New maternity hub to keep women and their babies well in Te Kuiti opens

The sun shined brightly as did a large number of the Te Kuiti community for their new Maternity Resource Centre opening today (15 February 2019).

Everyone was welcomed by a beautiful mihi whakatau by Waikato DHB’s Te Puna Oranga Pou Herenga Hemi Curtis, followed with speeches by Waitomo District Mayor Brian Hana and DHB board member Martin Gallagher.

The is the first of its kind in New Zealand, and also the first of three such centres [to come] across the southern rural district.

The Maternity Resource hours are 9am-3pm week days.

The centre opening marks a significant change in the way Waikato DHB offer support services to mums, whānau and babies in the area.

Located in the heart of town, the centre is a product of a number of co-design workshops that happened last year with the community, mums and whānau who will be using the service.

It will support women during their pregnancy, after baby is born and beyond to access a range of community resources and social services to improve their health with a strong focus on the wellbeing of the mums, babies and young children.

In addition to a room equipped for Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) midwives, the centre will also house well child providers and other health and community workers including cookery classes, visiting lactation consultants and vision hearing testers. The DHB’s smoke-free, immunisation, nutrition and parenting education services will also be supported from the Centre. There will also be linkages with the perinatal mental health service.

Jill Dibble, Director of Rural and Community services for Waikato DHB, said: “We want to ensure that women and their whānau in the region can have a healthy birth and as healthy a baby as possible. Maternity is not just about giving birth, this hub will help women access lots of different services to help them care for themselves and their babies over the long term.

“It will help facilitate access to LMCs, improve collaboration between service providers and provide the technology for more telehealth services to enable women to talk to health professionals by a telehealth link rather than having to travel to appointments. The hub will also provide a place of social connection for women in their communities.”

The hub was opened following the closure of the primary birthing unit at Te Kuiti Hospital which was not being used by the majority of local women as they chose to birth at other facilities including the new Te Awamutu birthing unit and others in Hamilton.

Later this year, similar hubs will open in Taumarunui and Tokoroa. The same co-design process has been followed in those communities to ensure we co-create the best possible outcome in those communities.

Find out more about the centre on the Waikato DHB website.