When Robyn Currie pictured having a baby, she imagined mom-and-baby yoga classes, hanging out with other new parents and relaxing in coffee shops while her new child took a nap.
Instead, she got social isolation, physical distancing and a bunch of cancelled programming. Realizing her expectations wouldn’t come to fruition left her grappling with grief, loneliness and depression.
“These ideas you have in your head are just gone and are not going to happen,” said Currie, who lives in Hamilton. She had a baby girl in May after suffering a miscarriage closer to the start of the pandemic. “It was terrible, but made worse because everything shut down… I felt incredibly isolated [and] incredibly overwhelmed.”
Currie says the added stress and limitations of the pandemic contributed to the thoughts about suicide and cycles of deep depression that she experienced — and she is far from alone.
The paper, entitled A cross-national study of factors associated with women’s perinatal mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic, was published by the interdisciplinary academic journal PLOS One in April.
Before the pandemic, about one in seven women would experience postpartum depression or anxiety, according to organizations including the American Psychological Association. The new paper’s researchers say that number has increased to one in three.
“Public health campaigns and medical care systems need to explicitly address the impact of COVID-19 related stressors on mental health in perinatal women,” the paper states.
The effects are apparent at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s Women’s Health Concerns Clinic, which addresses postpartum mental health. Clinic medical director Dr. Benicio Frey, a psychiatrist, says he’s seen increasing severity of mental health challenges since the start of the pandemic.
“We identified… much higher rates of anxiety,” Dr. Frey told CBC Hamilton.
“We’re seeing extreme worrying, panic attacks, and physical symptoms [caused by mental health challenges]… Because the pandemic has been so long, people end up developing a lot of depressive symptoms as a result; feeling hopeless, feeling down, feeling socially isolated… It’s very tough for a lot of mothers.”
Robyn Currie plays with her baby daughter at home in east Hamilton on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021. (Daniel Taekema/CBC)
The clinic is hosting an online forum on Dec. 6 in the hopes of helping inform and support members of the public who are experiencing something similar — or who are expecting a child and would like to start planning for mental health support.
Dr. Frey says he encounters many new parents who had not previously struggled with anxiety or depression and feel caught off guard by their struggles after having a child. He says the clinic’s research has shown that peer support can help drive the success of psychotherapy.
“It’s a lot more powerful for moms to hear from other moms,” he said, noting new parents often feel guilty about having negative feelings at a time society expects them to be overjoyed. “They’ll think, ‘I am not a good mom.’ But when they see other loving, caring moms who are struggling as well, it’s healing and part of the recovery.”
Away from family support
Safeya Wahbi, a Hamilton mom of five, had her youngest daughter just months before the pandemic. As a newcomer to Canada, her local network was already limited, but then the pandemic arrived. Suddenly all the kids were home all the time and Wahbi was afraid to go out, lest she or the baby get sick.
“She was a small baby and could easily catch any infection, any illness,” she told CBC News, in an interview translated from Arabic. “For sure, I was worried about her and I was worried about myself because I had issues after delivery: iron deficiency, vitamin deficiency. I was afraid that if I went out I’d catch any virus… I hated the situation, I hated Canada, I hated myself, I hated these matters, life.”
With limited options for support, she asked for help from God. “I used to pray. Honestly, I used to cry.”
Wahbi says being away from her family made things so much worse; she says they would have helped her if they had been nearby.
“In Syria, I had family. My mom, my siblings, my in-laws… they helped with the baby. Here, in less than 24 hours after delivery, I came back home and I bathed the baby all by myself.”
She says she is still feeling the effects of the isolation. “Whenever I feel pressured, annoyed, or face any trouble, honestly, I feel so bad.”
“In Syria, I had family. My mom, my siblings, my in-laws…– Safeya Wahbi
Postpartum doula Naomi Mendes-Pouget, who uses both “she” and “they” pronouns, has seen the ravages of isolation among her clients.
“Having no reason to leave the house for a new parent can be really hard, especially if you’re someone who does need that kind of engagement with the outside world,” she says.
Mendes-Pouget works with many LGBTQ+ parents and says they already face challenges during pregnancy and childbirth that can be isolating, as so many resources are focused specifically on “moms” that it can leave parents of other genders feeling unwelcome. COVID has just added another layer to that isolation, she says.
New support groups and an online platform
Last summer, she launched the online community Queer Nest Club to help address those challenges. She says it’s a curated, supportive experience, unlike a Facebook group, where members can participate in live sessions and other facilitated experiences meant to build community and spark reflection.
Having a supportive social group, whether online or in a COVID-safe way in-person, is so important that Mendes-Pouget recommends spending time during pregnancy to start getting it lined up.
“I tell people prenatally to start to look for people who are at a similar place in their journey,” she says. “Don’t wait. When the moods start to come in, and the overwhelm, it’s a lot harder to feel like going to look for friends.”
Another new option for parents who are struggling is Blues and Beyond, a locally made platform that combines online resources for new parents, a 24-hour phone line staffed by perinatal support workers and a phone service that reaches out to parents at regular intervals to make sure they are OK.
It was created by Emily Fazio, a recent McMaster University psychology graduate, and launched in September.
Fazio says growing up with a mom in the perinatal support field meant constantly hearing stories of families who were overwhelmed, distressed, and didn’t have access to the resources they needed.
“I was hearing all these stories of people who don’t have help, and I wasn’t sure why because [parents are] such a large portion of the population,” said Fazio, who put $1,000 of her own money into the website and staffs the phone line with volunteers.
She’s also currently running a GoFundMe campaign to try to raise more money, and is also applying for grants.
“I saw time and time again, parents struggling and facing mental health issues. I wanted to make sure every parent has a place to go to find these resources.”
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
