DETROIT, MI - Black Mothers' Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA) of Detroit has recently instituted a new program to train community health workers as doulas and breastfeeding peer counselors to support pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. Typically, BMBFA serves African American women from Detroit between the ages of 20 and thirty-five. The program provides maternal support that has been shown to decrease infant mortality and pre-term births. This is part of a multi-year national project entitled 'Tapping Powerful Resources: Building the CHW Workforce in Maternal and Infant Health', funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and guided by HealthConnect One.
"This is an amazing opportunity for BMBFA to continue its grass roots work by embracing a proven community-based model," states Kiddada Green, Founding Director of BMBFA. "We are very intent upon following the five essential components of HealthConnect One's community model. One component in particular requires us to employ women who are trusted members of the target community. So not only are we able to support positive maternity outcomes, but we are also able to provide jobs to women from our community."
The program will focus on implementing the five essential components outlined by the HealthConnect One's workforce model which states: to employ women who are trusted members of the target community; extend and intensify the role of the doula with families from early pregnancy through the first months postpartum; collaborate with community stakeholders and institutions and use a diverse team approach; facilitate experiential learning using popular education techniques and the HealthConnect One training curriculum; and value the community health worker's work with salary, supervision and support.
BMBFA has also formed an amazing partnership with Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP). This is a groundbreaking collaboration that will further contribute to the health and well-being of the Detroit community. Together, a breastfeeding peer counselor and a registered nurse will visit first time moms at their homes to support them in their pregnancy and beyond. NFP supervisor, Angie Chiodo shares her excitement about this diverse team approach, "Nurse-Family Partnership is a nursing community health program for first time moms that is thrilled to be partnering with BMBFA to give first time moms all of the information and support they would need to have a positive experience breastfeeding. Our missions are the same, to optimize health and wellness for moms and babies and we can do this better together than apart." This model of support is sure to lead to the healthy and strong babies.
"The community-based doula and community-based breastfeeding peer counselor programs allows us to provide much needed support to breastfeeding mothers in our community," states Anjanette Davenport Hatter, board president of BMBFA. "It illustrates that we care enough about the success of their breastfeeding experience to ensure effective and accessible support. We are thrilled that this type of support not only affords children a healthy start in life but also helps to eradicate the racial disparity in breastfeeding rates."
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