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Maria Matilde Nahak A.Md. Keb. was born in Webriamata Village on March 14, 1991, where she now serves as the Coordinator Midwife in Webriamata Village. “Before I was assigned as the Coordinator Midwife in Webriamata Village, there was only one nurse funded by the Village Fund, which made healthcare services at the Poskesdes challenging and limited due to the lack of village health workers, and limited medical equipment,” she said with a smile.
In early 2022, Maria Matilde received additional duties as a Coordinator Midwife at Poskesdes Webriamata with 3 other friends, namely Katarina Maria Kehi, Ana Herlina Tahu, and Maria A.P.. Lebo.
The first step taken by Maria Matilde at Poskesdes Webriamata was to hold a meeting with her three colleagues and they agreed to make workspace arrangements plan the schedule for prenatal classes. In addition, they arranged a schedule for Posbindu services, organized service hours at Poskesdes, and organized regular meetings with Posyandu cadres.
Maria Matilede Nahak, A.Md.,Keb
“The schedule for Posyandu services has actually been set in advance. But the Posyandu service with the 5-table system has not been running optimally because the cadres do not fully understand how the system should work,” Maria Matilde explained.
Since working alongside her fellow nurses and midwives at the Poskesdes, she began organizing services to reach their full potential. For a year, she has served as a Coordinator Midwife, along with her colleagues at the Poskesdes. This effort led to many significant improvements in services, such as opening Poskesdes daily from 8 AM to 2 PM, establishing a fixed schedule for Posyandu, and implementing the 5-table service system effectively. This is shown by cadres who can provide information to the target, prepare the weighing room, understand how to write in the recording book and understand the use of medical devices. After the Posyandu service is completed, cadres are able to calculate the nutritional status of infants under five and do not forget to check the attendance of infants under five. If there are infants under five who do not attend Posyandu activities, cadres together with village health workers will conduct home visits. In addition, pregnant women's meetings are held on the 8th of every month.
Posbindu services, which used to be only 1 place, are now operating in 2 places plus herbal services for the elderly during Posbindu. Environmental cleanliness is conducted every Saturday regularly with the Village Government. The service improvements are reflected in Posyandu data in April where the malnutrition status of 7 toddlers became completely absent, as well as the malnutrition status of 3 toddlers which became completely absent. Then with the number of pregnant women who experience SEZ, from 3 decreased until finally there was only 1 case. Maria Matilde is proud of these positive changes. These changes became possible thanks to the collaboration between the village government and UPKM/CD Bethesda YAKKUM.
Posbindu Services
Many other changes have occurred, now Posyandu cadres are trained in local food processing and herbs. During toddler services at Posyandu, Posyandu cadres provide PMT from more varied local foods such as nuggets, cakes, bruas marungga, marungga biscuits, and many more. "In addition, the community was trained on how to make toilets, which led to this year Webriamata Village with the Village Fund can build 25 units of healthy toilets, and purchase the toilets from the KARSIBA sanitation group," she said proudly.
There was another change related to the data in April based on the results of weighing in April at 2 Posyandu, there were 7 underweight toddlers, 3 malnourished toddlers, and 3 pregnant women with Chronic Energy Deficiency (CED).
In May, there was a change in the data: there were no undernourished children under five, one malnourished child and one pregnant woman with CED. This data change occurred because the village government collaborated with the local food group Dahlia and the village Family Empowerment and Welfare (in Indonesia is Pemberdayaan dan Kesejahteraan Keluarga or PKK) in providing local food PMT at 2 posyandu for 2 weeks, in April and May 2023.
During this time many elderly people did not attend Posbindu, now the elderly are active in participating in Posbindu services and at the end of the service, the elderly are given herbal drinks managed by the Zaitun herbal group. One interesting thing from here is that herbal cadres also provide counseling on the types of plants that have medicinal properties, and assist the elderly and the community in general to plant in their yards. This is done so that when the elderly are sick, they can immediately consume herbal medicine. Currently, 13 families with elderly people have planted medicinal plants in their yards.
Behind all the successes that have been achieved, there must be obstacles experienced, one of which is when there is a change of cadres, there are cadres who still need to be given training and assistance. Another obstacle is that there are no special cadres who take care of Posbindu elderly services. In addition, there is still a lack of uric acid, cholesterol, and blood sugar test strips. This has been proposed to the Village Government and they are willing to budget the procurement of strips with the Village Fund in 2024. “As the village midwife coordinator, I really hope that the community will actively check their health regularly at the Poskesdes, as well as during Posyandu services. Pregnant women are also advised to be more active in attending meetings and regularly checking their health at the Poskesdes. In addition, the village government should involve village health workers to be present in hamlet and village meetings, Musrembangdes, as well as in the determination of the health budget in the village,” said Maria Maltide. The dedication shown by Maria Matilde and her colleagues offers many moral lessons. We can learn that every small act done sincerely and wholeheartedly can yield positive outcomes, and God will guide us along the way.
“Save one life of your best friend, and God will bless you with a long life”, she said as she greeted his colleagues. ‘We can do it!’. (Dina Klau)
