MARIEL Tanael was teary-eyed when she first held her newborn. Her baby boy came into the world after nine months of intensive and tender prenatal care.
Tanael safely delivered a healthy baby boy in the Don Andres Soriano Health Center and Lying-in Clinic, which was renovated and refurbished by Carmen Copper Corp., a mining company based in Toledo City, Cebu.
The project was aimed to improve the delivery of basic healthcare programs and services to the residents, including mothers and children, in Barangay Don Andres Soriano.
The two-storey building houses the lying-in clinic on the ground floor and the health center on the second floor.
The facility was renovated and refurbished with additional equipment, furniture and fixture to better serve its clients.
“When I gave birth to my eldest daughter three years ago, we knew we were in good hands. The center has competent midwives and staff. We enjoy modern facilities. Most of all, it is closer to home,” Tanael said in Cebuano.
The Don Andres Soriano Health Center and Lying-in Clinic is the only public birthing facility offering newborn screening and the only public lying-in clinic with round-the-clock operations in Toledo City, said head midwife Annaliza Oamilda.
The facility is operated by the barangay and the Department of Health. It conducts more than 200 prenatal checkups and performs more than 300 immunizations per month.
Two midwives and five Barangay Nutrition Scholars are stationed in the facility to serve the residents of Don Andres Soriano and adjacent villages of Cantabaco, Poog, Bunga and Media Once.
The presence of the facility has significantly lowered the prevalence of home birth in Don Andres Soriano, said Oamilda. In the past, she said four out of 10 women gave birth at home but it has significantly decreased to a 1:10 ratio. However, home birth still exists despite the barangay health workers’ intensified campaign. Home birth exposes a mother to risks of infection, bleeding and stillbirth.
“Our facility can sufficiently support natural birth. We are preferred by mothers because of our complete and modern facility,” Oamilda said in Cebuano.
She thanked Carmen Copper for donating the birthing center in 2014, and for rehabilitating it in 2019.