Parent Connection Celebrates 10th Anniversary
First-time moms get mentoring and support
Date: 5/28/2009
BIDMC Contact: Jerry Berger
Phone: 617-667-7308
Email: jberger@bidmc.harvard.edu
BOSTON – Christine Sweeney was the mother of an 18-month-old boy and expecting her second son when a job opportunity came her way. She was asked to become the director of the Parent Connection, a program providing support for first time mothers in the form of weekly phone calls and a support group. Sweeney felt the position was a perfect fit.
“I thought, ‘this is what I’m living. This is my job,’” she said. “I feel like I birthed this program. It is my third child.”
Today, the 10-year-old program offers a Mentoring Moms Service and a New Moms Group. The mentoring program matches first-time mothers with experienced volunteers who call the new mom weekly for the first 12-weeks post-partum, which Sweeney refers to as “the fourth trimester.”
The New Moms Group allows new moms to connect with other mothers in their community. The groups are free and meet weekly in Dedham, Lexington and Chestnut Hill. There is a working moms group that meets during the evening hours in Needham and a same-sex parenting group that meets in Jamaica Plain. The Parent Connection is the only hospital-based program of its kind in the Boston area, Sweeney said.
“It sends the message that we continue to care about these moms and their children when they leave the hospital,” she said.
The Parent Connection has reached more than 6,500 new parents over the past 10 years, Sweeney said. Many of the program’s volunteers were once first-time mothers who benefited from the Parent Connection’s services. Wendy Widom’s daughter Mia was born at BIDMC in December 2006. She participated in the New Moms Group in Chestnut Hill. Widom then decided to go through the training to serve as a volunteer for the Mentoring Moms Service.
“It is great to know that I am helping other women navigate the transition to parenthood,” Widom said. “The mentoring program gives new moms the opportunity to share their experiences and lets them know that they are not alone.”
Riki MacKillop, an administrative manager in the obstetrics and gynecology department, served as a mentor for new moms. She said the weekly phone calls have helped volunteers identify women who may be suffering from post-partum depression.
“You don’t know the changes having a newborn can take on you until you live it,” MacKillop said. “We can tell when people are struggling.”
“The gift we give our patients is that we don’t push aside their feelings,” Sweeney said. “We are there to get them to trust their instincts and to recognize their strengths.”
For more information, please visit http://www.bidmc.org/MedicalEducation/GraduateMedicalEducation/HouseOfficeResources/ParentConnection.aspx.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and consistently ranks among the top four in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org .
