They’re immigrants, farmworkers, and new moms. And they’re facing postpartum depression at higher rates
Over more than a decade working with immigrant farmworkers in the public clinics of the Santa Clara River Valley, Rosemary Hernandez has seen many new moms struggle during the postpartum period.
Some were separated from their families in Mexico. Others’ husbands or boyfriends had to head straight back to work picking fruit after the baby arrived. Some mothers had to return to work themselves while they were still recovering from childbirth, or else risk losing their jobs in the fields and fruit-packing houses. Their isolation and vulnerability compounded the challenges of caring for a newborn, and drove many of these mothers into anxiety and depression.
