Mercy In Action’s Experience the Model Learn and Serve
10-Days in the Philippines (with Certification and 28 CEUs)
February 5-15, 2025
NOTE - The February 2025 Learn and Serve is now full and registration is closed. Please check back for future dates.
Mercy In Action staff invites you to join us in the Philippine islands for a 10-day learn-and-serve adventure to immerse yourself in our proven global model for providing maternal/child health care. In addition to completing Helping Mothers and Babies Survive courses, you will tour Mercy In Action’s sponsored Birth Centers, join our First 1,000 Days outreach home visiting program, and teach life-saving skills to local birth providers.
This on-site and hands-on training will focus on international standards and initiatives as well as simple technology to be implemented or scaled up to prevent and treat problems during pregnancy and childbirth in low-resource areas. We will explain how maternity care is impacted by poverty and natural disaster, the role of the midwife in disaster response, and give invaluable instruction in creating a safe birthing area when health care systems cannot meet the needs and pregnant families are living in conditions of deprivation. Life-saving global initiatives will be on view as you walk beside the First 1,000 Days mercy companions on home visits and join the midwives teaching the International Childbirth Initiative 12 Steps to Safe and Respectful MotherBaby-Family Maternity Care in our implementing sites.
Island Hopping:
You will spend time on three different islands seeing the Mercy In Action model up close and personal while earning certificates and CEUs in our “Train the Trainer” format. The hotels where you will stay are located right on the ocean so you can enjoy refreshing beach time and ocean swimming between learning sessions. You will be trained first in Helping Mothers and Babies Survive courses, then travel to the recovering disaster zone where in 2013, Mercy In Action responded to one of the world’s largest storms, delivering babies of the survivors in tents in the aftermath and later rebuilding three birth centers and provided capacity building for dozens of midwives.
Unique Continuing Education
As part of the ten days, Mercy In Action staff will teach a special course we designed entitled “Strategic Education toward Improving Maternal/Child Health in Developing Countries,” worth 28 MEAC-accredited CEUS. This includes Helping Mothers and Babies Survive courses that are hands-on, practical, and fun. In addition, we will share disaster preparation strategies and show you our successful maternity care models in our low-resource, high-mortality setting. You will see up close and personal what our Mercy In Action model looks like on the ground and get to rub shoulders with the staff who make it happen every day!
Fulfills Diploma Workshop Requirement:
Upon completion, this immersion seminar meets the requirements of Mercy In Action’s Post-Graduate Diploma in International Midwifery and Maternal/Child Health by granting certificates in Helping Mothers Survive Bleeding After Birth and Helping Babies Breathe programs… and so much more!
Open to all who desire to promote Safe Motherhood and Newborn Survival:
This experience of a lifetime is not just for midwives and doctors! We open this 10-day experience to everyone from any background who wants to improve outcomes in birth for the poor and underserved. You may be a midwife, nurse, doctor, doula, or non-medical person who just cares about the global maternity care crisis. All are welcome to join us to learn how to promote maternal/newborn health and improve outcomes of birth all over the world. The Helping Mothers and Babies Survive certification can be used by anyone to teach, not just medical professionals.
Your Instructors and Guides:
Vicki, Rose, and Ian Penwell are midwives with decades of experience in high-risk deliveries living in the Philippines (as well as home and birth center deliveries in the USA), and they often teach midwives and primary health care practitioners worldwide. Matt and Kristen Benoit are a midwife/nurse married couple who have lived in the Philippines at various times while Kristen runs the Mercy In Action College of Midwifery in the USA. Nerissa Cumpio is a Philippine licensed midwife who met Vicki and Rose in the aftermath of the natural disaster that destroyed her home and clinic, and now runs two Mercy In Action-sponsored birth centers and local midwifery college training sites. Marlene Domalaon is the head midwife for our newest birth center. You will meet our wonderful cadre of Philippine midwives and kasamas (companions) and be invited to see first-hand the Mercy In Action “Birth Model That Works*, as we are all proud to share that model with everyone!
*Vicki Penwell was honored to write a chapter on Mercy In Action featured in Robbie Davis-Floyd’s seminal book Birth Models That Work.
PRICES
10-Day Learn & Serve Seminar in the Philippines: $2,995
Price includes hotel lodging, breakfast, and lunch most days (dinner will be available on-site at your hotel’s restaurants) and inter-island travel. Pricing is based on single-occupancy lodging; if you will be traveling with your family, please contact us for a family rate.
There are two payment options; you may pay the full registration fee up front, or you may pay a 50% non-refundable deposit now and pay the remaining balance four months before the start date. Click below to select your payment option and register.
Refund Information:
In the unfortunate event that you are unable to attend a Mercy In Action seminar or workshop after registering, as we are a non-profit organization*, we are happy to assist you so that your fee can be applied toward another amazing seminar or workshop later or converted into a donation. Thank you for your understanding that there are no refunds (with exceptions made for a documented illness that prevents you from traveling to the Philippines.)
*Mercy In Action is an independent non-profit organization that receives no government funding—support from program fees and donations make our global work possible.
DATES
February 5-15, 2025
The 2025 Learn & Serve Seminar is now full. Please check back for future dates.
CONTINUING EDUCATION UNITS
CEU: All participants will receive 28 hours of continuing education MEAC Accredited CEUs
OTHER DETAILS
Below is information for the 2025 Diploma Workshop plus Learn & Serve in the Philippines.
Flying into the Philippines:
The usual airport for arrivals into the Philippines is Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (code MNL), 3-4 hours away from our venue by bus, depending on traffic. The airport nearest to us is Clark International Airport (code CRK), one hour away from our headquarters in Olongapo, but only a few airlines fly into Clark. When you buy your ticket, please email me a copy of your international flight itinerary.
Important dates to arrive and depart:
You should plan to arrive in country no later than February 4 or early morning February 5. You need to arrive in Olongapo February 5 by 5 pm, and the trip may take longer than you think due to bus schedules, traffic, etc. Check-in for your hotel is 3 pm and you will need to be ready to join our group by 5 pm in the evening for a welcome dinner. Our last event ends at 5 pm on February 15, so don't plan to leave the country before the evening of February 16, as you will be on a different island at that point (Leyte) and will need to fly back to either the Clark or Manila airport on the morning of February 16. Of course, you are free to arrive into the country early or stay later to do some tourism travel, but be aware that if you are in the country more than a total of thirty (30) days you will need to get a visa (available in country for a fee.)
Lodging:
You will be staying at lovely resorts, often near the ocean, so bring your swimming suit and plan to enjoy your downtime as well as your learning time! Meals will be available to purchase nearby. Please let us know if you would like to bring family and we will try to accommodate them, allowing you to pay extra for more room as needed.