Membership Feature Story
Opportunity
Each quarterly issue of the Montana Medical Association’s membership magazine featured a member profile designed to highlight physicians’ contributions and experiences. For this issue, the editorial theme centered on keeping hope and taking action in the face of insurmountable odds.
Solution
I met with Dr. George Mulcaire-Jones to capture his personal journey and the founding of Maternal Life International. From our conversation, I crafted a feature story that balanced his global impact with his message of hope. The article wove together his medical experience, the challenges of maternal health in low-resource settings, and his conviction that “hope is an action word,” aligning seamlessly with the issue’s theme.
SAMPLE
Dr. George Mulcaire-Jones: Saving Mother and Child
Dr. George Mulcaire-Jones, a family practice physician at the St. James Rocky Mountain Clinic in Butte, has seen first-hand the implications poverty and despair can have on expectant mothers. After completing his residency in family medicine, he spent two years at a mission hospital in the Republic of Cameroon, where he witnessed maternal deaths for the first time.
Upon returning home, Dr. Mulcaire-Jones returned to his normal duties. That is until he received a letter with a heart-wrenching opening statement, “The month of February was very sad. Two women died in childbirth.” The letter, from a sister-midwife he had worked with in Cameroon, inspired Dr. Mulcaire-Jones to take action. In 1997, he founded Maternal Life International.
“The intent in developing Maternal Life International was two-fold,” said Dr. Mulcaire-Jones. “To emphasize respect for the life and dignity of all human persons as foundational to health care development and to somehow address the tragedy of maternal deaths.”
Maternal Life International has provided aid and innovative programs in 25 countries. One program of note, called Safe Passages, was started in Nigeria to improve emergency obstetrical care. In addition to training and support to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the program teaches participants to recognize and treat preeclampsia with magnesium sulfate, resuscitate newborns with a bag and mask unit, and prevent postpartum hemorrhage.
Another large-scale program started by Dr. Mulcaire-Jones and Maternal Life International is the construction of the St. Joseph Family Life Center in Uganda. The center will provide couples, religious and community leaders, and health care professionals with training in family life, marriage building, and safe birth programs. Earlier this year Maternal Life International received a generous donation from the Sorini Family on behalf of Dr. Peter Sorini, to construct the main conference hall of the St. Joseph Family Life Center.
Pete died of a glioblastoma this past year. Before becoming ill, he had hoped to go to Uganda and care for people as he did all his life. In August, a team that includes Pete’s three daughters will travel to Uganda to break ground for the conference hall.
Dr. Mulcaire-Jones says that poverty, funding, and despair are the biggest challenges he faces in his work with Maternal Life International. Yet he meets these challenges with hope, “I was taught many years ago that hope is an action word.”