Nazareth Hospital Conference

The Nazareth conference was held recently to celebrate 150 years since a tiny dispensary was established in Nazareth by a devout Scottish couple, Dr. Kaloost Varden and his wife. The hospital was then officially adopted by the Church of Scotland and today it is the Israel Government Hospital for Nazareth, still supported from Scotland.

Irene Murray was the head midwife there for many years and through the work of Wendy Blumfield as a childbirth educator, they all became good friends. Workshops were given which were attended by Arab and Jewish midwives and Tipat Halav (child welfare clinic) nurses from the kibbutzim and villages around as well as from the Nazareth hospitals.

 

The conference workshop was given by another British midwife, Kathryn Gutteridge, on the subject of helping women in childbirth after a history of sexual abuse, a problem that applies to every culture.

L to R Irene Murray (former head midwife), 

Wendy Blumfield (childbirth educator) and 

R. Miriam Shibli current head midwifery tutor.

In the audience were midwives, social workers, childbirth educators and doulas, Arab Moslem and Christian, Jewish secular and religious. Many of them knew each other, hugged on meeting and chatted so much it was difficult to keep the coffee breaks to the allotted time.

The foreign media should witness these multi-cultural peaceful events.  

Technion Babies - Israel's Scientists of the Future

There is probably no other country in the world where one would see so many pregnant students on campus.  But in Israel, youngsters, male and female complete army service before starting university and by the time they are studying for their postgraduate courses many of them are married and starting a family.

The Technion Institute for Science and Technology in Haifa is aware of this and raise funds to build beautiful family-sized dormitories for their married students. And on campus one will see many young parents with babies carried in a sling or wheeled in a stroller.

But unique even in Israel is the childbirth preparation course and lactation support system run by UK-trained active birth teacher, Wendy Blumfield in the framework of the Students Union. Starting every two months, a new group is opened for couples in small groups, meeting in a convenient location on campus and at a subsidized cost.  After the births, the group meets again with the co-ordinator to admire each other’s babies and recount their birth experiences.