Situations Vacant - Healthcare workers urgently needed

You may remember a few months ago, I asked you to sign the No Child Born to Die petition - the Save the Children campaign to fund vaccinations for children in developing countries.  Because each one of you took the time to do so, the campaign was a massive success.  Our voices were heard. We made a difference.

This Saturday, Save the Children hosted a bloggers conference which I was hugely disappointed to miss. Prior commitments meant I couldn't attend, but guess what? Me, you, we can still make a difference.

Please take a few minutes to sign the latest petition calling for healthcare workers. 

Doctors, nurses and midwives are vital to saving children’s lives. But there's a massive shortfall of health workers in the world’s poorest countries. As ever, the poorest and most vulnerable are hardest hit.
Half of the 8 million children who die each year are in Africa, yet Africa has only 3% of the world’s doctors, nurses and midwives.

Many of us take for granted the National Health System we have here in the UK.  Whether it be midwives helping to safely deliver babies, health visitors who offer help, advice and support to new parents, GPs and clinics who treat illnesses and ailments and immunise our children, accident and emergency staff, cancer nurses, screening clinics and nursing staff.  Healthcare professionals are there through every step of our lives.

Gemma at Hello it's Gemma and Michelle at Mummy from the Heart have set us bloggers a challenge. To unite us and show our government and the world that we have a voice and we think that every child deserves the best chance in life.

Chris at Thinly Spread is currently in New York with Save the Children.  On Tuesday she will be at the UN fighting for the rights of 100s of thousands of people who do not have a voice.  The hope is that by Tuesday, 100 UK bloggers will have written a post like this, and written 100 words about a health worker who has made a difference in their life.

Here's my 100 words.

After a week  suffering  chest pains, I conceded I needed to get checked out. I dropped Ruby at nursery and carried on to the walk-in health centre. I was seen immediately by Glenda a Practice Nurse.  She was a motherly type, kind, gentle and concerned. She quickly got my number –my approach to my own health is to bury my head in the sand.  Cleverly and subtly she asked about my daughter and quickly made me realise it would be selfish not to take this seriously.  She asked, if it had been Ruby who’d been ill would I have ignored it? Clever psychology which got me hooked up to an EGC machine and sent off to the hospital for blood tests and x-rays before I knew it.

If I'd lived in one of the world's poorer countries, would I have got treatment and care like that? Quite simply, no I wouldn't.

Please show your support and sign the petition. If you have a blog, please take up this challenge and write your own post and tweet the link with #healthworkers campaign.

We can do it.

I was tagged by the lovely Nicki and Curly and Candid and Gemma at Hello It's Gemma, and now I'm tagging these lovely bloggers to complete the challenge by Tuesday, but if you're not tagged, please join in anyway. x

Amanda at the Ana Mum Diary
Kay at Brink of Bedlam
Tracy at White Lily Green