Boot Camp for New Dads in Hawaii began with a joint effort between the Tripler Army Medical Center and the Navy Region Hawaii in 2001. Sessions at a local Navy housing community center, located near Hawaii, are a single 3-½ hour program on the second Saturday of every month. The program has spread to Schofield Barracks and Army Community Service is holding the “Boot Camp for New Dads.” In addition to the regular curriculum, the rookies are asked to wear the pregnancy empathy belly to simulate, at least for a few minutes, what the moms are physically going through. The rookies are put through their “paces” while wearing the “empathy belly” by bending over to tie their shoes, picking up things from the floor and even laying down in anticipation of taking a nap. Some rookies have to be helped up. *
The Hawaii Boot Camp for New Dads is the only one in existence in the State of Hawaii and boasts of 10-15 rookies a month. This program has been recently recommended as a “model program” for the Navy. New coaches are trained every month in order to accommodate more rookies. For more information, contact Chet Adessa, CFLE, FFSC Hawaii at 808-474-1999 x6102 or e-mail chester.adessa@navy.mil.
*Note: Although Boot Camp does not recommend the use of an “empathy belly” in most settings, it seems particularly effective in this one. The combination of young fathers, the military setting, and the possibility of great physical distance between mom and dad during pregnancy are all factors that lead to the success of this type of intervention.
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