From One to One Million: The Story of One Heart’s First Birth in Nepal
By Mikayla Meyler
Women walking through Baglung District, Nepal.
The treacherous, winding roads of Baglung are not for the faint of heart. Often unpaved, nestled along the side of a cliff, the road to get to the village of Narayansthan is often prone to falling rocks and opens to one of the deepest gorges in Nepal, making the journey a very dangerous one.
Arlene Samen, the founder of One Heart Worldwide, traveled these roads to get to Narayansthan, where she and other team members spent the night at a female community health worker’s house. They were accompanied by The Social Welfare Association of Nepal (SWAN), another nonprofit working for the betterment of women and children in Nepal.
Around 9 pm that night, there was a knock at the door. A woman was in labor, and she needed help. Immediately, a midwife from the team went to go visit the young woman, but by the next morning, the woman still had not given birth. Arlene, a trained nurse practitioner, went to provide aid. “She was completely worn out, and the baby wasn’t coming down,” Arlene remembers. She decided that this birth had complications that required access to a hospital - and fast.
The roads leading to the hospital in Baglung were anything but fast and would require the team to go all the way around the cliff in order to get her there. Worried that they didn’t have enough time, the team decided there had to be another way. With no access to an ambulance service, the next best method of transportation was to use the stretchers One Heart had recently given to the community. Those helping the expectant mother put her on a stretcher, and instead of losing time by going around the cliff, men in the village carried her over a large bridge where “they traversed down the cliff and then back up it, barefoot,” in order to get to the hospital.
When the team finally reached the hospital, the young mother was able to successfully give birth, saving the lives of both the mother and the child. Luckily this story ended in success, but Arlene recognized that she wanted to do more than assist with one birth in the village, “I just remember at that time thinking, what if we hadn't been there. I just kept thinking that she wouldn't have made it.” After seeing how difficult it was to gain access to high-grade medical care, Arlene and the One Heart team decided that this area of Baglung District would be the perfect location to construct the first One Heart Birthing Center in Nepal.
Since the construction of the first birthing center, One Heart Worldwide has grown to be an internationally recognized NGO that works directly with the Government of Nepal to provide high-quality medical care to mothers and their children. One Heart employs its Network of Safety model to set up and implement the program, and then transition the responsibility of care to local medical providers and skilled birth attendants.
Staff and volunteers at Hatiya Birthing Center (2014)
“Understanding the cultural and spiritual practices in each of the communities, and focusing on the family first” were some of the most important aspects to Arlene in the design and implementation of the Network of Safety strategy in order to ensure the work done by One Heart aligned with the community values and ideals. Another key aspect is flexibility. “The foundation should be understanding what the people need, and us designing our interventions around that”, Arlene believes. “This is how you leave a footprint”.
Now, in July 2023, One Heart has reached one million mothers and newborns in birthing centers that have either been constructed or upgraded in 32 districts of Nepal. The Hatiya Birthing Center, constructed near Narayansthan, has reached over 1,500 births since One Heart’s work began in Baglung District in 2011.
Hatiya Birthing Center, after OHW renovations, has now impacted over 1,500 pregnancies.
When we asked Arlene about what it means to her now that One Heart has facilitated the impact on one million mothers and newborns in Nepal, she remarked, “It means to me that we still have a lot of work to do. Every mother should have the same access to care.” Nepal has 77 districts, and by the end of 2024 One Heart will have impacted 36 of them. Arlene hopes to eventually cover all of Nepal with the Network of Safety model, with continued partnership with the Government of Nepal.
In addition to the Network of Safety, Arlene says that “staying focused on our mission”, and “collaborating” with other team members, organizations, and the people that One Heart helps are instilled in the center of the work One Heart does.
If you would like to learn more about Arlene and her story with One Heart, please join us on Wednesday, July 12th @ 6 pm Pacific / 9 pm Eastern to celebrate Arlene’s 70th birthday and our 1 million milestone! Click here to RSVP for the event.
