Transiting Beijing

I left Denver on Tuesday evening and flew to LA. Then I boarded Air China to Beijing. We left at 140 am Wednesday 8/31, crossed the international date line and arrived in Beijing at 545 am on Thursday 9/1. The flight was about 12 1/2 hours, one of the longer single flights I've taken, but still not as long as Delhi to Chicago last year (15 1/2 hours) or Los Angeles to Sydney (15 hours). The Beijing airport is huge and very modern--lots of stores and free WiFi! I will now fly to Ulan Bator on this plane where I will meet my team from Salt Lake City. I will be serving with a retired OB/GYN doctor and his wife as well as a nurse practitioner. They flew via Seoul.

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Teaching Neonatal Resuscitation in Ulaan Baator, Mongolia

On August 30th I will travel to Ulaan Baator, Mongolia, to assist in the teaching of a Neonatal Resuscitation course for Obstetricians and midwives. The course is sponsored by LDS Humanitarian Services. This will be the 6th time I have participated in the teaching of these important techniques around the world (Honduras 2004, Guyana 2005, Democratic Republic of the Congo 2006, Democratic Republic of the Congo/Republic of the Congo 2007, Democratic Republic of the Congo 2008). However, it will be the first time that I will be using the new Helping Babies Breathe curriculum from the American Academy of Pediatrics. This new curriculum primarily focuses on helping a baby who is having trouble breathing at birth using a bag and mask ventilation technique.

The humanitarian work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints primarily helps those in need who are not members of the Church. There are many people in virtually any community in the world who struggle to meet their basic needs. The Church seeks to help as many as possible.

Neonatal Resuscitation Training – The World Health Organization estimates that 1 million newborns die each year of breathing difficulties. The Church provides a train-the-trainer program for resuscitation skills and resuscitation equipment to doctors, nurses, and midwives. In addition to training for medical professionals in advanced techniques, a new level of training has been introduced called "Helping Babies Breathe." This program helps save the lives of newborns in resource limited countries. Since 2002, over 193,000 health care workers have been trained in these life-saving techniques.

On this blog, I will share my experiences in Mongolia and post some photos. Thank you for your interest and for your support!

Steve Grover, M.D.