WHITE CENTER PROGRAM TO COMFORT NEW MOMS. Jeretha McKinley presented the Chicago-based "Outreach Doula Program" to a group interested in perinatal care for low-income mothers. Doulas care and comfort pregnant women and continue care, sometimes until the child is as old as two. Photo by Steve Shay

Doulas have important role

By Maureen Kearney

The White Center residents recently were invited to Mount View Presbyterian Church to hear a presentation by Jeretha McKinley of the Chicago Health Connection to hear about the Doula Outreach Program through Open Arms Perinatal Services.

Sheila Capistany, spokesperson for Open Arms and herself a doula (from the ancient Greek word meaning "woman's servant") for 17 years, says Open Arms Perinatal Services, through their doula support program, has been providing doula support to families in the area since 1997.

The impetus for this presentation was the result of Open Arms alliance with Chicago Health Connections who pioneered the groundbreaking Outreach doula Model for women and families who need intensive support during pregnancy and early parenting.

This community has seen an influx of immigrants and refugees fleeing their homelands as the result of war and poverty. As with many of our great grandmothers and grandmothers, these women are strangers in a strange land who are na•ve and ignorant of language, culture and customs, and with this up-rootedness families are separated and fragmented. As a result women leave behind mothers, sisters, aunts, and even children.

How does a mother-to-be care for herself, and her un-born child under such circumstances?

In my mother's family when she or one of her five sisters was pregnant and after the baby was born, my grandmother and my mother's sisters carried out the role of a doula.

When my first child was born, my mother was with me in the role of a doula, and now my niece has asked me to be one of her doulas for the upcoming birth of her second child.

To women giving birth and being responsible for new life it can be a frightening and overwhelming experience especially with the birth of the first child. There is the roller coaster ride of the range of physical and emotional changes that occur in a woman's body during and after childbirth. There is the uncertainty and fear of doing things the wrong way. And there is the fatigue. New mothers need someone to turn to, someone wise to be there with them to share experiences, wisdom, reassurance, and comfort. New mothers need a doula.

Any woman dropped into a culture, who has had to navigate her way around the medical establishment: available benefits, medical coverage, pre- and post-natal care, accepted ways of doing things, and routine procedures (who for these women may not be routine at all), soon realizes how intimidating the process of receiving care can be. This is where the role of a doula is invaluable.

The Outreach Doula Program available to women and children for up to two years is employing women from within the community, women who share the cultures of women coming into the community as immigrants and refugees. These are women who want the role of a doula, women who have gained wisdom from their own life experiences, experiences made stronger by the 60 hours of training they receive: knowledge of physiology and anatomy, home visiting techniques, breast feeding, and non-medical pain relief.

Over a short span of time-half a century-we have learned so many new things, but we have also come to distrust our intuitive, innate knowledge and come to rely more and more on experts and modern technology. In too many instances the experience of childbirth and being a mother has gone from a normal life occurrence to a medical experience akin to an illness. But this statement is inaccurate in its over-simplification. Yes, childbirth is as old as time, and if all goes well a normal, happy experience. But a mid-wife or a doula can't perform a Caesarean Section in the event of fetal distress, or save a mother from a post-partum hemorrhage. But today a mother can have both: all the advantages that modern medicine has to offer as well as the experience and training of a woman in the role of a doula.

Research has been and is being done which seems to indicate that women and their children who have the support of a doula during pregnancy and after childbirth fare better. According to the World Health Organization, women with a doula experience happier and healthier pregnancies, easier childbirth with non-medical pain relief, and fewer surgical interventions than those without a doula.

The new mother and child also don't suffer the same degree of emotional side-effects of anxiety and fear. Studies are also being initiated to see what effect Doulas may have on lessening the percentage of women who suffer post-partum depression.

Open Arms alliance with the Chicago Health Connection as well as other community and government agencies such as Thrive By Five, The White Center Early Learning Initiative, and, one of their strongest supporters, The Public Health Department of King County, the hope is that The doula Outreach Program will leave a lasting, positive impact on the overall health and well being of The White Center Community for generations to come.

The White Center Early Learning Initiative is a partnership of community members and public and private organizations working for sustainable, integrated and accessible child development and family support funded by Thrive By Five Washington and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Maureen Kearney is a registered nurse and a freelance writer in West Seattle and may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com