Mr. Speaker, “What is being done for ‘newborn’ mothers?”
This is the title of a letter which appeared in the April 7, 2002 edition of La Presse . It was written by Céline Lemay, a midwife from Boucherville, and deserves the attention of all MPs and MLAs in Canada.
She writes:
The move away from hospital care has highlighted not just a failing in our health care system, but also a failing in our safety net: support for new mothers, new parents.
The rest that women get in a hospital is not really physical in nature: one is not in one's own bed; it is too hot; there is constant noise, etc.; in addition to the potential medical problems for the mother or her baby; staying in the hospital, being exposed to numerous germs, and exposing one's newborn to them.
Visiting homemakers would be quite capable of providing services in the home for a few days.
In the Netherlands, specially trained postnatal assistants help out mothers at home for several hours a day during the first ten days after they give birth.