Expat moms can benefit from Hungarian "Guardian Angels"

It was only a few days after Brazilian Claudia Martins gave birth when a woman in white came knocking at her door. But it wasn't a family member or close friend waiting in the foyer during this particularly fragile time in Martins' life, it was a godsend in a pale blazer. The local védőnő had stopped by, a professionally-trained woman appointed by the state to help kismamák, the Hungarian word for both pregnant women and new mothers, with life before and after giving birth.

Monika Jones

(Top) Rita Revy, who is six-months pregnant, goes over her diet and travel plans at an appointment with Márta Mocsári, a védőnő in District XII. (Bottom) Expat Claudia Martins says the emotional support she received from her védőnő during the first months of motherhood was "wonderful, unbelievable."

A formal institution in Hungary since 1920, and a tradition long before that, védőnő literally translates to "woman who protects," and indeed, the service is gendered. All védőnők are female. Today there are an estimated 1,000 védőnők in Budapest and every citizen and legal resident is entitled to help from the women whose job description falls somewhere between that of a counselor, a nurse, and perhaps a mother.

Their advising services are one small part of the comprehensive maternity care that the Hungarian health care system - despite all of its deficiencies and criticisms - has bequeathed upon women. For experts say Hungarian maternity policy is among the best in all the former socialist states, and in addition to ongoing emotional and personal assistance from a védőnő, benefits include exemption from co-payments at the doctor's office and six months of paid maternity leave.

For Martins, the unplanned visit of her local védőnő was welcome. It made a confusing time in a foreign country a little easier to bear.

"There were days after the baby was born that I was exhausted and couldn't move but I had questions. I would call her and she would come over and help me," Martins recalls. "She gave house calls and was wonderful and helpful, I really felt she was supporting me - and that would not happen in Brazil for free."

On the other hand, such a visit could come as a surprise to foreign new mothers not expecting a well-intentioned visitor knocking at their door to see how breastfeeding is going in the blurry-eyed days following childbirth. Particularly if they have not been using Hungarian public health services, but work with private doctors and clinics.

Márta Mocsári, a védőnő in District XII, says védőnők attempt to visit every new baby registered in their neighborhood regardless of where the woman gave birth or who her OB-GYN physician is. According to the District 1 office, a védőnő on average sees up to 20 babies and children up to the age of seven per day, either during office hours at the neighborhood clinic in conjunction with the doctor and nurse, or at home visits.

Though foreigners are not required to use the services, they are available. But Mocsári said this can be difficult to utilize since most védőnők only speak Hungarian.

Martins, who says she doesn't speak much Hungarian, overcame this with gestures, miming, a dictionary and calling her husband to translate.

Hungarian-American Rita Revy has the advantage of speaking Hungarian, and at a recent appointment with Mocsári at the six-month mark of her pregnancy, she is reminded of the comprehensive care women receive in Hungary: "[Mocsári] says that if I don't feel up to working, I should just to tell her and she'll recommend that the doctor puts me on sick leave. While I don't think that all women need that, it is great that the system supports maternity like this."

For Mocsári, the job is not about politics or policy, it's about helping individual women. And she does so with a few gentle reminders:

"No flying, no running, no strenuous work, always rest, yes always rest, this is important, and are you planning to travel?" Mocsári pats Revy on the knee, not waiting for an answer. "In the end," she says, "you don't need all these books or classes, just use your instincts, that's what I help you do."

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