PROSAMI Newsletter: September, 2021
PILOT CENTER
The above photo is the PROSAMI Pilot Center that has been renovated and restored for offices and patient facilities. By expanding a large room with a tent over an outdoor space, the nurse training classes are also held in the Pilot Center.
The construction of a larger PROSAMI facility is being built at a location on land donated by the DRC. There are also plans for a well on this site to supply water to the Pilot Center and to local residents. There will be an update of building progress in a future newsletter
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide information on the activities and programs undertaken by PROSAMI even during the midst of a world-wide pandemic that is having an impact in the DRC similar to the rest of the world.
PROSAMI's MISSION
PROSAMI is a non-profit organization dedicated to the improvement of maternal and infant health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Nurse midwives trained by PROSAMI have delivered more than 540 infants in the last 2.5 years, with a maternal mortality rate of zero and an infant mortality rate of only 2 deaths-0.37% or 3.7 deaths per 1,000 live births. This contrasts with a national DRC maternal mortality rate of 0.67% or 670 deaths per 100,000 live births, and a national DRC infant mortality rate of 10.5% or 105 deaths per 1,000 live births.
PROSAMI'S NEW WEBSITE
PROSAMI has designed and posted a brand new website that will more effectively present our mission and current status of training in DRC.
In June 2021, the PROSAMI board interviewed web designers. We hired Daniel Wolf to review the current website and change it to a more updated version of our mission.
WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR FEEDBACK
If you have comments on our website format and/or content, please forward to our PROSAMI office at email or by mail at 1305 Barterbrook Road Staunton, Va. 24401 USA.
HOW AGNES KANYANYA AND DAVID STRIDER STARTED PROSAMI
In April of 2009, Agnes Kanyanya and I were both working as Registered Nurses in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at University of Virginia Hospital. At the change of shift she asked me to look over a paper she had written.
I thought it was a school project that she was completing for the School of Nursing. I reviewed her article draft, making some grammatical suggestions, but I told her that I was more impressed with the content and scope of her paper. The paper dealt with maternal and infant health care and solutions to improve the same in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
DRC is a vast country in the heart of Africa with a population that exceeds 80 million and with at least 15 million women of child bearing age. It was no surprise that the DRC had one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world. Agnes had a vision of training Congolese nurses to the level of advanced nurse midwife. These nurses would then supervise maternal and infant care at regional health care centers, providing care from four months gestation up to one year postpartum. The comprehensive training by the Congolese nurse midwives would dramatically improve the safety for each infant delivery. The plan that she had outlined in her monograph was solid, every step was manageable, and the potential benefits to Congolese expectant mothers and their infants was incredible if her strategic plan could be implemented.
Agnes asked me to serve as President of the PROSAMI program, and I agreed to serve in this role, based on the well-orchestrated goals by Agnes and her charisma.
PROSAMI TRAINING CLASSES
On March 8, 2021, Agnes Kanyanya saw her longtime dream of training maternity nurses in DRC resume even during this pandemic. Agnes presided over the beginning class of forty students at a training class in the PROSAMI Pilot Center in Mbuji Mayi, DRC. The instructors consisted of onsite nurses, trained by PROSAMI in 2015 in Staunton, Virginia, as well as Agnes and other health care professionals via Zoom. The first week of class consisted of orientation and the basics of the midwifery training. The training will include fifteen weeks of onsite instruction over the next eighteen months. PROSAMI pays the students a small stipend for each week of class and also provides the training materials.
From 2015 to 2019 nurse training was held at the Pilot Center by telemedicine from University of Virginia to the DRC.
Since March 2021 PROSAMI has held four training classes at the Pilot Center with a fifth class scheduled for a future month in 2021. Before the next training class can be held, PROSAMI must raise funds to pay for both the operation of the Pilot Center and for the training classes.
Donations to PROSAMI can be made on the website. Visit us at Donate Today or by mail at 1305 Barterbrook Road, Staunton, Va. 24401, USA
LONGTIME SUPPORTERS OF PROSAMI
Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia has been a longtime supporter of PROSAMI.
When Agnes Kanyanya and David Strider first undertook their mission for nursing training, David approached Westminster with their ideas and plans. The church Benevolence Committee designated funds for their program and every year since then Westminster has continued to financially support PROSAMI. In addition, Westminster supports PROSAMI's fundraising efforts by providing space for an annual yard sale and by hosting a dinner, featuring traditional African food, where participants hear about PROSAMI's progress and operations The PROSAMI annual yard sale is scheduled on Saturday, September 18.
In August PROSAMI received a generous donation from Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, a missionary society that operates in Africa. We are most appreciative of this gift.
Donations and contributions from individuals make a big difference and help keep PROSAMI progressing and growing.
MEETING WITH DRC HEALTH OFFICIALS
In July 2021, Marie-Stela Heiser arranged for a meeting in Kinshasa, DRC, between PROSAMI representatives and officials from the DRC Ministry of Health. The purpose of the meeting was to seek support and funding for telemedicine advanced mid-wifery training in provinces throughout the DRC. This type of training was discussed with the government before the pandemic, but was put on hold.
The DRC health officials responded positively and are focused on expanding PROSAMI’s telemedicine training to six provinces initially. To read Marie-Stela’s detailed account of this exciting meeting, contact Board Member Forrest Kerns or David Strider by email
PROSAMI BOARD MEMBERS
Trustees
Elijah Kalonji
Peter Gates
Stuart Houston
Forrest Kerns
Board Members
David Baseme
Robert Williamson
Arsene Mangi
Steve Kalenga
Rick Kalonji
Jenny Kalonji
Alphonse Ilunga
David Strider, Chair
Agnes Kanyanya, Founder
Sally Williamson, Treasurer
Jennifer Mentore
Charles Lewis
Kim Briehl
Dawn Houston
Ruthie Buck
Administrators
Michel Kalombo, South Africa
Dr. Alain Ngongo, Ngashi Congo
Dr. Dhally Menda, Zambia
Marie-Stella Heiser, United States