Written by Kevin Heffernan
Crafter Hours on October 25 will benefit all of Jericho Road’s Service Sectors. Let’s take a look at each:
Priscilla Project:
In 2017, #NoBoundaries3 covered Jericho Road’s Priscilla Project with Bridget Schaefer’s photo essay. You can check that out in full right here.
Jericho Road’s Events and Marketing Coordinator Mary Schaefer has provided some additional information on the program. Whether you attend their Crafter Hours program, or make donations to Jericho Road in the future, here’s the program your money benefits:
CHALLENGE
For women without a strong social support network, navigating a first pregnancy
can be stressful.
– Who do you ask about the proper vitamins to take or what foods to avoid?
– Who helps you get a crib and diapers and supplies?
– You might have questions that you’re too embarrassed to ask your doctor – who can you ask instead?
For refugee women from countries where labor and delivery is traditionally managed at home, the thought of delivering in a hospital, surrounded by machines and doctors who don’t speak the same language can be downright frightening. Prenatal care can be compromised if the patient’s provider doesn’t speak their language and doesn’t have consistent access to good interpreters. For women experiencing a high-risk or complicated pregnancy, additional support is needed to ensure babies are carried to full term and delivered at a healthy birth weight.
METHOD
The Priscilla Project seeks to ease the process of first-time pregnancy in the United States for both refugee and American-born women. Two of the program’s main goals are for women to carry to full term and for babies to be born at a healthy birth weight (5.5 lb or more). It works to achieve these goals by:
– Connecting expectant mothers with culture- and language-matched doulas who help
moms set up a birth plan and provide support and interpretation during labor and
delivery
– Offering seminars and classes on prenatal nutrition and baby care
– Providing breastfeeding education and support
– Matching soon-to-be moms with supportive volunteer mentors
– Referring clients to donation centers for clothing and baby supplies
RESULTS
– 95% of clients in the program gave birth to healthy birth weight babies
– 92% of clients in the program carried their babies to full term
– 84% of clients received breastfeeding support after discharge from the hospital through the program’s weekly Baby Café or through one-on-one meetings with their community health worker
– 85% of clients received car seat education from a certified car seat technician
– 100 clients gave birth with the assistance of a doula
– More than 310 women participated in the program
INTERESTING OUTCOMES
– In September, doula Khin Win assisted in three deliveries AT THE SAME TIME AT THE SAME HOSPITAL – one of the deliveries was of another Priscilla Project doula (Flora) who was giving birth to her first child. (Khin is a superhero.)
– 27 women in the Priscilla Project delivered in September
– Doula Flora Thaw shared a story about a client who avoided the need for an epidural through her help and guidance (repositioning body, massage, etc.) – when the labor got intense and the client was extremely uncomfortable and hot, Flora bathed her face with a cold washcloth. The mom delivered a healthy baby boy and was up and showering after an hour because she had no lingering epidural numbness/side effects and no lacerations.
(I mean, these women are incredible!)
Mom later thanked Flora and called the washcloth “an oasis in the desert.”
