Giving Compass' Take:
- Tanya Smith-Johnson, a doula, midwife, and policy director for Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, a Hawaii-based reproductive health nonprofit, on how to support pregnant and postpartum people affected by the Maui wildfires.
- What are the unique needs of this community? What is the role of donors in providing support?
- Read about the extra logistical challenges of providing relief efforts to island communities.
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After the scale of destruction caused by the wildfires in Maui came into focus Wednesday, the team from Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, a Hawaii-based reproductive health nonprofit, jumped into action.
They set up a 24-hour hotline to assist pregnant and postpartum people displaced by the fires, and are sending breast pumps, infant formula, diapers and many other supplies to the island from Oahu, where they are based. On Thursday, six members of their team including nurses, a midwife and a mental health provider traveled to Maui to staff a mobile health clinic in a converted van.
Historically, the needs of pregnant and postpartum people have been overlooked in disasters and emergency response, leaving grassroots and mutual aid groups to fill in the gaps for their communities.
Nimble organizations like the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, which has a team of all women, most of whom are people of color and moms, are springing into action, while the state waits for emergency relief and volunteers to arrive.
“Often times people in government are not people who have been pregnant or given birth so it is not on the top of their list the same way that we saw with the COVID response,” said Tanya Smith-Johnson, a doula, midwife and policy director for Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies. It’s why they built their mobile health clinics to reach pregnant people who were scared to leave their house during COVID. “It is always the same when things happen. Who is thinking about women and children and families and what their needs are? It takes people who’ve done it, who care about people, who have birthed,” she said.
As of Friday morning, 55 people have been confirmed dead, though that death toll is expected to grow in the coming days and thousands have been displaced by the wildfires.
The 19th spoke with Smith-Johnson to understand the current needs of pregnant and postpartum people in Maui, what services are available to people seeking assistance, and what the rest of us can do to help.
Read the full article about helping pregnant and postpartum people in Maui wildfires by Jessica Kutz at The19th.