UNS — Sekolah Komplementer Cinta Ibu (complementary school for mother love) or SEKOCI, is the contribution of the alumnus of Midwifery Program Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS), Rizka Ayu Setyani, SST., MPH. This program is specially designed for the health of pregnant women and nursing mother initiated at the beginning of 2020.
In an interview with uns.ac.id, Rizka explained that SEKOCI is not a community or Non-Governmental Organization. But an innovation of class for pregnant women (Kelas Ibu Hamil) which is conducted the first time in the Community Health Center (Pusat Kesehatan Masyarakat – Puskesmas) Depok II in Condongcatur Village, Sleman followed by Puskesmas Gedong Tengen, Yogyakarta.
In line with the ‘komplementer’ (complementary) word which sticks in its name, SEKOCI exists to complete and add midwife care or materials that are not taught in Kelas Ibu Hamil. These materials are, for example, baby massage and baby exercise, massage for pregnant women that can be done by husband, pregnancy care, self-healing, and how to build a connection between mother and children. “There is also a class for yoga to reduce stress and to make pregnant women more relaxed. We taught mothers to perform them independently. We also encourage active participation from the participants,” Rizka explained, Monday (19/10/2020).
In starting this program, the 2nd Champion of Putri Solo 2011 (Miss Solo 2011) is accompanied by two colleagues from Unriyo; the university where she currently taught in. At the beginning of 2020, they won a grant from Dikti that enabled them to establish a partnership with Puskesmas Depok II and Puskesmas Gedong Tengen for the next few years. However, in February 2020 Rizka and team started their program in Puskesmas Depok II as a pilot project, while the program in Gedong Tengen was started on July 2020. There is a total of four checkups that should be performed by pregnant women. These checkups, however, are not fully implemented by all pregnant women around Puskesmas Depok II. “This is why we innovated and invited our participants to together address this problem,” Rizka stated.
When asked about the challenges, Rizka conveyed that the initial stage requires harder works to formulate early planning, advocation to Puskesmas, and to persuade them that the program is important and beneficial. Nevertheless, participants show high enthusiasm towards the program and offline meetings were conducted three times before the pandemic forced them to continue their activities through an online class or webinar via Zoom Cloud Meetings, SEKOCI Instagram account, and ‘SEKOCI Indonesia’ YouTube channel. The online class brought another challenge for Rizka and team but generated even higher enthusiasm from the public, not limited to the Puskemas they are partnering with, but also from various regions in Indonesia. “After we opened it for the public, there were many people who are interested in it. In one online class we can get around 50-60 participants, and even 90 participants,” Rizka added.
Online class also provides wider opportunities for collaboration. Participants also get an opportunity to have online counselling with trainers every week. Besides partnering with healthcare experts, SEKOCI also collaborates with psychiatrists and chef who provide suggestions on healthy foods for pregnant and nursing women. The program also has teaching volunteers from various regions in Indonesia. “Like university teachers. We provide and offer an opportunity for online community services. Especially in this pandemic. There are also volunteer facilitators such as moderator, admin, and content creator,” Rizka explained.
From SEKOCI, Rizka learned valuable lessons, even though initially she did not expect much from the program. SEKOCI gave university teacher like her, who spends most of her time teaching, more opportunity to know and collaborate with people from a diverse background. She hopes that in the future SEKOCI can be implemented in other regions outside Yogyakarta.
Besides Kelas Ibu Hamil, Rizka and team also created ASIK (Aplikasi Sayang Ibu Bayi Komplementer) (red: application for mother and baby) which can be used by pregnant women to monitor their gestational age and the date of birth independently, reporting, providing information for pregnant and nursing mother, and consultation. Humas UNS
Reporter: Kaffa Hidayati
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
