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A group of Intermountain caregivers recently traveled to remote Southeast Asia to help combat infant mortality and teach clinical staff in rural Cambodia and Thailand about life-saving medical care for children and infants. The group was part of a Weber State University global health class and included nurses and respiratory therapists from Intermountain Medical Center, McKay-Dee Hospital, Logan Regional Hospital, Park City Hospital, Primary Children's Hospital, Sevier Valley Hospital, and Utah Valley Hospital.
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Haley McIntosh, RN (left), Miranda Gailey, Samantha Orr, and Jessica Sorenson, helping Cambodian physicians with hundreds of well-child checkups in a remote clinic.
"The Intermountain caregivers were incredible," says Perry. "They dove right in and learned so much. On the first day we had more than 650 people show up to wait to be seen. We saw all of them that afternoon, with just as many showing up the next day."
Perry says the group showed the local medical professionals how to do neonatal resuscitation with the supplies they have on hand.
"They have very high infant mortality rates," he says. "Our goal was to educate the medical professionals at the rural clinics about neonatal resuscitation and show them how to do it themselves. For example, if an infant is having trouble breathing, they'll give up on it. But we know if you give the baby a little extra support by initiating neonatal CPR or providing extra oxygen and bubble continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), it might survive and get better the next day. At the end of the trip they credited us with helping to save more than 100 infants."
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Abby Salmond, RN, from Logan Regional, working with a Cambodian nurse midwife
"In these areas you can't just go to a hospital and get care unless you pay up front," Perry says. "Plus, the rural clinics are so far away, they're really all these people have access to for their care, so education is crucial."
Laurel Duncan, a respiratory therapist at McKay-Dee says, "Although communication was limited, I realized laughter and smiles are a universal language and I made it my goal while doing the well-child checks to always get and give a smile."
Rachel Jones, RN, from Primary Children Hospital, says it was an incredible experience. "I was able to make a lot of new connections on this trip. It was a great opportunity."
"I personally hope we do more of these trips with Intermountain," says Perry." It's an amazing experience for these caregivers to share what they know and save lives."