The Indigenous birthworkers will attend medical appointments with mothers, advocate for them and help connect them to traditional practices.
Rebekah Tigausiñia Kiliñik Villalon held her three-month-old son in her Anchorage home on a recent evening, nursing him and comforting him when he cried.
Since its launch in 2017, the birthworkers have provided free care to hundreds of mothers. They attend medical appointments with them, advocate for them and connect them to traditional practices. Margaret Gee’eedoydaalno Olin Hoffman David is another founder. She’s Koyukon Athabascan and said one of the motivations for starting the collective was to support rural Alaska Native mothers who must travel for care during late stages of pregnancy.
“Alaska Native people speak with their eyebrows and their noses and their face a lot,” Patkotak said. “And health care providers might not understand that.” “And now in Alaska, as far as we know, there are only two practicing Alaska Native midwives,” she said. “And that’s not enough, when we have 150 to 200,000 Alaska Native people in the state. They deserve culturally matched care.”
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