whi Midwives opened its new new location on the ground floor of the White House located on Paora Hapi Street today. Photo/File
whi Midwives opened its new new location on the ground floor of the White House located on Paora Hapi Street today. Photo/File
A new maternity centre opened its doors in Taupo this morning.
Awhi Midwives opened on the ground floor of the White House located at 66 Paora Hapi Street.
It was co-founded by lead maternity carers Jo Toma and Toni Postlewaite in 2013. The midwives have been providingmidwifery services in Taupo from their previous location on Laughton Street. This year Ashlea Millar joined and will operate out of the White House along with Ms Toma and Ms Postlewaite.
They decided to move to the larger space at the White House in order to provide expectant mothers and their families with a centrally located facility closer to Taupo's central business district.
"This new space will provide maternity services and a range of wrap-around support services including parenting advice, breastfeeding support, smoking cessation, immunisations, healthy eating, maternal mental health services, birth control and a drop in breastfeeding sanctuary for young mothers while they are in town," they said.
In February 2014 they founded Awhi House in Turangi to address a range of maternity health issues experienced by young mothers in the township, and increase early engagement with maternity services.
Awhi House was awarded the Best Maori Development Team award by Lakes District Health Board in May 2015 for its integrated, coordinated service that effectively improved outcomes for pregnant Maori women, babies and children in the Turangi community.
Lakes DHB said the team showed love and care towards their women in a non-judgmental manner with a welcoming service that offered a positive experience for their clients.
The vision for Awhi Midwives is "Growing health communities one family at a time because every family matters".
The hours of operation for this maternity centre will be Monday to Friday from 9 am to 3 pm.
Awhi Midwives will host an 'Open House' celebration on Monday August 1 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm for the community to see the new facility.
