Thread: Pre-natal Care in Spanish Serves Growing Population

http://www.heraldsun.com/state/6-636139.html

Pre-natal care in Spanish serves growing population

VERONICA GONZALEZ : Star-News of Wilmington
Aug 13, 2005 : 12:02 pm ET

KENANSVILLE, N.C. -- While pregnant with her first child, Trinidad Cupil Hernandez faced challenges beyond the usual trials of carrying a baby.

The 20-year-old Mexican immigrant didn't speak English and couldn't understand her doctor. She was uninsured. And she didn't drive.

Now, she's pregnant again, due in about a week. She sought prenatal care as soon as she found out she was pregnant.

This time, she's receiving prenatal care at Duplin County Health Services where translators help her through the process.

Like Hernandez, most Hispanic women in southeastern North Carolina -- many of them new immigrants -- receive prenatal care during the first trimester, according to figures from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services State Center for Health Statistics. But their numbers still lag behind their pregnant white or black counterparts.

For example, in 2004, about 90 percent of white women and 76 percent of black women sought prenatal care during the first trimester, while only 69 percent of Hispanic women started care that early.

For Hispanics, hurdles such as lack of transportation, health insurance and English-speaking abilities likely contribute to this trend.

For health providers, the fact that Hispanic women are seeking prenatal care earlier than in past years is reassuring as the number of Hispanic babies born since 2000 has more than doubled in New Hanover and Brunswick counties.

New Hanover County welcomed 80 Hispanic babies in 2000 and 210 four years later; Brunswick County also saw an increase, from 37 Hispanic babies in 2000 to 93 born last year. In Duplin, Pender and Columbus counties, Latino baby births have increased steadily over the past four years, though the increases haven't been as dramatic.

In New Hanover, Irene Silva Edwards hopes to make a difference. She started a nonprofit resource center called Voces Latinas a year ago that offers the area's only prenatal class in Spanish.

Until recently, she said, many women began to attend the class late in their pregnancies. She hopes the prenatal class will spur women to seek care early.

"Most of them don't drive, they don't have a license, they don't know how to drive," said Emma Smith, Brunswick County Health Department's only interpreter for prenatal care. "They depend on other people to bring them. Their husbands work and can't bring them or don't take the time to bring them."

Hispanic women also say they miss visits because they have to work or because their bosses won't let them take time off, Smith said. Many may not seek care because it costs money and they have no health insurance.

"I can count on one hand the Latina women I know that are covered through their husbands," Silva Edwards said.

Also, to many Hispanics, health prevention is not always a priority.

"Women in Mexico, usually they're used to being on their own, not seeing a nurse or doctor," said Maria Castillo, Columbus County Health Department's only interpreter for the prenatal clinic. She said they even deliver alone.

But not in the United States.

In southeastern North Carolina, many resources are available for Hispanic women, but care differs from county to county. Duplin, Pender, Brunswick and Columbus counties' health departments provide basic prenatal care.

In New Hanover, women are treated at Coastal OB/GYN Clinic at New Hanover Regional Medical Center because the health department doesn't offer prenatal services beyond nutritional needs.

Prenatal services available through other counties' health departments and New Hanover Regional's clinic include screening for diseases, physicals and urinalysis tests. Health providers also monitor the fetal heart rate and provide prenatal vitamins at little or no cost to patients.

The year-old prenatal classes at Voces Latinas aren't meant to take the place of prenatal care, but they complement existing services. "It's to ensure a healthy pregnancy and a healthy delivery and a healthy baby," Silva Edwards said.

Topics covered at the classes include myths about being pregnant, what to eat, information about breast-feeding, types of birth control to consider after giving birth, the effect of hormones, how she'll feel after giving birth and how she can tell when she's about to give birth. And it's all in Spanish.

Araceli Martinez attended a prenatal class there recently, where she talked openly with five couples in the class about her pregnancy. "One can prevent a lot of things during the first months," said the 23-year-old Mexican native, who is expecting her baby this week. "No mother wishes that her baby be born sick."

Duplin County Health Services brings pregnant Hispanic women together in a similar way with its pregnancy group.

Women with similar due dates meet regularly for a two-hour session. There, women take an active role in their care by weighing themselves and checking their blood pressure. After that, a family nurse practitioner checks them behind a screened area where women can talk privately about problems they might be experiencing.

The point of the group is to build bonds between expecting mothers, said Cam Ward, a nurse and prenatal coordinator at Duplin County Health Services.

Hernandez's favorite part about the group is something any woman can appreciate.

"They tend to you quickly," she said.

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I suppose this is the valuable "contribution" the pro-immigration people are talking about?

No car, no license, no job, no money, no English, no papers, no assets, no income, no insurance.

A 20 year old with her 2 child on the way--with no car, no license, no job, no money, no English, no papers, no assets, no income, no insurance.

First there was 1 and now there are 3.

Just what we need more of here in the USA.

Imported poverty with its own built-in self-growth generator.

Hmmm...."human fission".