Jo Clancy, BS, RDMS, RVT, who has been a sonographer for over 12 years, is a tenured traveler abroad and has assisted in Uganda many times prior to her most recent volunteer experience. This most recent trip is her third time working under the NGO of Imaging the World; however, this was her first time working at the Ot Nywal Me Kuc Birth Center in the town of Atiak, about a fifteen-minute drive from the South Sudan Border.

She was brought to Uganda by a resident of Atiak who had reached out to Imaging the World for help training staff for new ultrasound machines that had been donated to the birth center. Jo spent about a month in Uganda at the birth center helping train staff, update curriculum, provide life-changing scans for residents of Atiak.

What She Brought with Her

Jo did not let the fact that she was traveling solo abroad prevent her from making as big of a positive impact as she could. For this volunteering trip, Jo brought 80 pounds of hospital-grade sanitary towels.

“Up until now, the midwives use cotton batting to clean off the pregnant women, after using the doppler to check for fetal heart rate. Since giving them towels, they are thrilled at the idea of no longer using cotton,” Jo said.

Alongside the sanitary towels, Jo provided nine solar lamps to the Birth Center. Two lamps were stationed with the cooking and cleaning staff, while the other seven were given to midwives, for night visits to the villages or to provide extra light in the birth rooms.

“Women are going out in the middle of the night to remote village with zero electricity and delivering babies, either by firelight or by small, unreliable solar lights,” Jo said.

Beyond the solar-powered illumination, the lamps provide a dual function; they double as phone chargers.

“The solar light I brought with me have the option to charge a cell phone off them, which gives the option to call others for help if they need assistance during the birthing process.”

Though this could have been an easy oversight, Jo’s extensive travels provided her the perspective to think critically about tools that could better the birthing process for the village women.

“It’s the little things that make a big impact,” she said.

About the Ot Nywal Me Kuc Birth Center

Founded by Mother Health International (MHI) in 2007, “Ot Nywal Me Kuc” (House of Birth and Peace) Birth Center is an environmentally sustainable, solar-powered birth center. This facility was created to combat the statistically high perinatal mortality rates in Atiak, which is over 75 kilometers away from the nearest hospital.

The birth center provides four private delivery rooms, each with a birthing pool or shower, a supply room, vaccination room, a large community room with four hammocks for family members of pregnant mothers, and even a sleep room for on-call midwives.

Over 60 midwives work in conjunction with village midwives. There are affiliated midwives in remote villages within the vicinity, and about 20 of those midwives work shifts at the birth center, while accepting midwife students for training and subsequent affiliation with Ot Nywal Me Kuc Birth Center.

Going beyond the birth process, the Birth Center also provides a postpartum building with four private rooms and an inpatient building. The inpatient building is used for antenatal care and pregnant mothers who are not in labor but are needing care for Malaria or other illnesses.

Mother Health International (MHI) takes quality of life very seriously, by providing a family kitchen area just outside the birth center, where family members can cook for the mothers.

“MHI found that even though they were supplying the mothers with food, they preferred food from their family and village, so the family kitchen was built,” Jo explained. 

Her Impact

Beyond the sanitary towels and solar lights, Jo worked diligently to provide as much care and attention to the birth center as she could. She hit the ground running on her first workday by training six midwives, some of them getting their Master's degree in Midwifery.

“They are so smart and eager and have such a strong education in OBGYN that it's a whole different experience, compared to the trainees I have worked with in the past,” Jo said.

Jo gave I give 2-3 lectures a day along with hands-on scanning. Due to the heat, she would start at 9:00 AM, then take a long break from 1:00 PM or 2:00 PM until 4:30 PM. When the heat subsided, she was back at it until 7:00 PM.

Jo was also called upon to scan emergency patients, which she found very rewarding as a sonographer. Jo claimed it was a fantastic opportunity to show firsthand the value of training midwives how to scan.

“Thanks to ultrasound, there have been a number of patients that did not need to be referred to the nearest hospital and were able to be treated by the midwives.”

That being said, when there were patients that did need immediate referral to the hospital, Jo said they were transported quickly, due to the scanning proof ultrasound provided.

Rewriting Curriculum

With the goal of lasting impact, Jo prioritized the education of sonographers, by rewriting the exam. She added questions with clinical relevance with added content regarding the overall understanding of ultrasound physics.

“The current style of education in Uganda focuses on rote memorization. But I have seen it fail in a clinical setting. I really want to set these people up for success and give them applicable skills and knowledge. Otherwise, what is the point of all of this?”

Love for Volunteering

Jo prides herself on her passion for volunteer work.

“I was raised with the love for volunteering. I am very passionate about it. My moral and ethical compass is very strong.

When she travels abroad to help better the lives of others, she thinks about the longevity of her impact and the ultimate goal of volunteer work.

“I’m not going there to put a band-aid on a knife wound. I really want to give people a resource and a skill they do not have access to, and I want to do it in such a manner that they can move forward on their own and make their lives better. That’s my goal.”

Jo’s volunteering does not stop with her most recent trip to Atiak; the esteemed sonographer has been invited to return to Ot Nywal Me Kuc Birth Center in October to continue her aid and help train the facility midwives for sonography success.