Who Are We?
Ehara tāku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini
'My strength is not that of a single warrior but that of many.'
Our Vision
We focus the energy of our community to support those birthing in the Hutt Valley.
Our Mission
We will:
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Coordinate volunteers to provide practical support for birthing whānau and their maternity caregivers
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Hold events to raise awareness and funding
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Purchase necessary equipment
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Support education
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Help with refurbishing and upgrading of facilities
Find out about our
Trust Board Members
The Hutt Maternity Action Trust story so far
We care about those who are pregnant and birthing, new parents and midwives in the Hutt Valley. Hutt Maternity Action Trust (HMAT) has been set up by members of the Hutt community in response to media attention and community concern about our local maternity services. We want to ensure those birthing, their babies and whānau flourish on their journey into parenthood. HMAT is a charitable trust and is independent of the District Health Board. We also have created "The Oxytocin Squad". This is a group of volunteers who will each offer a little of their time, which collectively totals a lot of time to love and nurture those birthing in the Hutt and the midwives and other health professionals that support them, in what is an extremely under-resourced, and stressful work environment.
This all came about following years of attempts to engage with the District Health Board from a maternity "consumer" point of view, and requests to release the External Review of Womens' Health Services which was undertaken in 2018. When this was released in July 2019 and still the situation was not improving, there was media publicity around the poor state of Hutt Maternity.
A Public Meeting was called on Wednesday 13th November 2019. A group of Mums met two weeks later on Tuesday 26th November 2019 at Petone Community House to discuss ideas of how to help support local people birthing and midwives in the Hutt.
We have created an online community, and we organise various activities to nurture our midwives and those that they care for. We would love you to join us. Volunteers can give as little or as much time as they can with no pressure.