional president is roughly equivalent to a state governor and there were 18 candidates for the presidency of Ancash, our region. There were also 20 candidates on each ballot for the position of mayor of the two districts that make up this city, Huaraz and Independencia. Sort of like twin cities in the states but the line between them is a wide street across the middle of town.

To organize these posters and show them in one posting would be difficult. We will start with the paintings on the walls.

We caught this painter in the act. We suspect he had the permission of the owner to paint this campaign sign. This is about a block from our apt.

This was on a wall on the way to the archives.

This is all one candidate's wall painting. Above it is a huge billboard by the same candidate.

Another long wall on one of the main streets.

Each party has a symbol. This one is the corn party. These symbols aid those who cannot read to mark the correct candidate on the ballot.

The symbol here is the lady holding a child.

This one says "For the inter-oceanic highway and the Huaraz hospital". The symbol of this party is the condor.

The condor again with a nice yellow VW. MANPE stands for "Movimiento Acción Nacionalista Peruana"

This wall was around the corner from our apartment. The yellow shape inside the green symbol is the outline of the region of Ancash and the text reads "Renovation (or renewal) of Ancash".

Regional president candidate Narvaez. His party's symbol is the cat. One local commented that they needed the "cat" to chase out all the "rats" in the government. The sign above is for an automotive business that does painting and body work.

This reminded us so much of Guatemala. There, they would paint political signs on every available rock along the highways. This one originally had blue "W's" in each white spot. Someone, possibly an apposing candidate, had painted white over the letters just a few days before I was going to take a picture of the blue "W's" on the rocks. They stand for Waldo, one of the candidates for regional president.

The interesting thing is that the walls are never, well, rarely painted over.  So these walls will look the same until the next election in four years!  And we get a little feisty in the States if candidates don't take their posters down the next week.The next posting will show some of the multitude of posters that were everywhere.