Connecting Families: An innovative project between VCH and BC Women’s Hospital
Connecting Families is a new, innovative program at BC Women’s Hospital that is co-facilitated by a Public Health Nurse from Vancouver Coastal Health and a physician from the Family Practice Maternity Service (FPMS).
Connecting Families combines elements of a traditional postpartum and newborn visit with education to form a unique program of group care and learning. This program offers a place for women and their supports to discuss concerns about their newborns and themselves with their physician, a public health nurse, and other women/families who are at a similar stage in their postpartum journey. This component of peer support is a key element in Connecting Families, allowing women to feel a greater sense of empowerment and confidence while meeting a new community of moms and families.
The Connecting Families program is available to all women who attend Family Practice Maternity Service clinics at BC Women’s Hospital and who are eligible for Public Health Services in Vancouver. It runs on Friday mornings from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm and is open to both first time families and families with older children. Women can attend with their babies and supports from their second newborn/postpartum visit until six weeks postpartum.
Every session includes support by the Public Health Nurse and Physician to provide:
- A “mom and baby check” including any physical exams that are necessary
- Assistance on newborn feeding, with a focus on breastfeeding
- A learning and discussion theme, including such topics as sleep practices, self-care, mood changes/postpartum depression and changing relationships
- Time to talk about concerns with other women and families
We hope that this new program will provide a new model for holistic, community-based, and family-centered postpartum and newborn care.