Lucress and Dick Watson Childrens Foundation

02/03/2016

I am very proud and touched!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCb9dNji7mU&feature=youtu.be

An update on Saving the Lives of Mothers and Babies, a project of Caring Response Madagascar Foundation supported by the Watson Children's Foundation and oth...

04/28/2015

Please pray for the people in Nepal. The Watson Children's Foundation is working hard to get an IEHK (Interagency Emergency Health Kit) to Nepal as soon as possible. The IEHK should be in the air and on it's way from the Netherlands to Nepal. It will arrive tomorrow. The IEHK provides emergency health care to 10,000 people for 3 months. The consignee for the Lucress and Dick Watson Childrens Foundation is IMC. International Medical Corps works to relieve the suffering of those impacted by war, natural disaster and disease by delivering vital health care services that focus on training, helping devastated populations return to self-reliance. We partner with them during disasters. Picture of the IEMK ready to ship.

03/05/2015

Nice Letter From Texas Non Profits

Lucress and Dick Watson Children’s Foundation Supports the Caring Response Madagascar Foundation

I am quoting a letter from Virginia R. Wiltse, Director Caring Response Madagascar Foundation to the Lucress and Dick Watson Children’s Foundation, thanking the Watson foundation for their generous support in their Caring Response Program in Madagascar. Quite a nice letter of thanks from an organization to a foundation that has made a great difference for their program.

"Last summer the Watson Foundation partnered with Caring Response Madagascar Foundation as part of our “Saving the Lives of Mothers and Babies” project. In November, following the implementation of our training program at the Ankirihiry Clinic, I wrote to let you know that our visit and training program were off to a successful start. Today, I was prompted to recall again your role in our project because the UN’s Office of Humanitarian Affairs just released a report that confirms the importance and the value of the donation you made to us last year. And so this letter comes by way of thanking you once again and offering you an interim report on the impact of the donation you made to the Ankirihiry Clinic.

The report from the UN that arrived in my e-mail box this morning indicates that while
“traditional childhood killers” such as measles, pneumonia, diarrhea and even malaria have declined in recent years, “mortality in the first month of life looms ever larger.” The article quotes statistics from a study done at Johns Hopkins University that shows that, “worldwide, around 40 percent of children who die below the age of five die in the first month of life.” And this report is what made me think of
you this morning because your donation last year to the Ankirihiry Clinic gave the midwives there precisely the tools they need to combat those early deaths.
Here is one clear example that demonstrates how the Watson Foundation has helped to save the lives of newborns. Infections in newborns often originate at the site where the umbilical cord is cut.

When our team arrived at the Ankirihiry Center last year, the cords of newborn babies were being cut using scissors and un-sterilized sewing thread. Dr. Carol Egner taught the midwives to clamp the babies’ cords in a hygienic manner using cord clamps provided by the Watson Foundation. She emphasized the importance of cord care and insisted on the use of cord clamps rather than sewing thread to tie off the umbilical cord. Last month, I reviewed several hundred delivery charts sent from the Ankirihiry Clinic along with the utilization list of medications and supplies that we provided to the
clinic. Hundreds of cord clamps have been used since our departure! What is truly significant about this data is that the availability of the cord clamps donated by the Watson Foundation has made possible a behavior change among the midwives at the clinic and this change supports survival for newborn babies.

Think of the impact of your donation! You sent a thousand plastic cord clamps at a cost of less than $60.00 and this investment is paying huge dividends! The most recent medical literature indicates that a simple application of antibiotic cream on a clean-cut umbilical cord could reduce infection even further. This additional practice is one we hope to introduce when we return to Madagascar in September.

I offer two other examples of the importance of your contribution. Last fall, our medical team taught the midwives at Ankirihiry Clinic how to start IVs to supplement the fluid levels for laboring and postpartum women. The Watson Foundation provided the Ringer’s Lactate IV solution that is now being used at the clinic to stabilize and save the lives of new mothers. The latest report from the UN indicates that maternal infections are not only passed to newborns but also contribute to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth and low birth-weight babies. Antibiotics sent last fall by the Watson Foundation, specifically ceftriaxone, are now being used to treat maternal infections.

Never doubt for a moment that the donation of medications and supplies that you sent to Madagascar last fall has, indeed, saved the lives of mothers and babies!

Texas Non Profits

02/02/2014

http://youtu.be/nI8w8K0xkyY

Child First Meds provides medical supplies to need children around the world. Watch this inspirational video showing some of the children it has helped.

11/14/2013

While our primary goal is to provide essential medicines for children in Developing Countries, when possible we contribute to emergency situations. We have ordered an Interagency Emergency Health Kits (IEHK) to aid the efforts in the Philippines.

10/29/2013

The 2013 seed shipments are on their way. We ship vegetable seeds to all the organizations that receive essential children's medicines. This year we shipped 200,000 packets of seed to 14 different organizations in 10 different countries. This means 34,000 families will have a garden and be able to eat fresh vegetables again this year. We love our seed program!

10/29/2013

If you live in an industrialized nation, your child is safe. He or she has access to good medical care and won’t die from diseases that killed children a century ago.

But in the developing world, more than 22,000 children, primarily under the age of 5, die each day from these few fundamental health problems. The majority of these deaths take place in sub-Saharan Africa.

What’s killing these children? What causes these problems, and what can be done to prevent these deaths? This is what we are doing.................

An organization contacts us, or we find an organization that we think needs our help, and together we begin the qualifying process.

Instead of training an army of our own employees or missionaries to go into isolated villages or communities, we work with organizations that are already on the ground in remote areas and have local knowledge. We purchase and ship the essential medicines and supplies that are truly essential for child health. These items are shipped to organizations that have a proven track record for reaching remote areas. Training for the health-care promoters in each village will come through organizations that already have a training system in place or will follow a model from other successful organizations that we are already helping. We will supply these model training guides.

This concept is working. Where poor people were once dependent on a stressed, distracted government to supply their medical needs, they are discovering that simple assistance can bring new health and strength to their communities.