Israeli pregnant women prepare for birth under Hezbollah rocket fire

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Expectant mothers may have one less worry as Magen David Adom (MDA) and the Israel Midwives Organization (IMO) have started a new project to assist women in labor in northern communities under Hezbollah fire, the organizations announced. 

The project, named the “First Contractions” project, aims to ensure that pregnant women can safely deliver if they are prevented from reaching a delivery room in time.

The project was funded by the Jewish Federations of North America.

Why is the project needed?

In 2023, 16,283 pregnant women were evacuated to hospitals but a significant number of the women, 1,062, gave birth in their homes or on their way to the hospital. While these women received emergency treatment from MDA respondents, Out-Of-Hospital (OOH) births can be both stressful and carry risks.

For the first nine months since October 7, MDA teams evacuated a total of 359 women in labor from the Western and Northern Galilee, and the Golan Heights.

Members of Israel Midwives Organization and Magen David Adom infront of First Contractions Project kits. (credit: Israel Midwives Organization and Magen David Adom)

Recognizing the increased risk expectant mothers faced, especially knowing that rocket attacks could impair their ability to travel to a hospital, IMO and MDA embarked on this new project.

First Contractions will focus on northern Israel at first, in light of the security situation there, but is expected to expand throughout the country.

IMO and MDA are mapping all northern communities where there are pregnant women, from the Golan Heights all the way to Nahariya, in order to connect midwifery participants and pregnant women. This will allow midwives to be made aware in advance of the location of expectant mothers and should reduce the time it takes for them to receive care.

These midwives have also been equipped with the necessary tools and knowledge for safe OOH deliveries – including in cases where emergent situations may arise for the mother or baby.

Additionally, the midwives’ information has been uploaded into MDA’s Command and Control Systems, allowing for automatic dispatch in case of an emergency.

First Contractions will also enable pregnant women to get to know midwives in their region. The early acquaintance and preparation for delivery in a “desert island” scenario may also alleviate some of the anxiety an expectant mother may feel about giving birth under exceptional circumstances.

Yifat Rubanenko, Chair of The Israel Midwives Organization, said, “The purpose of midwifery is to be alongside the women in routine and emergent times. The First Contractions project will enable an early acquaintance already from the pregnancy, between the pregnant women who live in the shadow of war and the midwives in the region. 

“This will enable professional and holistic treatment by the midwives, even in the case of difficulty reaching a medical center. I’m grateful for this cooperation with MDA, thanks to which the midwives from the north have joined MDA’s volunteering system, and on any occasion of a birth or a gynecological problem that occurs out-of-hospital, the midwives will be the first on call to assist.”

Manager of MDA’s First Response Division and Project Manager Yossi Halabi added, “There is huge importance to in reducing the response time for a wide range of medical emergency situations in the community. We are happy for the cooperation with The Israel Midwives Organization in a special project giving medical response to pregnant women in situations in which for some reason, a security emergency, natural disaster or extreme weather, there is difficulty in the ambulance’s access to them or it isn’t possible to evacuate them to the hospital.”

Preparing the midwives

IMO and MDA hosted two intensive training sessions which were attended by 37 midwives from the Golan Heights region and the Asher regional communities. 

During these sessions, midwives received training on the use of special medical equipment, which will lower the risk of OOH births. 

Officials stress the importance of the project

Deputy Director General for Medicine, Dr. Raphael Strugo stressed that “A complication in childbirth can end tragically for the woman giving birth and for the newborn, especially when it is an out-of-hospital birth. As in every emergency medical situation – when there is an experienced caregiver on the scene, and in this case an experienced midwife, the event is significantly better run, and that is the basis for this project. The cooperation with The Israel Midwives Organization will enable pregnant women to prepare ahead of time and be in touch with experienced midwives who will arrive together with Magen David Adom teams and even before them in distant locations, so that the best possible response is provided in the case of unplanned births.”

MDA Director General, Eli Bin added, “Magen David Adom, Israel’s national Emergency Rescue Organization, acts every moment in order to be prepared to give the best medical response to the citizens of Israel, in every situation. As a part of lessons learnt from October 7 and the preparation for the war in the north, we have established projects within communities that will help reaching anyone who will need assistance in a time of emergency. 

“One of these projects in the ‘Magen’ Project, in which citizens with medical training, even basic, group together to be part of the national emergency medical organization and will be dispatched in times of need to give medical assistance in their areas. 

“I am happy to announce today, that together with The Midwives Organization we have established the First Contractions project, beginning in northern Israel and in areas under threat such as The Golan Heights and communities in the Western Galilee, in which there are daily missile attacks. In MDA, we continue doing everything to be prepared for any scenario.

“The midwives will double our abilities and will be able to provide a professional medical response before MDA teams arrive. I have no doubt that the joint initiative of The Midwives Organization and MDA will help in bringing new lives safely into the world and will also save the lives of newborns and their mothers.”

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