Bringing a child into the world can be a stressful experience, especially if the mother-to-be is deaf or hearing impaired. It can be difficult for the woman to access appropriate medical assistance, causing emotional distress which might be detrimental for both mother and child. An EU-funded project addressed these challenges to provide deaf and hearing-impaired women in Latvia with a safe and welcoming environment in which to give birth.
- 22 August 2017
A deaf woman suffering severe pain in childbirth may experience physical complications, too. A newly trained specialist is a support person as a mediator between the doctor and woman. And a specialist helps young mothers during the post-natal period, reducing health risks for mother and baby.
This project marks the beginning of a new era in care for deaf and hearing-impaired pregnant women in Latvia. Until now, deaf and hearing impaired new and mothers-to-be received no specialised support in the country. At best, they were provided with basic translations, although some were even denied this service. In 2008, there were just 20 qualified sign-language interpreters in the whole of Latvia.
Expectant and new mothers frequently struggled to make themselves understood by doctors and medical staff, and adequate information about the procedures during labour was often unavailable. Consequently, the pressing need for trained personnel to support deaf and hearing-impaired mothers was very apparent.
Under the EU-funded Together Beyond Silence project, the Latvian Association of the Deaf (LAD) targeted the Riga Maternity Hospital to kick off this initiative, since one-third of country’s population lives in the capital.
The first step was to train five specialists with prior knowledge of sign language in hearing impairment, to equip them with the skills, know-how and signs to provide assistance during childbirth. Next, a similar training programme was carried out to train specialists in post-natal assistance, so that follow-up support could be provided after the baby’s birth.
Six new mothers benefited from this specialised service during childbirth and the post-natal period, and 19 new mothers received support both at home and online via Skype.
The second part of this project was devoted to creating a community centre for the elderly, which also continued to operate after the end of the project.
Mommies’ Club continues
The services created during the project have grown and expanded and are continuing although the project has finished, thanks to funding from Riga City Municipality. Using the insights resulting from the project, LAD now hosts a Mommies Club which welcomes 39 mothers every month and provides them with talks on parenting, opportunities to meet with specialists and other experts.
The deaf and hearing-impaired community can often be quite socially isolated, but through this project the mothers have gained trust in the system and the services provided. The project has also changed community expectations about the quality and standard of healthcare which should be provided for deaf or hearing-impaired women.
The project coordinators shared their knowledge with an NGO in Estonia, a country which experiences similar problems within its maternity services for the deaf and hearing impaired.
The 10 specialists who were trained were subsequently hired by LAD to ensure the service can continue. Currently, Riga’s municipal government has acknowledged their necessity and quality, and has been funding these services for more than three years. The current contract foresees cooperation with LAD until 2019, after which a new procurement will be arranged and the services made available as part of Riga’s social service package.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Together Beyond Silence” is EUR 51 045, with the EU’s European Social Fund contributing EUR 51 045 through the “Infrastructure and Services” Operational Programme for the 2007-2013 programming period.