Helping women to have healthy, stress-free pregnancies has been the ministry of choice for Vicki Dalesandro, OP, for nearly four years. As a counselor in the New Avenues Program at St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California, Sister Vicki ministers to expectant mothers ranging in age from 14 to 42, most of whom are single and struggle with economic hardship. Here, Sister Vicki shares her experience of ministering to expectant mothers.

Sister Vicki Dalesandro, right, is inspired by the expectant mothers to whom she ministers.

What is the goal
of the New Avenues Program?

New Avenues is part of the Healthy Beginnings Program, a comprehensive perinatal service program which has been in existence for 10 years. The main goal of New Avenues is for women to have healthy babies. One of the ways that we help the women deal with stress during pregnancy is through counseling. We also provide prenatal care, many modes of education, assistance with new baby items as a reward for attending appointments and classes, referrals to needed resources, and emergency food. Our program is unique in its encouragement of the women to have healthy, drug-free pregnancies and to be an effective parent and partner.

Can you offer more information on the women New Avenues helps?

We work with women from the ages of 14 to 42 years of age. Most of them are single mothers. They come to the clinic because they want a midwife to care for them pre- and post-delivery as well as during the birth of their baby. The women are Caucasian, Hispanic and African-American. Many of them are poor. We have an outreach clinic site in Adelanto, an underserved city. Many of the women walk to that prenatal clinic since they have no means of transportation. Some of them recently arrived from Mexico. Others have a substance abuse history. This is often related to various kinds of abuse they have suffered or are still experiencing.

What are the challenges your clients face?

The women have various challenges: financial concerns/poverty, relationship issues with the father of their baby or their immediate families, discontinuing substance use or abuse, depression, low self-esteem, lack of transportation, adjustment to parenting, immigration issues/language barriers, and lack of or limited education.

What are your challenges, if any, in working with the mothers?

My challenge is how to spiritualize encounters with these women by letting each of them know that someone cares about her and her family. Even though some of our patients have no religious affiliation, they all have a spirituality. Our ministry supports them so that they can have a physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally enriching experience and family life. Another challenge is understanding the various cultures that the women are part of.

What is inspiring about working with the women?

I am continually inspired by the perseverance and courage of so
many of these women who are surviving terrible situations of abuse
or impoverishment. Their motivation for life energizes me, and I have
learned a lot about hope in seemingly hopeless situations.