A new women's health organisation hopes to be more than a prescription for good health.

The founders of With Women, an educational and support service for women, are striving to make the establishment a community voice for all local women.

"This is the first organisation of its type to focus on women's issues,'' said co-founder nurse Pandora Hardtman. "Our aim is to create a friendly environment, a woman-to-woman environment, where women can get safe, accurate information and advice.'' "We want to promote empowerment in women and to be there for support,'' added co-founder Lisa Blyden.

"I'm a midwife and not a week goes by without someone calling regarding women-related issues,'' said nurse Hardtman. "We thought to ourselves, hey something is missing out there, there's a need for something like this. There is also a lot of fear associated with women's issues.

"Midwives means with women -- that's where we came up with the name,'' she added.

The new organisation will offer informational sessions on topics relevant to all local women, from teens to the mature woman.

The issues include the following: So I have a baby -- now what? (Infant safety and nutrition); Teen sexuality, sex and contraception; Women's health issues; The woman mature; and many more.

"We narrowed it down to these particular issues after talking to people,'' nurse Hardtman explained. "These topics came up the most.

"We will probably revise these themes every so often because we want to be as flexible as possible. Once we get feedback from individuals in the medical community we will revise.'' Nurse Blyden added: "We are not here to take the place of the medical community, just augment it.'' One class that will be unique to With Women is the childbirth technique called the Bradley Method.

The Bradley Method is a husband-coached natural childbirth system that encourages mothers to trust their bodies rather than seek ways to control the pain associated with labour.

"The Bradley Method promotes natural, unmedicated childbirth as its ultimate goal,'' nurse Hardtman explained. "It is not taught anywhere else in Bermuda.

"Bradley classes start earlier than other classes. We start teaching mothers-to-be in their fifth month.'' "The first Bradley class starts on July 12,'' added nurse Blyden. "On July 1 we will hold a public service information session so people with questions can get some answers.

"However, the breast feeding consultations will begin immediately.'' "There is still a lot of misinformation out there despite the hospital's efforts to dispel myths,'' nurse Hardtman noted. "We tend to have a high initiation rate in Bermuda but there's poor follow-up.

"The first month of breast feeding is the hardest and we want to help mothers to try to stick it out.'' Nurse Blyden added: "The World Health Organisation and the American Academy of Paediatrics say mothers should breast feed for one year.'' The pair said that they were eager to help large companies realise and implement policies and programmes to help their employees continue breast feeding their children once they returned to work.

"We will also consult for large corporations who want to offer facilities for their mothers to breast feed or if they want to hold classes or workshops on women's issues,'' said nurse Blyden.

Until their permanent facilities are up and running in the fall, With Women will perform their consultations in their clients' homes.

"For now we will go to our clients,'' explained nurse Hardtman. "By the fall we will have a permanent location, but even then we will still make house calls.'' The pair said that they will handle most of the duties themselves, calling on the services of two specialists only when the need arose.

"We have the services of two certified lactation specialist,'' noted nurse Hardtman. "But most of the time the two of us will handle most of the duties.

"We'll only bring people in as needed.'' For the future, the pair said they envisioned With Women becoming a strong voice for local women in the community.

"We hope that through this we, as women, can look at larger policy issues, like maternity leave, and become a strong community voice,''insisted nurse Hardtman.

For more information about With Women 291-2512.

With Women: Nurses Pandora Hardtman and Lisa Blyden have set up an educational and support service for all local women called With Women.