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Home > Personal Health > Maternal Outreach - Baby Love
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Maternal Outreach
In 1991, a proposal was made to the Kate B. Reynolds Health Care Trust to provide funding to add Maternal Outreach Workers to local Baby Love programs. The proposal was a joint effort by the Division of Maternal and Child Health, the Division of Medical Assistance and the Office of Rural Health and Resource Development.
The proposal was accepted and a 5 year $2.8 million dollar grant was awarded by the state to the NC Division of Maternal and Child Health for disbursement to the counties. Medicaid as of January 1, 1995 has funded the Maternal Outreach Program.
The Maternal Outreach Worker (MOW), as part of the Baby Love team, will offer outreach, advocacy and support services to Medicaid eligible pregnant teens and mothers with infants up to age one. Contact will be face-to-face. She works one-on-one with at-risk women providing social support, reinforcement of education, and outreach activities not currently a part of the health care system. The maximum caseload for the MOW is 30 pregnant and parenting teens.
The outreach worker and the participant agree to work together on the participant's needs and goals. By the time the participant's child turns one year, the MOW and the participant would have at least worked on her goals, which may be to continue with regular prenatal check-ups, have healthy babies, discontinue substance abuse, return to school or finish high school, go to college, acquire adequate housing, find a job, continue with some form of family planning, and/or be self motivated and directed.
By working with the MOW, these teens have been able to start to make their own decisions and become productive citizens in the community. They have learned that someone cares for and about them. The MOW has demonstrated this to them through conducting support group meetings with pregnant and parenting teens to address their concerns about parenting. Incentives are distributed to encourage healthy behaviors and continue prenatal visits. Continuing a contraceptive method and keeping WIC appointments for infants acquire other incentive gifts. To show that these teens need some type of outreach, we should mention some of their at-risk behaviors: little or no family support, unstable housing, some have been physically or sexually abused, have repeat pregnancies, are school dropouts, and engage in risky sexual behaviors. With these factors pulling against them, they tend to fall through the cracks of the social system and have no one to be an advocate for them.
As a result of the MOW working with them, statistics show that pregnant teens come to prenatal clinic more often than when there was no outreach worker. Pregnancy outcomes have been more successful, and there have been less repeat pregnancies.
The MOW's primary activities include health education, emotional support, direct services, and referrals to other programs.
Consistent or Recurring Issues/Problems for Teens:
- Problem with acquiring affordable, accessible, quality child care to be able to return to school.
- Transportation.
- New Work First laws are a hindrance to the teen population.
- Availability of affordable housing
- Community needs to recognize teen pregnancy as a problem, and have accessible prevention programs as well as supportive services in the event of pregnancy.
Suggested Solutions:
- School-based or school-linked clinics.
- Enhance the Teen Living class to include learning a vocational trade while in high school and have a skill to be able to make a living after graduation.
- Support and encouragement from the school system for pregnant teens and teen mothers to return/remain in school until graduation.
- Alternative education for pregnant teens and teen mothers.
- On campus child care.
Baby Love/ Maternal Care Coordination
North Carolina has a high infant mortality rate. The Maternal Care Coordination Program, also known as "Baby Love", is a state funded (Medicaid) program which enables indigent pregnant women access to prenatal health care services. A Maternal Care Coordinator follows some women who do not qualify for Medicaid if there is a great need (i.e. teen, learning disability, etc.). Each Baby Love enrollee is contacted at least once a month face-to-face or by telephone, and more depending on the enrollee's needs. This contact is made through the end of the month in which the 60th postpartum day occurs.
The major goals of the program are to:
- Reduce infant mortality by improving pregnancy outcomes.
- Provide preventive services to pregnant women and their infants.
- Assist pregnant women in meeting other priority needs that affect their health and well-being.
The Baby Love Coordinator assists patients with such needs as:
- Enrolling in Person High School for General Education Diplomas (GED) or higher education.
- Securing housing through the NC Commission of Indian Affairs, the Roxboro Housing Authority and a list of local proprietors.
- Working with the Department of Social Services (DSS) to obtain travel expense, Person Area Transportation Service (PATS) or money.
- Working with DSS to secure emergency housing for battered women and homeless pregnant women.
- Clothing for pregnant women. Resources include churches, Christian Help Center, Needlework Guild, Inc., Pregnancy Support Center, and civic clubs.
- Feeding pregnant women. Resources include Christian Help Center, DSS, and the Food Pantry of Roxboro.
- Obtaining clinic services by a physician or nurse.
- Providing classes in Nutrition, Exercise, Body Changes (physical and emotional), and Labor and delivery.
- Providing information on Cesarean Sections, Infant Care, Feeding (breast versus the bottle), Family Planning and Postpartum Care, and Car Seat Instruction and other pertinent health education issues.
- Providing basic parenting classes.
- Working with DSS to obtain Medicaid for patients, or money for prescriptions prior to Medicaid approval.
- Providing educational information to patients concerning their pregnancy (magazines, pamphlets, handouts).
- Referring to Pregnancy Support Center and Person Counseling Center for counseling needs.
- Assisting patients in obtaining and participating in WIC Nutrition Services.
- Reminding patients of OB appointments and following-up on missed appointments.
- Identifying specific needs of each client.
Late entry for prenatal care continues to be a problem in the teen population as well as a lack of knowledge of their condition. We continue to educate through our program just as the maternal outreach worker does. Our goals continue to be to increase the number of healthy babies and decrease the teen pregnancy rate.
The needs of this program include:
- School-based child care for children of teen parents so that they can return to school and continue their education.
- Transportation continues to be a problem. Two small taxi firms serve Person County. No commercial bus service is provided in the county. The PATS system is available on a limited basis to provide transportation services to indigent residents.
- The Baby Love Program needs outreach workers who can provide transportation to our maternity clinics, to Duke University Medical Center, and to North Carolina Memorial Hospital Diagnostic Studies. This person could be a volunteer or a paid employee.
- Parenting intervention is needed by many of our patients. Teens that are parents receive limited parenting education in school. Parenting programs need to be more available and expanded in scope in an effort to prevent child abuse and neglect.
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