Managing Change and Answering Questions

Prompt:

For your blog post, relate a single statement that serves to "manage change" as your primary thesis in your mission statement. What problems might a reader have with it? How will you mitigate those problems?

Since the 2010 Haitian earthquake, MamaBaby Haiti has established a birth clinic in the under-served community of Mourn Rouge in Northern Haiti, but, now, with this strong foundation in place it is time to extend services to the surrounding rural communities through a mobile clinic.

There are a number of questions which a reader might have concerning the change management suggested by this statement.  As I list each possible problem, I will follow the challenge with my possible response.

1.    There are needs everywhere.  Why focus on Mourn Rouge and the surrounding area?

Haiti has the highest maternal mortality rate in the Western Hemisphere. Most of these deaths could be prevented with proper care. Sixty percent of persons in rural areas, like Mourn Rouge, have no access to basic health care.  Hidden in the shadow of Port-Au-Prince, the mothers and infants in the Mourn Rouge area have been overlooked and under-served in the past.

2.    Why establish a mobile clinic?  Can’t the women and infants just visit the clinic in Mourn Rouge?

Transportation is not always available or financially feasible for those living in area fishing villages.  Families are often forced to choose between trips for pre- and post-natal care and other basic necessities, yet this care is critical to reducing the maternal mortality rate.  A mobile clinic will make this care more readily available and expand the capacity of MamaBaby Haiti’s Clinic.

3.    Why is now the time to add a mobile clinic?

The need has been present from the time of the establishment of MamaBaby Haiti.  Only now, has the twenty-four hour/day, seven day/week clinic grown from its infancy as a piecemeal operation of volunteers from around the world into an organization that is prepared to employ and train local midwives.  MamaBaby Haiti directors and local staff have been actively developing relationships with other NGOs, government ministries, and community leaders.  With these critical connections in place, delaying the start of a mobile clinic would lead to the unnecessary death of many mothers and infants.