“It’s pretty simple,” Sarah Buckler said of her role in catching the potentially life-threatening medical complication experienced by a pregnant mother in her care.
During a typical visit, Sarah asked how things were going, as she usually did.
“You know, it’s a lot to be a mom,” Sarah noted. “It’s a lot to be pregnant.”
After learning about a couple concerning symptoms, Sarah made a suggestion about health monitoring. And then she gave her most important advice, which she gives to all pregnant mothers with symptoms.
“Your doctor wants to know.”
Sarah’s own experience informs the way she cares for other expectant mothers. While pregnant with her first child, Sarah struggled with symptoms that, when she mentioned them to others, were dismissed.
“I’d be like, ‘Oh, okay, I’m being dramatic,'” she said. “It turns out, a lot of my symptoms led to preeclampsia.”
Though she doesn’t share her personal medical journey with parents until after they’ve given birth, she does allow it to serve as a reminder that people may need encouragement to speak up about their symptoms.
This particular mother took her advice to heart, following up with her doctor. Intervention swiftly followed, with ultimately positive outcomes for both mother and baby.
The significance of the partnership between parent educator and mother couldn’t find a better illustration. The soon-to-be mom, though still growing up herself, wanted to learn everything she could in preparation for motherhood.
“She wanted to be the best mom she could be,” Sarah said. Though she lacked the support she needed at home, she found in Sarah someone she could turn to.
“It’s definitely a privilege,” Sarah said of the opportunity to participate so deeply in the lives of families.
Before joining Parents as Teachers, Sarah and her husband served as foster parents, caring for 13 children over the course of three years. Through this experience, as they worked hard to partner with the families of their foster children, she observed firsthand the need for connecting families lacking in support to the community resources available to them.
“Some of the families [whose] kids came into our home, they loved their kids deeply,” she said. “They just didn’t have a support system.”
Now the chance to make those connections counts as one of her favorite parts of her role. Initially drawn to the job posting because of the schedule – which aligns with the school calendar the rest of her family follows – after 1.5 years in the position, Sarah now feels she’s found her ideal role.
“It’s so much fun,” she said, “but then it’s so meaningful and impactful, too.”
Sarah envisions herself educating children and families this way for the long haul, imagining the children she cares for today becoming parents of their own whom she might also have the chance to serve.
“That’s something for me to look forward to.”
Generation after generation, one piece of advice at a time, she’s ready to build strong communities, thriving families and children who are healthy, safe, and learning.