Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 10, 1 October 2014 — OHA GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT Prenatal care in a group setting [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT Prenatal care in a group setting

By Harold Nedd As wife and moth-er-to-be Kehau Springer works through her first pregnancy, she is finding the group approach she is taking to maternity care to be a weleome source of support. "I feel like I'm not alone," said Springer, who lives in the Volcano area of Hawai'i Island and is seven months pregnant. "Instead, I'm part of a larger community that is supporting me and helping me and my husband, Patrick, prepare for parenthood." The 32-year-old expectant mom is referring to the idea behind a program rooted in Hawaiian cultural values that she is benefiting from at North

Hawai'i Community Hospital's Waimea Women's Center, whieh has implemented a maternity care model that provides group-based checkups and consultations for pregnant women and new mothers. Springer is among 37 Native Hawaiians enrolled in the hospital's new Centering Pregnancy Program, whose participants started meeting in the second trimester of their pregnancy, with monthly meetings at first, then every two weeks as delivery approaches, for a total of 10 meetings.

During the two-hour meetings, patients like Springer undergo regular prenatal checkups, take their own blood pressure, weigh themselves, meet one-on-one with a midwife, ask questions and participate in group discussions about everything from labor and pain management to breastfeeding and domestic violence. "We always open our group session with a Hawaiian concept or 'ōlelo noe'au," said Robin Ramsay, the certified nurse-midwife who created the

Centering Pregnancy Program nearly two years ago at the Waimea Women's Center to address challenges to healthy pregnancies. "Our area has more Native Hawaiians than any other geographic area in the state," Ramsay said. "Hawaiian women have the highest infant mortality and increased social risk factors like tobacco and aleohol use. We knew this model of care would be perfect for our community by its ability to address

social risk factors to improve perinatal outcomes. Pregnancy motivates change in all aspects of one's heahh." Last year, the program received a $206,768 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, where it's heeome a high priority to help Native Hawaiian expectant moms take steps toward a healthy pregnancy, such as losing weight or managing chronic diseases like diabetes. "By weaving Hawaiian cultural concepts throughout our program we are not just making our program more culturally relevant to our Hawaiian women, but we feel this is a gift for all of our patients and providers," Ramsay said. For Kehau Springer, she

likes that the program is rooted in traditional Hawaiian ways of coping with the discomforts of pregnancy. And most important, Springer said she gets the benefit of regular meetings with other patients experiencing the same thing. "You feel like everybody is

going through it with you," said Springer, whose due date is Oct. 26. "Joining the group wasn't a hard ehoiee for me. I wanted to be part of a community of families that learn together about the expectations of parenthood and share their experiences. It's something I look forward to every month." For information about the program, eall (808) 885-9606 or visit www.nheh. eom. ■

Kehau Springer gets a eheekup from Robin Ramsay, a nurse-mid-wife at North Hawai'i Community Hospital's Waimea Women's Center.

%ir i - y ^ u Nurse-midwife Robin Ramsay, right, leads expectant mothers in a group discussion that includes fathers. - Courtesy photos: Horth Hawai'i Community Hospital- Waimea Women's Center