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The team at the Center for Maternal and Infant Health is pleased to share updates about our work, including new tools and resources for your practice and information about our national program to advance preconception care across the US.
Over the past nine months, we have directly touched the lives of over 200 families with infants with special needs. We provided training and technical assistance to over 100 clinics in NC. And we have reached thousands through our Show Your Love preconception health work.
We are thankful for the support from our many partners! Together we are working to improve the health of mothers, babies, and families in North Carolina.
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The North Carolina Safe Sleep Campaign coordinates initiatives to strengthen the adoption of safe sleep practices that reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and prevent infant sleep-related deaths.
CMIH has worked closely with the NC Safe Sleep Advisory Committee and health care providers across the state to develop our new suite of patient education materials,including: a
general poster
about safe sleep practice with an emphasis on room sharing, not bed sharing;
a
poster
targeting grandparents and older caregivers regarding safe sleep;
and a
flyer
that focuses on creating a safe sleep environment and answering the most common parent/caregiver questions and concerns regarding safe sleep. The intent is for the flyer to be used as a discussion tool for parents/caregivers with their provid
ers.
O
rder these FREE
resources by clicking here then,
- Click "Publications Form."
- Look
at page 3 under "Parenting & Baby" and fax in your order.
We now have a free online safe infant sleep training for providers! This training provides 1.5 nursing contact hours through the North Carolina Nursing Association. The training covers the latest trends in sleep-related deaths in the country and here in North Carolina. The training also reviews the latest recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and how to best engage with parents and caregivers to implement safe sleep practices.
Click
HERE to take the training.
If you are interested in collaboration or want to learn more, email Megan Canady at
megancanady@med.unc.edu or visit SafeSleepNC.org.
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Assessing Risk-Appropriate Care and Birth Control After Baby
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Kimberly Harper, RN, MSN, MHA, joined the UNC CMIH team this past spring to head up the Perinatal/Neonatal Outreach Coordinator (PNOC) project. Funded by the NC Department of Health, this new CMIH initiative has two objectives. The first is to assess the maternal and neonatal systems of care in NC Perinatal Region IV using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) standardized Levels of Care Assessment Tool (LOCATe). The second objective is to facilitate increased availability of immediate postpartum insertion of effective, long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods, such as the intrauterine device and birth control implant. Currently, p
ostpartum placement of such implants and devices often occurs at the 6-8 week postpartum visit. This delay in initiation of contraception can result in an unintended pregnancy, as 45-57% of women in the United States report having intercourse before the routine postpartum visit (ACOG, 2016). It is recommended that women who wish to use LARC have the option to receive it prior to hospital discharge following the birth of a baby. The PNOC project is providing training and technical assistance to providers and regional birthing facilities to increase immediate postpartum access to LARCs.
For more information, contact Kimberly Harper at kimberly_harper@med.unc.edu or click here.
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NEW You Quit,Two Quit Materials
Available
in English & Spanish!
We are excited to share NEW tobacco cessation resources for a variety of audiences, available in English and Spanish. If interested in ordering NEW
You Quit, Two Quit materials
, please visit
the NC Division of Public Health,
Women's Health Branch Order Form.
You Quit,Two Quit
provides free training on evidence-based tobacco use screening and cessation counseling for practices across North Carolina that provide care for women of reproductive age. You can schedule a training or technical assistance and use the free resources on YouQuitTwoQuit.org. For more information click
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Help Create the 1st Women-Centered Postpartum Website
We are seeking the voice of all mamas, as well as their supporters and providers!
The 4
th
Trimester Project, with the support of the Global Health Foundation, is creating the first woman-centered website to address postpartum self-care.
We want to hear about your experience searching for trustworthy, relevant information online.
Please take a few minutes to partner with us by taking this survey.
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In the News: Advancing Postpartum Care
Drs. Alison Stuebe, Kristin Tully, and our executive director, Sarah Verbiest, are turning up the volume on the importance of caring for women in their 4th Trimester. Sarah was a guest on the NPR podcast Studio 1A to discuss postpartum health and care. She and three other experts in the field spoke with host Joshua Johnson on the importance of recognizing the symptoms of postpartum depression. Sarah highlighted that more attention needs to be given to the postpartum period as women experience so many changes in body and mind that affect their experience as new moms. You can listen to the podcast on
NPR's 1A
.
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Preconception Health Innovation
Our HRSA MCHB funded Preconception Collaborative to Improvement and Innovation Network to Reduce Infant Mortality project is in full swing. We are working with clinic sites across the US to improve the quality of preconception care provided during the well woman preventive visit.
The Oklahoma
team has had numerous in-person and virtual meetings to explore screening tool development
possibilities.
On August 9th, they hosted a full day design sprint with
seven partner sites representing different settings including, Federally
Qualified Health Centers, Healthy Start, and local health departments.
The
Delaware team is organizing "Chat and Chew" events with consumers. These
focus group-style human centered design sessions will help inform them of their consumers' priorities
for a screening tool and preventive clinic visit. Delaware is working with two large clinics
and is also supporting a statewide meeting in October to redesign their Healthy
Mothers, Healthy Babies initiative.
The
North Carolina team held a human-centered design workshop in August. North Carolina
is working with three clinic partners from across the state, who have
recruited community members and consumers to work with them
in the design process.
The
California team
will be working with two clinics representing the Northern and Southern areas of the state. One of their partners is a large system of managed care, which brings this unique perspective to the PCC CoIIN work.
Stay up on the lastest preconception health work and initiatives. Follow #ShowYourLoveToday on
Twitter,
Instagram, and
Facebook.
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CMIH Team News
Randall Blanco Joins the Team
Randall Blanco, MSCE, MBA joined the team earlier this year as the new CMIH Informatics Director.
Randall works on data integration and visualization for the delivery of a holistic view of perinatal data. H
e received his Master of Science in Computer Engineering in Database Systems from University of Florida, and his Master of Business Administration from Loyola University in Maryl
and.
He can be reach by phone at 919-843-7864 or by
email at randall_blanco@med.unc.edu.
Hell
o Fall Interns!
Ashley Coleman i
s
a second year student pursuing her Masters of Social Work. Origin
ally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Ashley graduated from UNC (for the first time) in 20
15 and has since had th
e
o
pportun
ity to work and learn in a variety of settings, including as a Research Assistant with the UN
C Cen
ter for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, as a Community Health Outreach Organizer with AmeriCorps VISTA in Dallas, Texas, and most r
ecently a
s a graduate fellow with Carolina for Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya.
Allie Lowe is a second
year student at UNC Chapel Hill's School of Social Wor
k. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Allie moved to North Ca
rolina to attend Davidson Co
llege and liked it so much that she decided to stay! Allie's professional interests center around working
w
ith Latinx women and families. She recently spent the summer in Peru, where she attended a two-month
program for mental health clinicians who work with Spanish speakers. She will be working closely with Lisa Welborn this year.
Beldina (Bel) Orinda (not pictured) is from Durham, NC. She is currently a student at the North Carolina School of Science and Math. At CMIH she will be working with Kimberly Harper on a research project through NCSSM's Mentorship Program until February of 2019.
Goodbye Summer Interns!
Nicole Fortune was one of three summer interns at the CMIH. Before starting graduate school at UNC she received a BS in Psychology in from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. She spent next 3 years as an HIV prevention public health educator before starting the MSW/MPH dual degree program here at UNC. She is graduating this December and hopes to continue working on issues within perinatal incarceration as well as studying the 4th trimester period. She is also interested in becoming a doula!
Megan Carlucci is currently working towards her MPH in Maternal and Child Healt
h. She was thrilled to join CMIH this summer as an intern to work on planning for the No
rtheastern North Carolina Preconception Health Summit as well as building her data analytic skills. She graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a BA in history.
Noah Green (not pictured) is currently a senior at East Chapel Hill High School. This summer he worked with Randall Blanco on learning code and helping to develop tools for obtaining insights on on the database. Noah was able to present the Tableau Dashboards using Phython to the OB/GYN MDs and Fellows at the Maternal Fetal Medicine Division (MFM) at the UNC School of Medicine.
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CMIH and MAHEC Partner for Preconception Health
CMIH is excited to announce a new three-year project with the OB/GYN Departments at MAHEC and UNC, funded through the UNC/MAHEC Academic Partnership Grant.
Building on previous preconception health work through the CMIH and MAHEC, the partnership will assess the current status of preconception health indicators in the EHRs at both sites. We know that the status of these health indicators is key to the health of the pregnant woman and the birth outcomes for her infant, but the practicality of their use in the clinical setting is not as clear. In analyzing our findings, we will overlay key demographic factors with an eye towards equity and rurality. Future aims of the project include the implementation of small projects to address some of the patterns we find with the preconception health indicators in the EHRs.
Learn more about this partnership
HERE
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Collaborating for Change: Improving Conditions and Services for Incarcerated Pregnant and New Mothers
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Out of a concern for improving care for all women and infants, CMIH has spent time over the past year learning about issues related to the rights and care of vulnerable women in the carceral system. We continue to convene a
diverse group of researchers, activists, doctors, students, nurses, social workers, doulas, policy makers, and public health professionals to learn about this system, build trust and coalition, and develop next steps for change. This work led to a full day learning summit on May 31st which covered topics ranging from bail and parole issues to reproductive justice and health care services for women who are in the carceral system. The highlight of the summit was hearing from women with lived experiences whose stories of hardship and resiliency reminded everyone why this issue is so important. There is m
uch to be done on many different fronts to truly improve the lives of justice-involved women and their children. Monica Simpson of SisterSong summed it up best by stating "this will take all of us as a whole community and as a whole person".
To learn more about the work of the Perinatal Incarceration Learning Group, email Megan Canady at
megancanady@med.unc.edu or click here.
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Connect with UNC CMIH!
Find us online. Share your work! Stay updated on the latest from CMIH:
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UNC Center for Maternal and Infant Health
Kate Menard & Wayne Price, Directors
Sarah Verbiest, Executive Director
Alison Stuebe, Research Director
Erin McClain, Assistant Director
Room 3018 Old Clinic Bldg, Campus Box 7181, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7181
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