The decision is yet to be made regarding the future of the maternity service in Stratford, but so far the Taranaki District Health Board is unable to give us any guarantees.
They have concluded four focus group sessions with various interest groups, saying this involved approximately 65 participants. That is less than the number of women who have given birth in the Elizabeth R maternity unit in any average year.
That leaves a lot of voices unheard. Not just the mothers who have birthed there, but the mothers who have chosen to go there for a postnatal stay - in 2012, that number was double the number of actual births at the facility.
Which highlights an important fact - it isn't just about having a place where women in our district can labour and birth, but also having a place where families can spend their first days with their newest member, with trained professionals on hand when needed.
Investors and businesses see Stratford as somewhere worth looking at for business opportunities. If big businesses see that Stratford is a good location, maybe the health board will too. After all, surely it is a good investment - paediatricians have long been calling for longer hospital stays for new mothers, and child safety experts agree that having mothers spend a few days in some form of post natal care facility after birth can help in reducing our nation's appalling child abuse statistics.
Lactation specialists say breast-feeding, not always the easiest task at the best of times, can be better established when new mothers are in a supportive environment, with trained professionals at hand to help them get it right. The World Health Organisation supports breast-feeding, pointing out it helps build a baby's immune system. Again, making a maternity unit in Stratford a good investment health wise.
Being told we have facilities in Hawera and New Plymouth is not a good enough answer. Should we close the swimming pool in Stratford too as, after all, we have one in Hawera and one in New Plymouth? Or schools, we have them close by, so maybe our school children can all just bus out of the district for their education? If our maternity services can be outsourced to neighbouring districts, will other things be too?
Stratford's mayor has been vocal in his support of the need for our town to keep this facility, and politicians such as Barbara Kuriger, Annette King and Chester Borrows have also given voice to their opinions, but still we have no answers.
Until we have an answer, we need to keep speaking up, letting people know that we need this facility in our town. This battle isn't just about where our babies are born, it is about a town that is a community, and wants to stay that way. We don't want to find ourselves constantly disadvantaged by postcode, for maternity services, for other health care or any other areas such as education either.
Ilona Hanne