The Health Visiting Team of the Department of Health invites postpartum mothers and their families to join the Movin’ Mommas walking group who meet every Tuesday morning at the Botanical Gardens Visitors Center at 10 am and lasts for approximately 45 minutes. The walking group kicked off on November 6th and was well received with over 40 mothers as well as a few fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers attending.

“The health visiting team felt this initiative was fundamental as Bermuda’s obesity epidemic is the island’s number one public health challenge and is also a major driver for chronic ill-health,” said the Minister of Health, Kim Wilson. “I’m so pleased to see this take off as it combines healthy lifestyles, maternal health and the Government’s priority to address obesity.”

Movin’ Mommas directly aligns with the Department of Health’s priorities and provides an opportunity for socialization, builds capacity within our community and fosters positive parenting experiences for mothers and families during the postpartum period.

Bermuda currently has an overweight/obesity rate of 75% and adopted a widely important goal (WIG) in 2015 to halt the rise of obesity and diabetes within our island. As a result, the Movin’ Mommas walking group was launched.

Minister Wilson said, “It has been very heart-warming and rewarding for the team to see Movin’ Mommas become a reality and the team is excited to add Movin’ Mommas to the continuum of initiatives and plan to add baby/infant massage classes to mothers and families in the near future in order to realize the Department of Health Bermuda’s vision of healthy people in healthy communities.”

Movin’ Mommas is an initiative modelled after the UK Ready Steady Mums (RSM) group. It was adapted by the Heath Visiting Team in Bermuda in November 2018.

The health visiting team in Bermuda comprises five women: Rebecca Dunkle, Isabell Jervis, Roxanne Kipps-Jackson, Jennifer Robinson and Erinn Smith. The team has a cumulative 107 years’ experience in nursing and operate under an adapted version of the Healthy Child Programme.

• Press release from the Government of Bermuda