A labour and delivery nurse in B.C. is putting some sweat equity into fundraising for maternal health. Her Move4Moms event is aiming to raise awareness of the inequities of maternal health around the world while getting participants to raise funds and exercise.
Sadie Au first heard about Save the Mothers when she was a nursing student. She participated in the annual STM Mother’s Day walk, organized by an OB/GYN in her church who had visited Uganda to see how students of the STM program were using their spheres of influence to advocate for maternal and child health.
Little did Au know that years later she would become a game changer for mothers too. For the past three years she’s been working as a labour and delivery nurse, and has seen close up the disparities that exist for pregnant women around the world.
“I know how much support we have for moms and babies in Canada, the trained personnel, the equipment, medications, facilities and all the screening and monitoring that we do,” she said. “We are so, so privileged. It is simply too easy for us to take all of this for granted.”
That’s why she decided to organize a fundraiser for Save the Mothers. Au says she wanted to make it fun, with a focus on health. Movement for Mothers, or Move4Moms, is a two week event with the first week devoted to raising funds. The second week then converts each dollar raised into exercise minutes, which will be recorded and compiled using the Strava app.
“People can donate or exercise, or do both,” Au said. Fundraising has already begun and there’s still time to get involved. For more information go tohttps://move4moms.wixsite.com/home