Perinatal care that is comprehensive, competent and
accessible helps to launch children and families on a healthy trajectory. Which
professionals provide such care and education vary from country to country,
just as the quality of the services rendered can vary. As Jim and I have traveled
and taught in the Asia Pacific region this year, we have met many talented and
dedicated individuals who care for babies and young families. This has been a
source of great joy and inspiration for us.
In New Zealand I have the opportunity to learn about an organization that does this kind of work very effectively, on a national scale. The Royal New Zealand Plunket Society (originally known as the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children) has made a priority of serving its country’s children and young parents for more than a century.
The first Plunket nurse, Joanna MacKinnon, was trained by the
Society’s founder, Dr. Truby King (photo), during the first decade of the twentieth
century. Through public speaking and home visiting MacKinnon shared
evidence-based information on raising healthy children.
King’s initial focus
was to provide safe and effective cow’s milk-based formula for at-risk babies,
but he quickly, and vocally, came to advocate for the superior advantages of
breastfeeding. With the financial assistance of Lady Plunket (photo), the wife of then-New
Zealand Governor William Plunket (and the mother of eight children of her own),
the new movement was granted the means to grow—and how it did!
Throughout the twentieth century, Plunket Rooms, Centres and Clinics, as well as Karitane Hospitals, were established in all the cities and many of the hamlets of both the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Mobile clinics, intrepid home visitors, and “flying nurse services” reached Kiwis in more isolated places. Volunteers raised money and built facilities to support the Plunket cause. It was largely a women’s movement—and a remarkably successful one.
Throughout the twentieth century, Plunket Rooms, Centres and Clinics, as well as Karitane Hospitals, were established in all the cities and many of the hamlets of both the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Mobile clinics, intrepid home visitors, and “flying nurse services” reached Kiwis in more isolated places. Volunteers raised money and built facilities to support the Plunket cause. It was largely a women’s movement—and a remarkably successful one.
Next week I will have a chance to learn more about the
Plunket Society as I share HUG Your Baby ideas at their national headquarters
in Wellington.