Health Share and our health plan partners want to ensure that our members have what they need for a healthy, safe and happy post-partum experience. We are excited to introduce a new pilot in June – Safe Beginnings – which provides health and safety items for postpartum members and babies to support a safe beginning together. The pilot will focus on our Project Nurture clinics. Project Nurture is a Center of Excellence model integrating maternity care, peers and addiction treatment for pregnant women with substance use disorders.
The Safe Beginnings Pilot Project uses Health Related Service (HRS) funds to supply health and safety items for post-partum Project Nurture mothers and babies so they can get off to a safe start. Health Share and our health plan partners have come together and agreed on a menu of pre-approved items that will be offered to Project Nurture clients to help support their health-related social needs.
In choosing the items for this post-partum package, we compiled a list of items new parents may need based on feedback from stakeholders including the Project Nurture clinicians and peers, Project Access Now (PANOW), pediatricians, safety experts and health plan staff.
The menu of items includes:
- Body to Body baby carrier
- Safe Sleep Crib Set
- Diapers/Wipes (quantity limits)
- Lactation Supplies
- Home safety items
- Books for Bonding with Baby
- Postpartum health kit
- Baby health kit
Provider education and training will be happening in June prior to the official launch of Safe Beginnings. We plan to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data will include analyzing number of referrals from each Project Nurture site as well as number of items ordered from the menu. Qualitative data will include feedback from Project Nurture clinicians and patients. We will evaluate the program in six months. For more information, contact Peg King at kingp@healthshareoregon.org.