Whanganui’s new maternal hub offers culturally enriched approach to pregnancy care

Te Oranganui's Jamie Procter and Mihipeka McKenzie-Mason at Te Whare Piringa, a new maternal hub that will help families navigate childbirth. Photo / Eva de Jong

A new Whanganui maternal hub – Te Whare Piringa – will help families better navigate pregnancy by addressing barriers that prevent women from accessing birthing services.

Te Whare Piringa is a new facility in St Hill St designed by Whanganui iwi health provider Te Oranganui using Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora funding.

The maternal hub is designed to be a less-intimidating space for new mums and their whānau to visit than a hospital or GP clinic.

It will be a building that mums and whānau can visit to access culturally appropriate care, express any pregnancy-related concerns and connect with other whānau who are also preparing to give birth.

The rongoā Māori clinic in Te Whare Piringa will be used for traditional Māori healing practices. Photo / Eva de Jong

Te Oranganui chief executive Wheturangi Walsh-Tapiata said they had learned through conversations with community midwives and Whanganui Hospital staff that many Māori māmā were not engaging with prenatal or postnatal care.

“What we found was that a lot of our young Māori māmā often don’t end up having any pre-birth support and so they basically turn up at the hospital when they start going into labour,” Walsh-Tapiata said.

“This is very much a collective response to some of the issues we are seeing in our community.”

Te Oranganui mataiawā general manager primary care Jamie Procter said barriers meant whānau were not accessing established GP practices or healthcare providers.

Many people were not registered with a GP service or did not have access to a regular GP, she said. For pregnant women, this might mean potentially missing out on critical check-ups.

“There is no place like this for our community – there’s nowhere where our hapū [pregnant] māmā feel comfortable enough to go to and have a kōrero with somebody to ask questions about pregnancy, birth or their pēpē [baby],” Procter said.

The whānau-led approach of Te Whare Piringa means it will encompass the whole family support system around a pregnant woman rather than providing only individual care.

The warm, inviting atmosphere of Te Whare Piringa includes cosy bedrooms that can be transformed into consultation rooms, and a rongoā Māori clinic that will be used for traditional healing practices. However, the space will also act as a point of contact where pregnant women can be referred to other health services or visited by midwives or doctors.

“It’s really key that we ensure that for our māmā who become hapū, they understand the importance of engaging with a midwife or their healthcare provider,” Procter said.

She said they were also working to design an alternative hapūtanga (pregnancy) education programme for māmā.

“I suppose it’s like antenatal classes, that’s what we’re developing, but very much from a cultural positioning,” Walsh-Tapiata said.

She said during the three-year process of developing Te Whare Piringa, the design team realised from conversations with whānau that fathers needed to be better recognised in the birthing journey.

Procter said hearing pāpā share their birthing experience was inspiring, but also quite pōuri (sad) at times, due to dads sometimes feeling as if they did not belong in the process.

“They felt quite isolated and at times like the third wheel.”

She said wider extended whānau, such as grandparents, were often involved in pregnancy support and these connections needed to be reflected in birthing services.

“There was never a time where we thought this would only focus on the māmā and women,” Procter said.

Anyone of any cultural background is welcome to visit Te Whare Piringa at 284 St Hill St, open Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm, to access help and guidance during their pregnancy.

Walsh-Tapiata said work was under way to communicate with the whole community, especially in more rural areas, to help mothers who might not have been seen by health services.

“We still believe there’s a lot of māmā out there who we haven’t been able to connect with,” she said.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.