A different approach to prenatal care

Women seeking a different approach to prenatal care will soon have a new option at the North Hawaii Community Hospital (NHCH) Waimea Women’s Center (WWC), which will be administering a $15,000 Women’s Community Health grant from Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies on behalf of the North Hawaii Perinatal Local Area Consortium.

Waimea Women’s Center will become the first Hawaii Island health care provider to offer pregnant patients a new approach to prenatal care called CenteringPregnancy, which employs a group approach to prenatal care, combining three essential elements of care every pregnant woman needs: health assessment, education and support.

CenteringPregnancy is designed to provide patients more time with their health care provider in a more meaningful and productive setting. Rather than having short and frequently impersonal one-on-one traditional visits with their healthcare provider, mothers-to-be will meet in a group of approximately eight to 10 women who are due at the same time. NHCH’s Waimea Women’s Center is partnering with Tutu’s House, Waimea’s health and wellness resource center, and the Local Perinatal Consortium to host this new program.

Each session will include food and an individual health prenatal assessment, with the majority of the time focusing on group discussion with semi-structured topics, such as nutrition, common pregnancy complaints, and labor and delivery concerns.

For more information, contact NHCH’s Waimea Women’s Center at 885-9606 or visit www.NHCH.com. NHCH is a rural 33-bed acute care hospital located in Waimea.