Andrise on Family Planning

Andrise is one of our graduating midwifery students with Midwives for Haiti. Described as sassy, spunky and independent by her instructors, we love that Andrise also puts respect at the center of her patient care.

Andrise’s Story

Today I want to talk about respect for patients and the role of men in family planning.

To start, a consultation without respect is impossible. For me to help the patients, I need to show respect for them so that they can most effectively participate in the treatments. If there is no respect for the patients, they can become stressed, under pressure, their heart rate can increase, and thus the problem they have can become worse instead of diminishing. For example, when I am helping a patient, I greet them and I identify myself. I position them so that they are comfortable, I listen and then I help them in whatever way I can. I always make a conscious effort to treat the patient with respect, to not blame them, to be patient with them, and to help with any suffering.

Family planning means literally planning a family, which proves that it concerns both men and women; lots of women have major health problems and can die when they have too many births. If the man takes responsibility as a husband, we can avoid this problem.

There are girls and women who can never use family planning methods because their husbands don’t agree. The midwives are then required to meet with men as a group to teach them about planning, so that they can understand that family planning is their responsibility, too — the man and woman together — because both parents decide how many children they would like and are able to have. Having children includes a lot of responsibility to take care of them and educate them. The mother’s uterus needs to take 2 or 3 years rest before she gets pregnant again. I would like the men to take responsibility so that they can help their wives avoid dangerous pregnancy.