NICU Mothers’ Center

One of the most recently completed projects is a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Mothers’ Center located inside the Hospital Japonés. The Hospital Japones is a Hospital serving the poor in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  Poverty-stricken mothers with babies admitted to the NICU didn’t have a private place to pump breast milk, launder clothing (including diapers), wash up and rest.

Mothers with babies in the NICU previously waited in line multiple times a day to use one shared breast pump in a hallway. Mothers are encouraged to breast feed their NICU babies to help provide nourishment. When Yapay Bolivia visited the NICU in the Hospital Japonés in August 2017, several board members personally related to the experience of having a baby in the NICU. It became a priority to research the possibilities of improving the facilities for new mothers staying in the hospital while their babies are in the NICU.   The objective for this project was to provide a place where mothers of NICU patients could have improved sanitary conditions, comfort, dignity and privacy.

Because of generous donations in late 2017 and early 2018,  Yapay was able to construct a private bathroom and shower and a laundry sink for mothers staying in the hospital for days and weeks at a time as they wait for their babies to be released.

Yapay Bolivia also constructed a private area for mothers to pump breast milk for their babies.  Several pumps were donated as well. In August 2018, members of the Yapay Bolivia Board and team were able to visit the Hospital Japonés and see the construction and completion of the Hospital Japones NICU Mothers’ Center.