DENVER — Roots Family Center, one of the only birth centers in Colorado that offers Spanish-language doula services, is working to recruit more Spanish-speaking doulas.
With the recent increase in immigration to Colorado, Roots employees are seeing an increase in need.
“We definitely see the need in additional support, and so we have a training program to train community doulas to be able to support more families in the hospital settings but also in the home settings or in birthing center settings,” said Crystal Munoz, Roots Family Center founder and executive director. “We really support our community in increasing their economic opportunities, as well, and so we're looking forward to support with the passion that they have for being doulas but also to be able to economically support their families.”
Munoz said many Latina women avoid seeking medical care during pregnancy or giving birth in hospitals due to fears of deportation, lack of insurance, or the absence of culturally inclusive services.
“The language is one of the things, but it's also around the culture. So sometimes, the people are coming and have never given birth here in the United States. And so that experience is very unique in that they have to try to find out what the system looks like first before they're able to even access any of the services,” Munoz said.
Munoz said Roots Family Center’s doulas serve not only as birth companions but also as cultural liaisons.
“We’ve had families who birthed in a different country, and their first experience was maybe in another country, you know, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela. And so maybe their experience was that they didn't have a choice of how they could birth, or they didn't have a choice of whether they had a vaginal birth or a cesarean birth. And so here in the United States, they have that choice, but they also have many other choices. They have choices about where they want to birth and how to support pain management and all of those kinds of things,” Munoz said.
Munoz said the program supports more than 50 births annually.
Roots Family Center is also working to establish Colorado’s first nonprofit birth center offering services in Spanish, with $1 million in funding already secured from The Colorado Health Foundation.
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