Big plans for maternal care department
It might have been 50 years or more since a home birth in Kanesatake, a practice that used to be commonplace in the community, but the Kanesatake Health Center (KHC) is working to change that.
“It’s a really big deal that we’re going to be bringing birth back home. That’s the vision and that’s the ultimate goal,” said KHC community birth keeper Patricia Gabriel, who collected stories about home birth from elders earlier this year.
These stories were influential for the maternal health department, she said, with elders’ memories of the births of their siblings or even the stories of their own births showing how integral community used to be when it came to birth.
“It gave us the direction of we need to bring that community back, of women supporting women, women embracing and honouring their roles and responsibilities to their community,” Gabriel said.
The department is renovating a building on KHC’s recently acquired farmland to become an Early Family Development Center, which is where the birthing space will be located. Services like prenatal classes will also be offered there. The centre is slated to be operational in 2025.
Gabriel hopes to see the birthing space function as a bridge to home birth, getting people used to the idea of giving birth outside a clinical setting.
“I think it’s a good first step to demystifying birth and demystifying home birth,” she said.
It’s just one aspect of work underway at KHC’s maternal health department, recently renamed Tekontateriéntare, reflecting the ethos of women supporting one another.
“Through a commitment to empowering women to make informed, healthy choices, we strive to create a strong sense of identity and community, embracing each woman's journey with compassion and respect,” said Gabriel.
“With Tekontateriéntare, our services will no longer just be for prenatal, postpartum, and/or mothers with children 0-6 years of age. It will see us offering services for women through the spectrum of life from preconception to death.”
This is a big undertaking, but Gabriel said the maternal health department will get there with baby steps.
For instance, Tekontateriéntare recently introduced drop-in days for its Parents n’ Tots program, offering a space for family members outside the nuclear family to join in on quality time. The department hopes to soon open up these days to anyone in the community.
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“It was really good and really well received,” said Gabriel, adding that the occasions were marked by home-cooked meals and laughter. “Some of our clients expressed just wanting a place. It gets lonely at home. We don’t live the same way we used to.”
The initiative reflects a drive to bring back a larger lens of family that promotes a traditional perspective, Gabriel said.
“We want us as community aunties, you can say, to support one another, uplift one another, and just be there for each other. Not only us, but instilling that in the women that come through our programs, too"
