Harrisonburg Summits

Attendees and Affiliations:

• Mary – Pubic Library (reaching out to Pregnant moms through the library)
• Mary – March of DImes, 17 counties (small community grant program)
• Alli Kinney – RMH Wellness Center (prenatal fitness)
• Melissa Swisher -RMH Amara – Shen Dao Clinic (infertility treatment etc)
• Deb Rhizal – Pregnancy Coaching, doula, childbirth educator

Notes:

Variety of interests in health care during pregnancy and networking for new moms–helping them learn. Acupuncture and infertility: Cranio-Sacral Work during pregnancy and infancy Moxabustion Chinese Herbals Options for breech, morning sickness, postpatum March of Dimes – saves babies Mary was a premie. Many march of dimes volunteers are parents who had a premature baby. March of Dimes does fund raising and education to help prevent premature birth.

5,000 premeies die in the US each year and many others have health concerns. March of Dimes is creating family support projects for the families going through it. Many couples months after their premies are born are showing PTSD. March of Dimes is trying to get tools to them at the moment of the nic-u. They are looking for people working with pregnant families, teens, families etc. They also have a bereavement package for families who lose babies. Share Our Story.org – or something similar to that – is a subset of March of Dimes and is a site where families can learn and share their information about dealing with premeies or loss. Its a virtual support network. PregnancyCoaching.net is Deb Rhizal’s new, developing web site, which also offers resources for Pregnancy After Loss. Library’s role in dispersing information to women – reference librarians get lots of questions about loss and pregnancy. marchofdimes.org/va Hand in Hand Resource Mothers – hosted through RHM, mentoring program for pregnant teens. Health Families in Blueridge – healthy parenting skills. RMH Wellness Center has Prenatal Fitness – different cardio and strength activities as recommended by ACOG. Includes pilates, yoga, water – strengthen their bodies and build stamina for labor.

Pregnancy is a great catalyst for interest making improvements in lifestyle RMH Wellness isn’t currently very connected to the hospital’s pregnancy/birth prep class. More collaboration could be done there. Can individuals put make materials available at the wellness center? Mostly RMH materials, everything goes through marketing. Is there a class “Maybe Baby?” for people who aren’t pregnant yet.