Johnson and Johnson 2006 Annual Report Download - page 25

few Chinese nurses, doctors or midwives outside the urban
hospitals have received practical, hands-on training to
intervene for neonatal asphyxia—until now.
The Ministry was determined to save future generations of
its children from early deaths or heartbreaking disabilities, and
in JJPI—a Johnson & Johnson company dedicated to saving
the lives of mothers and babies the world over—they found an
equally determined partner.
THE BREAT H O F L I F E Almost two years later, the Chinese
Ministry of Health’s Division of Child Health launched its
Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP). The program teaches
Chinese health care workers how to rescue a newborn baby
struggling for a first full breath of life. It brings together a
wide range of health professionals who, under a range of
local circumstances, deliver thousands of babies each year
in China’s townships, counties, cities and provinces.
They include obstetricians, pediatricians, neonatologists,
anesthesiologists, nurses and midwives.
With JJPI’s help, the Ministry reached across the Pacific
Ocean to forge a partnership with the American Academy
of Pediatrics, which Marini says has “the gold standard” for
training in neonatal asphyxia. “It’s a wonderful international
collaboration. These two groups are learning so much from
each other.”
LIKE A DROP OF INK IN WATER Since its inception in July
2004, the Ministry of Health’s NRP has trained more than
18,000 native health care professionals to be trainers. In so
doing, it has saved the lives of countless babies who would
otherwise have died.
In its first two years, the program has easily surpassed the
goal originally set for the five-year mark. NRP-trained
professionals now work in more than 600 Chinese cities,
thanks largely to a cadre of inspired—and inspiring—nurses
who quickly fanned out across the nation, voluntarily
training one another in concentric succession.
“When a drop of calligrapher’s ink falls into a bowl of clear
water, it spreads everywhere at once,” says May Li, a Shanghai-
based representative of JJPI who served as its day-to-day
contact with the Ministry. “The NRP model has been working
the same way. When a hard-working nurse sees baby after baby
live instead of dying immediately, she almost cannot help
but get further involved in the program. She finds herself
volunteering to go anywhere, to teach anyone. She feels that
her professional life has greater meaning.”
Marini says it’s no secret why China’s NRP has spread
farther, and faster, than many such initiatives she has
seen elsewhere in her Asian travels: “Encouragement and
motivation are this incredible program’s core values and
the keys to its success.”
“Joy and I have become true soul mates through this
work, and we’ve learned so much from each other,” says Li.
“We’ve been each other’s cultural guides in forging a powerful
cross-Pacific collaboration.”
“I wake up in the morning and I can’t believe I’ve been
so lucky to work on an initiative like the NRP that will save so
many babies in such a beautiful country,” says Marini.
“May and I have the best jobs in the world.”
T H E F I R S T M O M E N T S O F L I F E
“ N O T TO D AY ”
Wang Lixin is a nurse in Beijing. Every day, she helps mothers
bring their babies into the world. Too often, through the years,
Wang Lixin has seen tragedy unfold while a baby boy or girl fusses
and struggles, trying to take a first breath, finally turning blue from
lack of oxygen.
This morning, Wang Lixin’s friend Liu Jia, who is also a nurse,
lies upon the birthing table. Over the past year, Wang Lixin
has taught many nurses how to defeat death—and one of them is
holding her hand.
“Not today,” resolves Wang Lixin silently. “Today the breath
of life will prevail.” And when it came time for Wang Lixin’s friend
Liu Jia to give birth, Liu put her life—and her child’s life—in the
hands of her NRP-trained peer.
Wang Lixin, an NRP National Trainer, personally taught more
than 150 other Chinese nurses in 2006.
In a nation where the
official one-child-per-family
birthing policy heightens
every expectant parent’s
dreams and anxieties, Wang
Lixin, on a volunteer basis:
· Traveled deep into Eastern
China’s teeming cities
to give hospital nurses
their first-ever glimpse of
neonatal rescue by trained
health professionals.
· Traveled to more remote outposts to show nurses how to work
with portable, infant-sized oxygen tents.
· Helped guide the growth of NRP as an NRP Task Force member.
· Found time and energy to fulfill her responsibilities in another
volunteer capacity, as president of the Division of Midwives-
Chinese Nursing Association.
Like Wang Lixin, Liu Jia is proud of her homeland’s strong
new commitment to protect newborn infants from preventable
death and illness: "Every smile, every laugh, even every cry is
precious. Yang Yang is the future of our family; we're so thankful for
the trained team that knew exactly what to do when he was born
and did not breathe.”
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Liu Jia with her son, Yang Yang