Oh Baby! workshop goes international

On September 4th, 2014, Shea Hocaloski, sexual health clinician and Stacy Elliott, sexual medicine physician and Andrei Krassioukov, physiatrist presented a workshop on pregnancy following spinal cord injury (SCI) at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) held in Maastrict, Netherlands. They were joined by Dr Jean-Gabriel Prévinaire, from France, Dr M.Vos-van der Hulst, from the Netherlands and, sharing her personal perspective of pregnancy and SCI, was Ms. Marie-Hélène Warrens, Netherlands.

The objectives of the workshop were to present personal experiences with pregnancy and SCI and share expert medical opinions and evidence based data on the most common medical issues related to pre-conception, labour, delivery, and post-partum issues.

The consumer perspective was powerful, as Ms. Warrens spoke of experiences and issues that she faced during pregnancies, labour and postpartum periods. Other presenters covered topics such as: pre-conception sexual health, prenatal care, pregnancy and labour delivery issues (such as autonomic dysreflexia), pregnancy outcomes, lactation, and postpartum challenges. Finally, the findings were presented from a Rick Hansen Institute sponsored survey and meeting held last year in Vancouver with consumers, community partner (SCI-BC), and clinical experts from maternal and fetal medicine (at BC Women’s Hospital) and SCI rehabilitation (at GF Strong Rehab Centre).

ISCoS workshop attendees were receptive and engaged. The VCH sexual health team made new connections which will be invaluable to their ongoing research and clinical practice. Ultimately, this workshop will trigger new research questions and agendas in the area of women’s health and SCI.

For more information on the Perinatal and SCI interest group, contact us at:sexualhealth@rickhanseninstitute.org.