SPRING 2007
As told to Jan Marrack, MSW
Clinical Specialist, Healthy StartZ is a striking-looking young woman with a shy smile and a warm, witty personality. She participates in the Healthy Start program with her young children. Z is also a recovering “meth” addict, who has twice been involved with Child Welfare Services.
All through elementary and middle school Z remembers walking through the hallways with her head down and her long bangs covering her face to avoid seeing the other students who made fun of her. She felt isolated from her parents, and ultimately her parents separated, causing her to feel even more isolated.
When asked how she began using meth, Z said she was heartbroken over the break-up of her boyfriend. She said all she could do was cry and sleep – the crying was uncontrollable and lasted for weeks. One day, a friend asked her if she would be willing to try something that would make her “feel better.” Z said, “With one hit of meth, I felt totally happy in an instant.”
She said she believe she could take meth or leave it for the first five years, but said the last five years were out of her control. She said her friend “fed” her drugs until she became psychologically and physically dependent. It was during this period of heavy use that she could tell she was starting to fall apart. “My teeth were sore and my eyes were puffy; I was losing weight and my mind,” she states.
When her first baby was born, mother and baby tested positive for methamphetamines, and her baby was placed in foster care. After five months the baby was reunited with Z through the Healthy Start Program. Z developed a strong working relationship with the Healthy Start Team, and Clinical Specialist, who encouraged her and advocated for her.
Z found caring for an infant by herself overwhelming. In retrospect she says she probably experienced post-partum depression. Z relapsed, entered outpatient treatment, attended classes regularly and got medical help for her depression.
When her second child was born, Z was committed to providing to her infant all the attention, nurturing and bonding the child needed. (Z was taught parent-education skills while in the Healthy Start Program.)
Z’s first-born’s behavior was becoming unpredictable, and sometimes out of control, and Z asked for help with parenting from the Healthy Start Team. Z willingly tried the techniques the team recommended to her. Slowly, the child’s unpredictable behavior improved to a child that was bright, talkative, and affectionate, and who plays well with other children. What a success!
It was a difficult road, and Z struggled to understand, while summoning the energy to implement her newly-acquired parenting skills Z was incredibly patient, persistent and committed to being a good parent. Her children are thriving with her unwavering love.
Z’s story is not unusual. What is so striking is her selfless commitment to her children and her wish to make up for time lost. Z now has an occasional moment to think of herself. With her newly-acquired self-confidence she has reintegrated back into society. And she is drug-free!
FSSWH Teams-Up To Save Babies
Krista Olson, Health Specialist
Early Head Start
Each year, we look forward to participating in the annual March of Dimes Walk America Hawaii. Prematurity is the leading cause of death for infants in our country, and this year our team walked to honor the Aragon family who grace the cover of our Spring Campaign’s Donor Card and whose youngest two children were premature at birth. Happily, as you can see, they have both benefited from the caregiving of their family and the medical community and are doing very well.
Over the past year, FSSWH has been very fortunate to receive special support from the March of Dimes of Hawaii to provide enhanced services to local Hispanic families during pregnancy, birth and early childhood. West Hawaii has seen a considerable increase in the number of families resettling here from Mexico, Central and South America. Because of language barriers and social and economic circumstances, many of these newcomers face more than the usual challenges in finding healthcare, prenatal education, social support and guidance as their children grow.
To help bridge the gap and ensure that every baby in our community has a healthy start, the generosity of the March of Dimes allows FSSWH to provide not only the usual support available to expectant families through Healthy Start and Early Head Start, but also to offer translation at medical and social service appointments, transportation, and childbirth and parenting education sessions in Spanish. This Hispanic Prenatal Initiative builds our capacity to continue serving Hispanic families by recruiting Spanish-speaking staff, creating or revising culturally-tailored Spanish language educational materials and prenatal curriculum, and providing staff training on the special circumstances of pregnant and parenting Hispanic families. At the close of the Initiative's funded program year, sixty- one Hispanic families in West Hawaii had received support and education supported in part by March of Dimes funding. FSSWH will continue to respond to the special needs of new Hispanic families through Healthy Start, Early Head Start and our new Malama Perinatal Program.
New Services with Malama Perinal Program
In a recent document from the Nunavik Regional Board of Health, the Inuit midwives said, “There are few issues more fundamental to any people than birth. This intimate, integral part of our life was replaced by a medical model that separated our families, stole the power of the birthing experience from our women, and weakened the health, strength and spirit of our communities,” (2002).
Due to this disconnect between traditional and western systems of birthing and healing, there are many ethnic groups on the island of Hawaii who underutilize the current system of medical care and whose health and birth outcomes suffer as a result. For example, Hawaiian women on the island, who had the most pregnancies and most live births of any ethnic group, had the lowest percentage of first trimester care. Even once prenatal care is initiated, Native Hawaiians are at significantly greater risk of not receiving subsequent care.
The Malama Perinatal Program is a collaborative effort designed to provide core services of outreach, health education and training, depression screening and care coordination for Hawaii County women and their families during the prenatal and a two-year interconceptual period. The program pays particular attention to those women who have traditionally fared worse when looking at health and birth outcomes, namely, adolescents, Native Hawaiians, Other Pacific Islanders and Hispanics. Culturally appropriate service delivery systems of care have been designed to increase entry into first trimester prenatal care and decrease the incidence of low birth weight, pre-term and infant mortality as well as morbidity.
Outreach is provided by Neighborhood Women who work side-by-side with nurses and social workers. The program utilizes FSSWH’s extensive referral networks to best provide families with comprehensive family support services through home visiting programs in each community. These programs provide both one-on-one home visiting and group educational and health activities from which families can choose to participate. The FSSWH Fatherhood Initiative also provides guidance and support for fathers to be sure they are fully included in the birthing and parenting experience as well.
Program staff and collaborators are involved with the Maternal and Child Health’s Perinatal Health Consortia, with the goal of achieving shared power with the participants in the Malama Program. Together the consortia members hope to effect change in the effectiveness and cultural specificity of services to childbearing families in ethnic groups experiencing the poorest birth outcomes.
If you would like more information about this program or would like to enroll, please call the Malama Perinatal Program at 885-1234.
