BORN in Linden, Orita Semple grew up in Mahaicony but migrated to the United States of America, where she has been living ever since 1983. Now 46, she continues to carry that awesome passion for making the lives of women and children better.

Judging from her chosen career and her association with health-related non-governmental and community service organizations, and noting the energy and drive she continues to expend into her association with the Healing Community Centre of Atlanta Georgia -– the neighbourhood in which she lives – one has to conclude that Orita Semple has been appropriately geared to robustly pursue her calling. She now has her own agency, named ‘Healing Community Centre – ‘Before and After’.

With an extensive background in the social services, having been engaged therein for the last 20 years, and having been engaged in maternal health since 2003, this mother of one is a certified Childbirth Educator and Labour and Postpartum Doula (Labour coach). Her passion is for the welfare of women and children, and she has worked in various fields of HIV/AIDS and support services.

She is actively involved in providing transitional housing for women in crisis, as well as in domestic violence situations. An Anger Management Specialist, Orita also provides compliance support services for women.

“In Atlanta we have maternity and transitional housing for women, and provide training for staff and pregnant women on childbirth education,” she proudly asserted.

Driven by her passion to reach out to the people of Guyana, Orita has launched an HIV support service for women and children at Mahaicony. Launched in 2004, the focus of this service has since been on maternal and child health.

Vision
Currently home on vacation, Orita Semple is interested in re-establishing a relationship with the people of Mahaicony. She has an eye on working along with the hospital and health care clinics, focusing on women’s health and, more essentially, women and child health care.

Having arrived in Guyana on August 13, she has since met with Dr. Gavin Persaud, Region 5 Health Officer, and conducted a maternal health workshop which attracted 13 midwives and public health nurses. The objective of the workshop was to educate and promote healthy mothers and healthy babies.

The workshop was conducted in the boardroom of the Fort Wellington Hospital in Region Five. The primary focus was on family planning; postpartum depression; the role fathers can play in offering support services to pregnant mothers after delivery, with a view to stemming the tide of domestic violence-related postpartum depression.

Orita stressed on importance of the role of fathers in pregnancy, admonishing those ‘missing in action’ (MIA) to seriously consider their paternal obligations and to take up their places in the home alongside their female partners, and especially during pregnancy.

Among the issues discussed with Dr. Persaud, Orita said, was the need for more support services and community involvement for delivery, such as community follow-up workers (CFW).

Ms. Semple’s agency (Healing Centre – ‘Before and After’) is concerned that there are only four maternal beds at the Mahaicony Hospital. She said she hopes to have a meeting with the doctor in charge, so as to forge relationships with the institution, out of which arrangements can be made to have more beds brought in.
The agency is soon to ship a barrel of medical supplies for the Mahaicony Hospital, Semple says. Items include dental and surgical supplies; IV tubings; gauze; diabetic glaucometers with lancets and strips; first aid kits and over-the-counter medication.

Last Sunday, Orita Semple staged a ‘walkabout’ in the community, during which she distributed items such as pampers, baby feeding bottles, wipes and bath wash to about 25 pregnant and postpartum women.

 
By Shirley Thomas