MWCC's Weekly e-newsletter

Friday, January 7, 2004

MWCC NURSING PROFESSOR FINDS HOPE AMIDST DESPAIR IN SOUTH AFRICA

By Kimberly B. Caisse

When Mount Wachusett Community College Nursing Professor Nancy Duphily visited South Africa recently, she found hope despite widespread suffering from AIDS. She also said people were grateful 30 North Americans showed an interest in helping them address South Africa’s health challenges.

	A child being treated at a Cotlands Baby Sanctuary in South Africa.

The AIDS epidemic hit South Africa soon after the apartheid rule by a white, Afrikaner government transitioned to a democratic government for all citizens led by President Thabo Mbeki. Today, more than 5 million South Africans are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS; more than 600,000 children are orphans because of the disease. In the past decade, the life expectancy in South Africa has dropped from 67 to 43 years. There are social implications—AIDS sufferers are treated as outcasts—as well as economic ones—the unemployment rate is 44 percent.

Duphily spent two weeks in South Africa in early December as part of a People to People delegation, fulfilling her dream to learn firsthand about breastfeeding in that part of the world and the challenges AIDS presents to that basic life function. “It will not only help me professionally, but it will also make me a better teacher,” Duphily said before she left.

The People to People delegation from the United States and Canada and South African health care workers discussed the following topics:

• The role of the health care worker in helping mothers with birth and breastfeeding;
• The role of the community in postpartum care that supports breastfeeding;
• The importance of kangaroo care (mother-baby skin-to-skin contact) for premature babies and newborns with HIV;
• Research on the implications of the HIV epidemic on infant feeding
• The role of government in infant feeding

	A mother holds her newborn at a South African hospital.

There is an initiative to increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding by new mothers in South Africa, where exclusive breastfeeding during a baby’s first three months of life is done at a rate of about 10 percent and formula is distributed for free by the government, Duphily explained. This is being carried out through a variety of programs, including Mothers to Mothers to Be at the Khayalitsha Clinic in Cape Town.

The goal is to reverse the high rate of underweight infants and toddlers and cases of stunted growth and to begin following the World Health Organization’s recommendation for the length of time new mothers with HIV/AIDS should exclusively breastfeed their babies.

“We learned how the activism of individuals is helping to raise awareness, to changing behavior and to produce a political response to the pandemic,” Duphily said. The delegates also saw “that no matter how desperate their situation, there is hope amidst the despair.”

Still, the country needs help caring for new mothers, many of whom don’t get tested for HIV, treating adults and children with AIDS, educating the population about AIDS prevention and caring for AIDS orphans, Duphily said.

	Nancy Duphily with a child during her visit to a Cotlands Baby Sanctuary.

The South African nurses and doctors “were very interested in the nursing programs in the US and Canada, in having students come over to do a clinical rotation in the clinics, hospitals and community there, in the breastfeeding practices and government support of breastfeeding programs in the US and Canada, the ratio of nurses to patients, (baby) delivery practices, the role of nurse midwives and lactation consultants (and) how to retain nurses,” Duphily said.

“Better pay elsewhere, tough working conditions (and) the emotional toll experienced with the HIV/AIDS crisis” have made nurse retention an immediate concern in South African health care facilities, according to Duphily.

	A South African mother with her baby.

Duphily, a lactation consultant for Heywood Hospital in Gardner and HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster and childbirth instructor at HealthAlliance, also was impressed by how South African mothers care for their babies. “Every mother there NEVER puts her child down!” she said.

Duphily said she only scratched the surface of South Africa’s complex health care needs. She wants to return there one day. She also would like to develop a service-learning project in which MWCC nursing students travel to South Africa to help in hospitals or clinics.

Duphily’s trip was made possible in part by professional development funds from MWCC. She is currently developing a presentation about the trip. The date for the presentation has not been set.

PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS STARTS MONDAY

The College Access and Preparation Programs of Mount Wachusett Community College are currently offering the free Pathways to Success program—a chance for students from the class of 2003, 2004 and 2005 who have not yet passed the MCAS exams to prepare to retake them.

This program will run from Monday, Jan. 10 until Thursday, March 10. It will be offered Monday through Thursday from 5 until 9 p.m., and will run at MWCC’s Leominster and Gardner campuses.

The Pathways to Success program is a ten-week program to prepare participants for MCAS retesting, college entrance or exploration and assistance with other education and career paths. Students will be offered the chance to travel to the March and July MCAS exams, will be exposed to college and career exploration seminars and will receive incentives as they complete the program.

Students participating in Pathways to Success are considered MWCC students and they will be awarded the same library and academic support privileges as MWCC students.

For more information, please contact CAPP Coordinator Rebeccah Sonn at (978) 630-9280.

Campus Events:

• On display in Mount Wachusett Community College’s East Wing Gallery, outside the Theatre at the Mount, until Wednesday, Jan. 19 are works produced by MWCC students Andy Argon, Corinne Goodrich, Marsha Hersey and Alaina Youngsma. For more information, call Professor John Pacheco at (978) 630-9184.

• Room still is available in the Fitness & Wellness Center at MWCC’s upcoming baseball clinics. The age-appropriate baseball clinics will run on Sundays Jan. 9, Jan. 16, Jan. 30, Feb. 27, March 6 and March 13 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. The cost is $45 per player. There also is room in the pitching clinic for children 13 and up that will be held on Sundays March 20 and March 27 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The cost is $25 per player. For more information, call the center at (978) 630-9212.

• MWCC and the Twin Cities Latino Coalition will kick off the What’s Next Speaker Series with a presentation by Dr. Margarita Alegria, a professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, the first tenured Latino faculty member at Harvard University and the executive director of the Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research at the Cambridge Health Alliance in Somerville, on Tuesday, Jan. 11 from 12 to 2 p.m. Alegria will share her ideas on how building community alliances—connections between social and community resources and needs—can help eliminate inequalities in mental health care services. For more information, contact Lea Ann Erickson at (978) 630-9322 or Kim Caisse at (978) 630-9547.

• The Mount Wachusett Community College Winchendon Skills Program, funded by a grant from Robinson Broadhurst Foundation, is offering free GED prep classes at the Community Action Center at 273 Central St. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Enrollment is ongoing. For more information, call Janet Brown at (978) 297-1667 or Tim Robinson at (978) 630-9259.

• Register now for the Fitness & Wellness Center’s annual golf lessons, which begin the week of Monday, Feb. 28. Directed by PGA Professional Mike Egan, the lessons include individual instruction and video analysis. Participants can bring their own clubs or use the center’s. Beginner lessons will be held Mondays and Thursdays at 7:15 p.m. Intermediate classes will meet Tuesdays at 7:15 and 8:15 p.m. and Thursdays at 8:15 p.m. Advanced lessons will be held on Mondays at 8:15 p.m. The cost is $85 per session; fitness center members are eligible for a 10 percent discount. For more information, call the center at (978) 630-9212.

• Theatre at the Mount will hold auditions for the children’s musical “Honk! Jr.” by appointment only on Monday, Jan. 17 at 10 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. Director Sharon Asher, music director Bill Asher and choreographer Nicole Couture are looking for a large cast of children and teens (age 8 to 18) with singing, dancing and acting ability. “Honk! Jr.” is a contemporary re-telling of Hans Christian Anderson’s classic story, “The Ugly Duckling.” To schedule an appointment, call the Theatre at the Mount box office at (978) 632-2403, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., or e-mail your appointment request to box-office@mwcc.mass.edu. Auditions—consist of singing, dance/movement and cold readings from the script—will be held in room 182 at MWCC. Performances of “Honk! Jr.” are Thursday, March 31, Friday, April 1, Wednesday, April 6, Thursday, April 7 and Friday, April 8 at 9:30 a.m.; April 1, 6, 7 and 8 at noon; and Saturday, April 9 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tentative rehearsal schedule is Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. For more information, contact Professor Gail Steele at (978) 630-9162 or visit the Theatre at the Mount website at http://theatre.mwcc.edu.

• The Greater Gardner Community Choir will hold sign-up and first rehearsal for the spring semester on Monday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. Under the direction of Diane Cushing and Associate Director Mary Chapin Durling, the choir meets Monday evenings from 7 to 8:30pm in room 182 at Mount Wachusett Community College. The choir is open to all adults who love to sing—no experience required. A $20 music purchase fee is the only cost associated with joining. For more information contact Professor Gail Steele at (978) 632-6600, ext. 162 or by e-mail at g_steele@mwcc.mass.edu.

• MWCC’s What’s Next Speaker Series will continue with a presentation by Charlotte Kahn, director of the Boston Community Building Network at the Boston Foundation and coordinator of the award-winning Boston Indicators Project, on Friday, Jan. 21 at the Four Points by Sheraton in Leominster. Kahn’s appearance is co-sponsored by the Twin Cities Latino Coalition. The project has identified 10 indicators of systematic change: civic health, cultural life and the arts, economy, education, environment, housing, public health, public safety, technology and transportation. In her presentation, Kahn will explain the initiative’s purpose to area decision makers and citizens. For more information, contact Lea Ann Erickson at (978) 630-9322 or Kim Caisse at (978) 630-9547.

• The Mount Wachusett Community College Entrepreneurial Resource Center, 100 Jackson Road, Devens, will host its next Entrepreneur Speaker Series presentation, “Human Resource Basics: Top Five Pitfalls to Avoid” by Kathleen Mills, founder of HR Off Site Resources in Leominster, on Thursday, Jan. 27 from 12 to 1:30 p.m. Mills will review all the areas human resources covers, the importance of being in compliance and common pitfalls. Participants also will take a mini-audit to help them understand how prepared they are. The cost is only $15, and includes lunch. To register, call (978) 630-9569.

• The Mount Wachusett Community College Entrepreneurial Resource Center, 100 Jackson Road, Devens, will host the Entrepreneur Speaker Series presentation “Taking the Mystery Out of Bulk Mailing” by management consultant Paul Lambert on Thursday, Feb. 17 from 12 to 1:30 p.m. Direct mail can be an effective marketing tool. Lambert will review such issues as determining when direct mail is cost effective, purchasing mailing lists versus creating your own and direct-mail software options. The cost is only $15, and includes lunch. To register, call (978) 630-9569.

Lea Ann Erickson
Director of Community Relations
Mount Wachusett Community College
Phone: (978) 630-9322
Fax: (978) 630-9561
cell: (508) 517-5202
l_erickson@mwcc.mass.edu

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