Editor:
Re: "Health cut hits close to home" (Coast Reporter, Feb. 3).
Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) was pleased to hear that reporter Christine Wood successfully overcame her bout of perinatal depression with help from our Sunshine Coast public health nurses. VCH would like to reassure Wood and the rest of the community that our long-standing universal newborn home visiting program is still in place.
On the Sunshine Coast, as in all communities across VCH, postpartum women will continue to be routinely contacted by public health nurses and receive home visits as needed. Everyone receives a phone call, four out of five also receive a visit to their home, and perinatal depression is one of the screening programs we offer.
What has changed is that VCH has added a new program called the Nurse-Family Partnership. This program aims to connect public health nurses with our more vulnerable low-income, first-time mothers under the age of 25 who are in the early stages of their pregnancies.
The introduction of this new program will not impact the current pubic health nursing services we provide to all new mothers, so Wood and other new moms in Sechelt can be confident they'll get the help they need during those first few weeks at home with a newborn.
Margaret Antolovich, manager
Public Health & Prevention Services
VCH - Powell River, Sunshine Coast
