Anna's House, Steinbach, Manitoba

Anna's House is a family resource centre in Steinbach, Manitoba that offers care and support to facilitate physical, mental, and spiritual wellness to families and young children. In 2001, the project was solely funded by Health Canada through the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program (CPNP) and offered support to mothers from the beginning of their pregnancies up until their babies were 6 months old. Currently, Anna's House is also able to provide other programming for mothers with children up to 5 years old, thanks to others sources of funding, including a provincial Early Years grant.

The project works with mothers in their teens to late thirties who are having anywhere from their first to twelfth child, and most participants hear about the program through word of mouth. In addition to the routine challenges of pregnancy and parenting, many project participants also face the additional stresses of low income, housing shortages, and high rent rates, all of which further contributes to poverty. These families are under a lot of stress but they find “just by coming here and soaking in the home-like, positive atmosphere, they will leave a little less stressed,” says Program Manager/Dietician Lorraine Makus. About 25-30% of the participants are immigrants, with the majority from Germany and Russia and others from South America. Most of these participants are struggling to support large families on low-wage jobs.

Lorraine works closely with an outreach worker and project support worker to provide services to Anna's House participants through group sessions and a drop-in centre. Many mothers enjoy dropping in because they can get personalized service. “The language barrier for immigrant families is a big issue, which is why they gravitate here because the outreach worker and I speak German,” explains Lorraine. “Just being able to connect with someone and get information in their language is a big draw.”

When a mother drops in, her children can play in the kids play area while staff members answer questions and offer advice. All project participants who drop in have access to the onsite resource library with books and pamphlets on topics such as pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and parenting. Lorraine enjoys the unique opportunities that working in a drop-in centre provides, like working with participants to experiment with the baby food grinder and do taste tests.

The group sessions alternate between prenatal and postnatal groups on a weekly basis. The prenatal groups are run by the Anna's House outreach worker and dietician, and a midwife or public health nurse from the Regional Health Authority also comes to the group to answer questions and share experience and knowledge. During these groups, participants learn about nutrition, breastfeeding, health and self care, labour and delivery, and any other topics they have questions about. In the postnatal group, other guest speakers, such as a pharmacist or massage therapist, are also invited to address other topics moms may be interested in. Lorraine explains, “The sessions are pretty much participant driven. We have an activity or topic planned, but then we simply respond to the issues the participants have on that day.” Throughout the sessions, participants can relax and enjoy low-cost, nutritious, easy to make snacks. A separate group is also offered in German, and is run in partnership with the local Immigrant Settlement Program. This group is more focused on the issues faced by newcomers, and the challenges of being pregnant and parenting in a new country.

Group programs and informal drop-in times offer participants the chance to meet other mothers and make new friends. “Social isolation is always something that we work really hard at improving,” says Lorraine. “It's inspiring to see the strong friendships that develop and how participants keep in touch.”

Issues of poverty and food security are common among project participants and Anna's House works hard to improve the situation. Every two weeks, Anna's House supplies prenatal and postnatal moms with milk and egg coupons, as well as a bag of oranges. During pregnancy, women can also receive prenatal vitamins. In the drop-in centre, there is also a coupon board where participants can find coupons for items such as food, household and baby items. In groups, participants share ways of making their food budget stretch further.

The project's success is reflected in both its participants' achievements and high attendance rate. With approximately 150 prenatal and postnatal women served each year, the project's enrolment has nearly quadrupled since it opened in May 2001. Obviously, the reputation has grown quickly as the women of Steinbach recognize that Anna's House is a place where they are always welcomed with open arms.