Last month, UMMS-Baystate faculty member Anastasia Hallisey, CNM, MSN, Instructor in the Department of ObGyn, and Michelle Mills, a recent graduate of the Baystate Midwifery Program (BMEP), traveled to WaWest in the northwest corner of Ghana to create a clinical experience for future BMEP participants.
Ms. Hallisey’s travel to Ghana was funded by a competitive scholarship from Baystate Women in Medicine and Science (BWIMS) that is awarded twice a year to women physicians and advanced practitioners to support their academic and organizational advancement.
While shadowing local WaWest midwife, Elizabeth Dery, Ms. Hallisey and Ms. Mills successfully held two Helping Babies Breathe trainings (also known as HBB; a neonatal resuscitation curriculum), created and implemented a class explaining the menstrual cycle using visual aids, participated in Father-to-Father and Mother-to-Mother support groups, and clinically observed local midwives at work.