New Ngāti Toa pregnancy care and services centre a 'safe space for our māmā'

Hapū mama in Porirua are thrilled about new pregnancy care and services centre owned and operated by Ngāti Toa.

Te Puna Wairua was opened on International Women's Day by Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro, who is the patron of Te Tātai Hauora o Hine, National Centre for Women's Health Research Aotearoa.

Karaihi Peina, 29, is six weeks pregnant with her first child.

She was excited about the centre, saying it will be a safe space for her and other new mothers with much easier access to health care.

"Sadly, it's so hard to just get into your doctors the week of, let alone finding out you're pregnant and you have no idea what you need to do, what the next steps are...With our hapū mama facility, at least we're able to get a referral in and, boom, be seen," Peina said.

Mother of three Kendall Stevenson wishes the centre had been around when she gave birth to her 10 month old twins.

During her pregnancy she had to make the hour-long trip from Ōtaki to Palmerston North Hospital multiple times a week.

The hub will save travel time for new mothers as well as give them a sense of community, Stevenson said.

"They don't have to navigate a new space in a new whenua, they can come here and they can access services. Some may have friends who are also hapū at the same time so they can come together and share their experiences when often you don't really get that," she said.

When she was pregnant with her first child she found the health system hard to deal with, she said.

"Services were really Pākehā driven, Pākehā designed, Pākehā delivered and so they really clashed with me a lot because I was like where's our kaupapa Māori way of being hapū. What if I want to birth in a kaupapa Māori way and there was really nowhere where I could access that."

Te Puna Wairua includes multiple services such as ante-natal care, addiction support and lactation advice.

Midwife Tessa Ross said it was a huge advantage.

"Big main thing around the hub is that a lot of the services will be in one so there are other agencies within our community that offer similar services but the benefit of the hub is that it's one safe space for our māmā to come back to continue to have access," said Ross.

The Governor-General said the use of mātauranga Māori will be very beneficial to many women.

"If they can find a service that feels right to them, where they feel welcomed, not judged, where they feel supported and able to carry a healthy pregnancy through when they are less stressed by that, that speaks to their health and wellbeing, and it also speaks to the health and wellbeing of their babies so that can only be for the good."

Te Puna Wairua has been established as part of a research project, led by Professor Bev Lawton. The Health Research Council granted the partnership implementation project $1.4 million.