A UNIQUE intercultural leaflet for pregnant women has been launched at the Maternity Department of Mayo General Hospital. The first ever multilingual project of its kind, the leaflet focuses on what women need to bring to the hospital and meets the needs of women using the maternity services whose first language is not English. The literature, which is available in six different languages is the first of its kind in the country and uses large illustrations thoughout to show the such informations as items needed after delivery, contact details for relevant professionals and translation services.
The leaflet is the brainchild of childbirth educators, Frances Burke and Mary Sammon. The aim is to ensure improved access to vital health information relating to childbirth for all women availing of the maternity services.
At the launch last week, Frances said the leaflet targeted women using the service whose first language is not English.
“We used as little writing as possible and we are hoping it will encourage women to have more knowledge and be a little bit more prepared when they are coming in to have their baby.”
Mary Sammon said they had worked hard over the past three years to bring the leaflet together. In conjunction with the Baxter Foundation, an opportunity presented itself to develop the leaflet. It was done in conjunction with the staff of the Royal Victoria Hospitals, Belfast. She added there was a need for the project considering the number of non-national women who are now using the maternity services. “We have a population of 4.1 million in Ireland and 10.8% of these are non-nationals.
“These numbers are gradually increasing which shows there was a need for this leaflet.”
The leaflet are available in the Polish, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, French and Portugese.
“It is hoped this will increase accessibility to the services and encourage women to avail of our services.” Ina, a midwife at Mayo General Hospital, said language barriers had the potential to result in bad outcomes.
One of the important childbirth indicators, which had been identified by asylum seekers, had been the time between contractions. “This is a rare item which will assist clients who are vulnerable, away from home and pregnant.”
Ms Sammon added there were 1,600 deliveries in the Castlebar hospital in the past year. The main focus of the maternity services and the childcare educators were first time mothers and this has now resulted in a project on teenage pregnancies.
An eight-person committee has been set up for the project which it is hoped will encourage teenage mothers into the service. A further leaflet is being drawn up for this.
Mr Tony Canavan, General Manager at Mayo General Hospital said that the project incorporated accessibility and patient care.
The partnerships involved were very important and brought together the community public health services, the Northern Ireland part-nership and the Baxter Foundation.
He said with the Northern Ireland Partnership, a relationship had been forged which would continue to reap the benefits through projects such as this.
The leaflet is available through local GP services, public health and hospital services and when women come in to book for the birth at the maternity department.
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