An “act of charity” is how a Bolivia city official described recently donated medical equipment from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to a maternity hospital there. Also in Ecuador and the Philippines, the Church recently donated medical equipment and supplies to hospitals and clinics to help women and babies.
In Peru, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints helped Operación Sonrisa Perú, or Operation Smile Peru, with support for more than 100 babies and children to receive free cleft lip or palate surgeries. And in Lima, Peru, women helped sew clothing for premature babies.
Here is a look at recent donations and service efforts.
Smiling in Peru
Volunteers from the Church helped Operación Sonrisa Perú, or Operation Smile Peru, give nearly 100 children free cleft lip or palate surgeries on May 10, reported the Church’s Peru Newsroom.
Members of the La Libertad Lima Peru Stake loaded and unloaded equipment at the Pescadores Ward meetinghouse, helped care for patients and cared for relatives of the patients that day.
Cleft and palate surgeries are essential for babies’ and children’s long-term health and well-being, reported the Church’s Peru Newsroom. Operation Smile focuses heavily on providing surgical attention and medical treatments to patients, especially children, throughout Peru.
Clothing babies in Lima
The National Maternal Perinatal Institute, known as Maternity of Lima, received donations from the Relief Society of the Lima Peru Limatambo Stake. Their motto, “Charity never faileth,” empowered the women of the Relief Society to make maternity and baby clothes and present them to Maternity of Lima on June 11, the Church’s Peru Newsroom reported.
Among the donations were 117 blankets, 206 shorts, 21 baby trousseaus and 54 hats designed for premature babies.
With the donations, women from the Relief Society also visited the mothers in care at the maternity hospital. They hoped the donations not only were helpful but also gave those mothers hope.
Life-changing hospital equipment in Ecuador
On April 27, donations were delivered to the Augusto Egas Health Center in Santo Domingo, Ecuador. Three gynecological beds, two radiant heat cribs and six handheld ultrasound transducers will be installed in the health center.
Ecuador Newsroom reported the medical equipment given to the health center is considered lifesaving to babies born in the center’s two facilities — Augusto Egas and Los Rosales. The donations will provide sufficient health service to mothers in labor and greater care for the newborns.
One pregnant mother who had attended the donation ceremony said: “The maternity area of the health center is going to be well equipped and the service is going to be very efficient. I feel confident giving birth because if my baby needs a thermal crib, it will be provided.”
The donated items were purchased with contributions provided by Church members.
Building up hospitals in Bolivia
The Church delivered what was called an “act of charity” of a donation to the Riberalta Maternal and Child Hospital in Riberalta, Bolivia, on April 16, reported the Church’s Bolivia Newsroom.
“We are very grateful for this act of charity, for this donation,” said Riberalta Mayor Ciriaco Rodríguez Vásquez. “May God always bless you.”
The donations included multiparameter monitors, fetal monitors, infusion pumps, ultrasound scanners, ventilators and chemical analyzers.
Dr. Marcelo Fucher Vargas, director of the hospital, said, “I want to thank our Heavenly Father who allows us to continue working through the help of selfless people who give a little more for the population and society.”
Helping mothers in the Philippines
The Church donated materials to support maternity and newborn departments at the Occidental Mindoro Provincial Hospital in Manila, Philippines, on May 9.
Dr. Maria Teressa Vergara-Tan and Dr. Renaldo A. Feratero were present at the donation ceremony. They spoke of their gratitude for the donations from the Church.
“This equipment will help the people of this province, and no more mothers, especially Indigenous mothers, will suffer while giving birth,” Feratero said. “These pieces of equipment will help the growing numbers of patients in the newly built outpatient department of the hospital.”
The Church’s Philippines Newsroom reported the donation of equipment that included examining tables, lights, machines, scales, nebulizers, cribs and computers to benefit both women and infants.
