Midwife Helen Dzameshie saves lives. In narrating the story of a woman who is doing exploits in her field of chosen career, midwifery, Kobby Blay takes his time to narrate how Helen is doing extraordinary works, going beyond and above what is required of her just to save lives. Once again, this is unedited, and is reporduced as narrated on his wall. Enjoy the piece
I soon found her; Helen Dzameshie, a lone midwife stationed at the Sekesua Health Center in the Upper Manya Krobo District of the Eastern Region. The center serves at least 7 communities, with a population of over 12,000 people, including more than 2,900 women of reproductive age.
Midwife Helen Dzameshie saves lives. When media reports broke on June 19, 2025, that a woman had safely delivered her baby with the help of a midwife on a farm path in a rural community of Upper Manya Krobo, I couldn’t let it pass as just another “good news story.” I needed to know: Who was behind that life-saving moment? What circumstances led to such?
THE REALITY BEHIND THE STORY
Helen received the call in the evening, shortly after closing from a busy day at work to start her annual leave. A pregnant woman had gone into labour while walking, with her mother-in-law, along a bush path toward the clinic.
There was no car, no ambulance — just the urgent cry of labor.
Helen was just beginning her annual leave.
But that didn’t matter.
She dashed into the clinic, gathered her delivery pack, grabbed a new staff colleague, and made her way on foot to the farm.
There, she safely delivered a healthy baby, administered postnatal care, and later with the help of her colleague, escorted mother and child back to the health center to continue care.
Even though this may sound extraordinary, for Helen, it wasn’t the first time.
“This was actually my fifth time delivering outside the health facility,” she told me.
Helen recounted some of the other emergencies she’s managed beyond the clinic walls:
She performed a manual removal of a retained placenta at 1:00 am in someone’s home.
A woman gave birth on the street on her way to the clinic; Helen managed the separation of baby and mother and controlled bleeding right there.
She’s conducted multiple home deliveries, managed retained second twins, and once had to flag down a passing taxi at 11:00 pm near Nkurakan, when a referral car broke down and the mother was bleeding profusely.
These incidents, Helen attributed to poor road networks, lack of transportation, and delayed care-seeking decisions — all of which continue to threaten maternal and neonatal survival in rural Ghana.
SO WHO IS HELEN?
Helen’s journey into the profession began in 2010 as a Community Health Nurse, trained at NTC-Ho. She was posted to Sekesua and served for five years, then pursued midwifery training at Atibie NMTC, completing in 2017. She didn’t stop there. She later earned a BSc in Midwifery from KNUST, graduating with a Second Class Upper.
She has now served 15 years in the nursing profession, 7 of them as a midwife.
WHAT’S MORE REMARKABLE?
For nearly five of those years, she was the only midwife at Sekesua Health Center.
“Another midwife came but left after a year. Just this week, while I went on leave, a new midwife has been posted. But even on leave, I respond to calls because the people depend on me.”
“I don’t want to blow my own trumpet,” she told me, “but my dedication and passion for this work make me go to any length to give my best. My joy is seeing mother and baby doing well, and the whole family smiling. I’ve never regretted working in a rural and deprived district.”
WHAT’S THE ONE THING SHE NEEDS?
“A community ambulance,” she said plainly.
Right now, commercial taxis charge exorbitant fees to transport women in labor. Many can’t afford it. Many take the risk of walking and some don’t make it in time.
TIME TO ACT, NOT JUST PRAISE
Let us support Helen and the countless other rural midwives who hold up Ghana’s healthcare system, often alone and under-resourced.
Because saving mothers and babies in rural Ghana shouldn’t depend on luck, strength, or personal sacrifice alone
Story Source: Kobby Blay
Photos Credit: Helen Dzamashie
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