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Stories from the Perth District Health Unit

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Stories from Perth District Health Unit

Healthy Babies Healthy Children (HBHC) is a program that provides prenatal and postnatal services for pregnant women and families with children 0-6 years. One aspect of the program is the home visiting component, which involves both Public Health Nurses (PHNs) and Parent Resource Visitors (PRVs). Public Health Nurses work with families to aid in the development of parenting skills, child growth and development, building family support systems and connecting families to community services. Parent Resources Visitors are parents themselves who act as peer mentors for new parents and discuss topics such as nutrition, safety, parenting and child development. The following pages are stories shared by families, as they reflect on how HBHC has been a positive influence in their lives.

Family Reflections

"I had a very rewarding experience with Healthy Babies Healthy Children. I was in the program for four and a half years, since I became pregnant with my first child."

“I am a single father of a 2 year old girl and have been a client of HBHC for 1 year. Being a male with a daughter I knew I would have questions and no one to ask without the belief of showing weakness and the inability to do things myself. I decided to call HBHC and requested to meet with a worker. After the initial meeting I realized they’re here for me not to judge but to be a source of information and guidance. From my personal experience I learned about health, nutrition, and the development of my child. Overall I am excited that I took part in the program and would urge both moms and dads to ask about HBHC and how they may be able to help you. So I thank HBHC and my home support worker for being there for me.”

“I learned how to deal with my children better, more games to play with them, what to do when they are sick and who to call. I enjoyed all my visits with HBHC.”

“I really liked how they were always there when they said they were going to be. How they always talked about different things. I also liked how they usually bring different things for the kids”.

“HBHC has given me peace of mind, when something goes wrong. It helps me stay calm, cool, and collected and helped me to cope. At 18 years old, the PHN and PRV taught me everything I needed to know to care for my newborn. I knew nothing, not even how to change a diaper, feed my baby. After my 2nd child I was taught that not all babies are the same. My 2 children are as different as night and day. HBHC helps me to understand that not every child is the same and teaches me different ways of handling situations with children. They also gave me useful literature; to this day I still use the Basic Pantry Shelf cookbook.”

“I feel very blessed to be a part of a community where the public health care system workers go above and beyond their call of duty. Lots of complaints are being made these days by people who have no family doctors, or can’t get appointments because their doctor is too busy. I’ve had a new doctor for over 2 years already and haven’t even met her yet, not because she’s not available when I need her but because I never did need her! When I think I might be expecting a baby I call the health nurse who drops by and does a pregnancy test from home and I set up an appointment with a midwife. After the baby is 6 weeks old and the midwife’s job is over, the public health nurse and the dietician are more than happy to come do home visits to weigh the baby and follow up with developmental screening. If at anytime I have questions or concerns I know that help is only a phone call away. Our health nurse is more than happy to try and help out, as she did this summer when we were concerned that all was not well with our youngest child."

The first person that came to mind to call was our health nurse and she came out to our home as soon as possible and confirmed our suspicions. That very day she made some phone calls for me and told me who I should be setting up appointments with. The first few weeks I was feeling overwhelmed with it all, as it turned out to be much more serious than we had thought. I remember I called up our health nurse a few times for advice or just a sympathetic listening ear and the courage to go on. Never once did she make me feel as though I was taking up her time or asking foolish questions. She was available at any time which gave me the ability to keep on going during those difficult days when we were still trying to adjust and accept out child’s handicap and most of all to try to make decisions that would benefit her future and help her to lead as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.”

“It was nice to have someone to answer all my questions. The PRV gave lots of suggestions and ideas of things I could do with the kids. I found that your help for baby stages was excellent and greatly appreciated.”

“I am a single mom and want to say that the Healthy Babies Healthy Children program helped me and my baby so much. I could ask anything to my PRV and my nurse and I learned a lot about feeding my baby, tummy play, and things to do with her when she started waking up more. I was really scared when I brought her home and I don’t know what I would have done without help. I remember when I was scared to have strangers come to my house but then it didn’t take long for me to look forward to visits because I always felt good about myself after visiting with my PRV. Now I believe that I can be a good mom and I want to teach my baby to learn that she is good too.”

Nurse Reflections

“One of our young moms was telling me how her 12 month old was such a picky eater. We talked a lot about picky eaters, healthy eating and healthy snacks. It seemed that we had talked about this over and over again and yet there were little changes being made. Then one day during our visit, I asked her if anyone had ever shown her how to cook and she said “no”. Not only that, but she did not have a casserole dish or more than one pot to use on the stove. So we talked a lot about simple cooking. We shared a resource “Eat Well for Less” and one of the cookbooks from the health unit library. The next time I saw this mom she was so proud of herself. Not only had she purchased some cooking equipment but she had made a supper of sausage, corn, and potatoes! It was exciting to see this mom cooking a meal for her family after a few basic tips on cooking!”

"I received a phone call from a new father one night. He said that I had called his wife after the birth of their baby. She had declined a home visit at that time but he felt that she was not doing very well now and wondered if she was having some problems with postpartum depression. When I arrived at their home, he met me at the door and said that his wife was upstairs. He took me into the baby’s nursery where she was sitting in the corner in the rocking chair with the baby in her arms. We talked a while about how the feeding was going, postpartum recovery for her, sleep issues with the baby. I asked about her adjustment to becoming a mom and we discussed how challenging that can be. She started to weep and I sat with her while she cried."