About three months ago, a woman in labor arrived at Hospitalito Atitlán , in rural Guatemala, with life-threatening complications. Her baby hadn’t yet been delivered.

The obstetrician on staff brought the woman immediately to an operating room for a C-section. In the theater, it became clear that the patient was still in acute danger from hemorrhage and needed further surgery.

“For that case, we had to use all the blood units we had,” Dr. Manuel González, the hospital’s executive director, told Direct Relief through a translator.

Both mother and baby were saved.

Safeguarding these lives means expanding to meet patient needs.…