The good that the church does

[_Jason Bourne]

http://www.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/v/index. ... #continued



Church Works to Save Infants Through Neonatal Resuscitation Training.


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SALT LAKE CITY 14 March 2007 Dr. Bulane, a staff physician at the Makoanyane Military Hospital in Maseru, Lesotho, deals daily with a shortage of trained medical personnel and supplies. His landlocked country Lesotho, in the southern part of Africa, suffers from near 30 percent HIV/AIDS infection, a 34.4-year life expectancy, recurring drought, poverty and high infant mortality.

Because of his concern for high infant mortality, Dr. Bulane registered for a training program in neonatal resuscitation conducted in his community by the Humanitarian Services Division of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Such programs, an attempt to reduce the occurrence of birth asphyxia (a newborn’s lack of oxygen at birth), are conducted in many parts of the world as an ongoing humanitarian initiative of the Church and as a response to the World Health Organization concern for infant deaths.

Soon after participation in the June 2006 training session, Dr. Bulane implemented his new techniques by saving a newborn baby boy. “The mother had excess water, and a Caesarean section was performed,” he explained. “Her baby was born blue. Through neonatal resuscitation techniques, the baby was saved. He is doing great now. I used the timeline I had been taught. Without it there might have been complications. It was very exciting; the training puts everything else in perspective. As far as I am concerned, it instills confidence. I now know exactly what to do. There is no panic.”

Gaining confidence to respond in the critical seconds after birth is the stated goal of neonatal resuscitation, according to Deb Whipple, a nurse in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City and also a frequent participant in the worldwide training initiative. “I know the procedures work,” Whipple acknowledged. “I’ve seen it save lives within those first valuable 30 to 60 seconds.”

Whipple uses her skills daily in the hospital delivery room but also shares her expertise internationally with other medical professionals. “The neonatal resuscitation course is taught to 50 students who, in turn, return to their clinics, hospitals and neighborhoods to teach other birthing attendants,” she said.

Participating countries are selected based on infant mortality rates, according to Dean Walker of Church Humanitarian Services. Teaching clinics are scheduled through local ministries of health in the participating countries, and training kits, including practice mannequins, training manuals and resuscitation equipment are donated by the Church.

In 2006, training courses were offered in 23 countries.

Physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and other medical professionals volunteer their time to staff the resuscitation trainings.

For Dr. Ted Kimball, an emergency room physician at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City and chair of the Humanitarian Services advisory committee, the role as a facilitator in addressing health issues in developing countries brings multiple rewards.

“These people live simple lives,” Kimball noted. “They don’t need flat-screen TVs or computers. They have only three basic needs: a chance for education, a chance for health and an opportunity for peace or freedom from political strife. Neonatal resuscitation plays a critical role in two of these needs: education and health. Our training makes a contribution.”

The minister of health in Uganda, a recent participant in neonatal resuscitation training, stated to Dr. Kimball that each birth loss in his country creates an estimated $100,000 deficit on his country’s economy. “In these areas where grinding poverty exists,” Kimball said, “they need a healthy, educated workforce to carry the people out of poverty. A healthy, self-reliant community is the key. Without birth loss of life, there’s another back to carry the economic load of the country, another person leading the way out of poverty.”

The neonatal resuscitation training concerns in Ghana mirror those of their African neighbors, Lesotho and Uganda. Dr. David Gourley, a Salt Lake City physician and member of the Humanitarian Services advisory committee, reported that “a simplified course designed for rural midwives and community nurses will provide basic resuscitation skills and equipment necessary to lower Ghana’s infant mortality rate.”

Dr. Gourley related the following account from a recently trained midwife: “Dora delivered a breech delivery. She thought the baby was dead because he was floppy and not breathing. Dora went through the initial steps of resuscitation. She only needed to correctly position the baby’s airway and suction with a bulb syringe before the baby began breathing and tone improved. Today the baby is thriving.”

Based on local evaluations, Dr. Gourley noted that in the six months following the May 2006 Ghana training, 646 infants were successfully resuscitated using the basic equipment donated by the Church.

The equipment and the training contribute to the neonatal resuscitation program’s long-term goal that a qualified birth attendant be present at every delivery.

For Whipple, a mother herself, the goal is broader. “I want all those babies to have a healthy body to experience life,” the nurse concluded. “Mothers have the same emotions worldwide — they all have the hope their child will be healthy and have the opportunity to be happy, to be a part of a family.”

[_Mister Scratch]

http://www.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=8a6f37a520251110VgnVCM100000176f620aRCRD&vgnextchannel=9ae411154963d010VgnVCM1000004e94610aRCRD#continued



Church Works to Save Infants Through Neonatal Resuscitation Training.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SALT LAKE CITY 14 March 2007 Dr. Bulane, a staff physician at the Makoanyane Military Hospital in Maseru, Lesotho, deals daily with a shortage of trained medical personnel and supplies. His landlocked country Lesotho, in the southern part of Africa, suffers from near 30 percent HIV/AIDS infection, a 34.4-year life expectancy, recurring drought, poverty and high infant mortality.

Because of his concern for high infant mortality, Dr. Bulane registered for a training program in neonatal resuscitation conducted in his community by the Humanitarian Services Division of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Such programs, an attempt to reduce the occurrence of birth asphyxia (a newborn’s lack of oxygen at birth), are conducted in many parts of the world as an ongoing humanitarian initiative of the Church and as a response to the World Health Organization concern for infant deaths.

Soon after participation in the June 2006 training session, Dr. Bulane implemented his new techniques by saving a newborn baby boy. “The mother had excess water, and a Caesarean section was performed,” he explained. “Her baby was born blue. Through neonatal resuscitation techniques, the baby was saved. He is doing great now. I used the timeline I had been taught. Without it there might have been complications. It was very exciting; the training puts everything else in perspective. As far as I am concerned, it instills confidence. I now know exactly what to do. There is no panic.”

Gaining confidence to respond in the critical seconds after birth is the stated goal of neonatal resuscitation, according to Deb Whipple, a nurse in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City and also a frequent participant in the worldwide training initiative. “I know the procedures work,” Whipple acknowledged. “I’ve seen it save lives within those first valuable 30 to 60 seconds.”

Whipple uses her skills daily in the hospital delivery room but also shares her expertise internationally with other medical professionals. “The neonatal resuscitation course is taught to 50 students who, in turn, return to their clinics, hospitals and neighborhoods to teach other birthing attendants,” she said.

Participating countries are selected based on infant mortality rates, according to Dean Walker of Church Humanitarian Services. Teaching clinics are scheduled through local ministries of health in the participating countries, and training kits, including practice mannequins, training manuals and resuscitation equipment are donated by the Church.

In 2006, training courses were offered in 23 countries.

Physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and other medical professionals volunteer their time to staff the resuscitation trainings.

For Dr. Ted Kimball, an emergency room physician at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City and chair of the Humanitarian Services advisory committee, the role as a facilitator in addressing health issues in developing countries brings multiple rewards.

“These people live simple lives,” Kimball noted. “They don’t need flat-screen TVs or computers. They have only three basic needs: a chance for education, a chance for health and an opportunity for peace or freedom from political strife. Neonatal resuscitation plays a critical role in two of these needs: education and health. Our training makes a contribution.”

The minister of health in Uganda, a recent participant in neonatal resuscitation training, stated to Dr. Kimball that each birth loss in his country creates an estimated $100,000 deficit on his country’s economy. “In these areas where grinding poverty exists,” Kimball said, “they need a healthy, educated workforce to carry the people out of poverty. A healthy, self-reliant community is the key. Without birth loss of life, there’s another back to carry the economic load of the country, another person leading the way out of poverty.”

The neonatal resuscitation training concerns in Ghana mirror those of their African neighbors, Lesotho and Uganda. Dr. David Gourley, a Salt Lake City physician and member of the Humanitarian Services advisory committee, reported that “a simplified course designed for rural midwives and community nurses will provide basic resuscitation skills and equipment necessary to lower Ghana’s infant mortality rate.”

Dr. Gourley related the following account from a recently trained midwife: “Dora delivered a breech delivery. She thought the baby was dead because he was floppy and not breathing. Dora went through the initial steps of resuscitation. She only needed to correctly position the baby’s airway and suction with a bulb syringe before the baby began breathing and tone improved. Today the baby is thriving.”

Based on local evaluations, Dr. Gourley noted that in the six months following the May 2006 Ghana training, 646 infants were successfully resuscitated using the basic equipment donated by the Church.

The equipment and the training contribute to the neonatal resuscitation program’s long-term goal that a qualified birth attendant be present at every delivery.

For Whipple, a mother herself, the goal is broader. “I want all those babies to have a healthy body to experience life,” the nurse concluded. “Mothers have the same emotions worldwide — they all have the hope their child will be healthy and have the opportunity to be happy, to be a part of a family.”

Hi, Jason. Another valiant effort here, but a fruitless one. Your first example does not count, since it was an interfaith group that was sewing the quilts. (A side issue in this whole discussion is whether or not the "charitable" acts can be legitimately traced to the institutional Church and its doctrines/teachings, or whether they are simply the acts of good-hearted individual Mormons.)

As for the item you cited above, I see a couple of problems. (I bolded a small section.) One is: yes, this seems like a very good project, but is any proselytizing involved? Are BofMs passed out? Are there missionaries hovering around the clinics, hoping for an opportunity to give blessings? Second: this is, as the bold section indicates, sort of a "bare bones" kind of donation. I cannot help but get the impression that the Church is involved in this project because it will generate more potential converts. Even the woman's testimonial at the end of the piece seems to point to basic Church teachings.

[_Trinity]

As long as you have an organization with a works-based premise towards the end goal, any act would be suspect. The more enterprising or aggressive the personality, the more suspect. They're shoring up blessings in heaven and probably keeping a record of their good works in their dayplanner in case someone may have forgotten what they did, including God.

Thankfully, there are lots of members that are neither enterprising or aggressive, and I think they do good works because their heart is in the right place.

It's a case by case basis, though.

[_Mister Scratch]

As long as you have an organization with a works-based premise towards the end goal, any act would be suspect. The more enterprising or aggressive the personality, the more suspect. They're shoring up blessings in heaven and probably keeping a record of their good works in their dayplanner in case someone may have forgotten what they did, including God.

Thankfully, there are lots of members that are neither enterprising or aggressive, and I think they do good works because their heart is in the right place.

It's a case by case basis, though.

This is a good point, and I think one needs to make a distinction between acts of charity that are the result of a given individual, vs. acts of charity which stem from institutional Mormonism. I contend that the latter do not exist. And the fact that Jason Bourne is having so much difficultly coming up with any examples only strengthens my case. One would think that examples would be in abundance from the Lord's One True Church, but sadly this doesn't seem to be so.

[_ajax18]

As long as you have an organization with a works-based premise towards the end goal, any act would be suspect. The more enterprising or aggressive the personality, the more suspect. They're shoring up blessings in heaven and probably keeping a record of their good works in their dayplanner in case someone may have forgotten what they did, including God.

Thankfully, there are lots of members that are neither enterprising or aggressive, and I think they do good works because their heart is in the right place.

It's a case by case basis, though.

This is a good point, and I think one needs to make a distinction between acts of charity that are the result of a given individual, vs. acts of charity which stem from institutional Mormonism. I contend that the latter do not exist. And the fact that Jason Bourne is having so much difficultly coming up with any examples only strengthens my case. One would think that examples would be in abundance from the Lord's One True Church, but sadly this doesn't seem to be so.

Does selfishness always have to be a bad thing? Perhaps one can help others and himself at the same time?

[_Jason Bourne]

This is a good point, and I think one needs to make a distinction between acts of charity that are the result of a given individual, vs. acts of charity which stem from institutional Mormonism.

I believe I noted above the being Mormon gives people opportunities to do charitable things for each other that they normally would not do. But you dismissed internal acts of charity because it benefits members.

I contend that the latter do not exist.

You are wrong. I note that one I gave that you certainly cannot dismiss had been ignored by you. That was the special fast for starving Ethiopian that raised about $14 million in the early 1980's in one day. I also will mention again the church fast offering and welfare plans that assist countless millions, both LDS and non LDS. I notes the spearhead units. Go do a search yourself and you will find them at almost every US disaster at least. I noted the assistance given in Central America in I believe 1998 when a Hurricane ravaged the area. These are all instances of non beneficial to the organization charity.

So, are you going to sneer some more about BoMs being passed out? In regards to the other examples I gave you have no reason to assume such proselyting took place or proof of it.

And the fact that Jason Bourne is having so much difficultly coming up with any examples only strengthens my case. One would think that examples would be in abundance from the Lord's One True Church, but sadly this doesn't seem to be so

Sadly you are ignoring the evidence I have placed right before your eyes.

[_Jason Bourne]

http://www.lds.org/portal/site/LDSOrg/m ... 6f620a____

For several years, the Darfur region of Sudan has been an area of conflict resulting in the displacement of over two million people and the death of thousands. Since 2004, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has cooperated with several partnering organizations, including International Relief and Development, Red Crescent Society, and International Medical Corps to respond to the basic humanitarian needs of the refugee population in Sudan and neighboring Chad.

Truckload of Food Arrives in PortervilleFebruary 16, 2007 — Church in the News


As churches, businesses, and community members are being asked to do their part in assisting victims of the freeze that hit California in January, 400 cases of food arrived in Porterville Wednesday, courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church member Rick Mcintire helped unload the boxes of food at the Rescue Mission pantry. "Anytime there is a need, the Church responds to help meet that need," Mcintire said.