06/02/2026
The soon-to-open Maternity Care Clinic, located inside Chilliwack General Hospital, has been given the Indigenous name Ehó:temáwtxw, which means “a home to wrap someone in care,” at the Indigenous naming ceremony.
It’s a key milestone for the clinic, which was borne out of a vision shared by local physicians to centralize maternity care into a single, multidisciplinary hub within the hospital setting.
The naming ceremony was facilitated by Willie Charlie, a member of the First Nations Health Council and former chief of the Sts’ailes First Nation, and attended by members and elders of local First Nations communities, and staff and officials from Chilliwack Division, Fraser Health, Chilliwack Hospital Foundation and Fraser Valley Health Care Foundation, as well as some community physicians and nurse practitioners.
“I wish there was something like this (clinic) when I gave birth to my son 66 years ago,” said Nancy Patricia Charlie, Sts’ailes elder and Willie’s mother. “This is a prayer answered.”
The maternity clinic, which will open its doors to patients in early June, is a multi-agency community partnership led by the Chilliwack Obstetrical Group, and supported by Chilliwack Division, .hospital.foundation and
Stay tuned for more details to come about the opening of the new maternity clinic Ehó:temáwtxw.
Photo and caption credit: Chilliwack Division of Family Practice
