UPPER NAPPAN – Pregnancy is a time when moms, couples and families can use all the help they can get.
“From here, for here,” said Mary Ann Morgan, describing a new video that’s been produced for expectant mothers.
Special Delivery, a three-part video available free of charge around the county, provides expectant parents and their loved ones with information on the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre (including a tour of the relevant areas of the facility), advice on infant feeding, with a focus on breast feeding, and insight into other resources in the community that can help new parents.
Trudy Reid, a public health nutritionist, was at the Amherst hospital today for a launch event. Also in attendance were moms who appeared on the DVD, Morgan among them.
Reid said the DVD was produced by the Cumberland Baby Friendly Network, with funding for the shoot from an IWK grant, and money for printing a thousand copies from Cumberland Community Health Boards.
The nutritionist said the goal of the project was to improve access to information on the hospital, the care expectant parents can anticipate, and where they can find other community resources.
“It was a really empowering project (for the women),” said Reid.
The video was shot by Catherine Bussiere, who worked with a budget of about $10,000. Some of the places that will have copies available include the hospital, Maggie’s Place and prenatal care givers around Cumberland County. Almost two years passed between applying for funding and the completion of the project.
“It’s very rewarding,” said the nutritionist.
She expressed her excitement that information will be available to people across the region, and that local women were featured in the production.
Morgan said the video crew made it easy to participate and they were respectful of her wishes when it came to decisions about what would be filmed.
The mother thinks the DVD will useful for new parents.
“I know it would have helped a lot (in her case),” she said.
Reid said she hopes to get parts of the DVD online in the future.
esparling@amherstdaily.com
