|
Caring for Families During COVID-19
COVID-19 has changed life as we know it and has disrupted our routines and even how we provide care. The team at the Center for Maternal and Infant Health has been working to support pregnant persons, postpartum mothers, and families with medically complex children through this challenging time. We are grateful for and inspired by the countless
healthcare
providers, researchers, and public health professionals who are working tirelessly to keep women and their families safe. And we are working to do our part! Our team is regularly updating a COVID-19 specific resource page with national and local resources that you can utilize to care for your pregnant and postpartum patients. In addition, we
hope you will find the information below useful in your efforts to provide support and resources to those that you serve in this new frontier of parenting and healthcare.
|
Information and Connection for Postpartum Moms
Maternity and postpartum care services are changing rapidly at this time. Pregnant women and new mothers have many questions and a significant need for information about postpartum care and recovery.
NewMomHealth.com offers comprehensive, evidence-based, and current information - including a new section on COVID-19. We encourage you to share this resource with your patients and their families as they navigate the 4th trimester. We plan to launch the site in Spanish by September.
Our team collaborated with Baby Dove for Maternal Mental Health Week Instagram Live sessions. Full videos will be shared on our @4thTriProject Instagram account. Many thanks to Carol McDonald and Dr. Joia Crear-Perry from National Birth Equity Collaborative for partnering with us to share important messages about
supporting moms in the 4th trimester and
listening to moms' needs.
|
We've reached 10,000 followers on Facebook and had 124K social media impressions in the past month!
|
Contraception / Conception and COVID-19
During this time of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, people have questions about whether or not they should get pregnant. Others have questions and concerns around accessing contraceptives. Now is the time to provide information and resources to support all folks' reproductive health wishes. To meet this need, in partnership with the CDC and HRSA, we created an evidence-based info-sheet for consumers.
Click
here
to access.
The newly relaunched
ShowYourLoveToday.com
consumer website has a new COVID-19 section that is updated frequently. The site has a wealth of wellness information and resourc
e
s, with additional guidance for people hoping to conceive. A women's health before pregnancy plays an important role in outcomes for her and her fut
ure baby.
|
NEW Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
Clinical Guidelines
Newborn Critical Care Center (NCCC) Clinical Guidelines
The UNC Newborn Critical Care Center (NCCC) guidelines are now available on CMIH's website, MomBaby.org. You will find a wealth of information from nutrition and feeding to prenatal counseling. These guidelines
are intended to assist providers with the clinical management of patients in the NICU and serve as reference guides.
|
Many families with infants are facing new challenges due to the pandemic, including isolation from support, displacement, changes in childcare, and/or heightened stress and anxiety. It is crucial, now more than ever, that parents and caregivers are provided with supportive information and resources on practicing safe infant sleep.
Safe Sleep NC is here to support your efforts to provide this essential information with our
new social media toolkit that contains a mix of tools to easily promote safer infant sleep practices.
You'll find an easy-to-use guide for the toolkit, including step-by-step directions for posting the sample posts and videos on different social media platforms. Please include SafeSleepNC.org and #SafeSleepNC when you use these tools.
A quick COVID-related note: Please clarify for parents and caregivers that masks
should not be used on any child under the age of two, unless instructed by a health care provider.
For more information about any of the resources available from Safe Sleep NC, please contact Megan Canady at megancanady@med.unc.edu.
|
Prenatal clinics and hospitals have been tasked with finding ways to maintain quality of care while keeping their patients safe from COVID-19 infection. The Perinatal / Neonatal Outreach Coordination team at CMIH has been collaborating with NC DHHS to ensure that our high risk populations have access to necessary resources. Blood pressure monitoring and management is essential for patients with gestational hypertension and preeclampsia. North Carolina Medicaid has recently approved coverage of blood pressure cuffs, and medical providers now have the ability to prescribe cuffs for their patients.
Click here
to learn more.
|
Every week of pregnancy is important to the development of a healthy baby. Many pregnant women who experienced a preterm birth may be able to prevent a repeat preterm birth through the use of 17P. This preventative treatment is delivered weekly, which may be challenging during the current crisis. Our team is here to troubleshoot with you and offer the support we can.
Download this free, customizable
social media toolkit, which includes quick-start instructions, drafted images and messages, and suggestions for posting on social media to help spread this information to pregnant women who may benefit. Additionally, CMIH has a
wealth of other resources available on this topic, including FREE patient education materials to support 17P use among eligible women.
For more information, contact Erin McClain at
erin_mcclain@unc.edu.
|
Tobacco Cessation is More Important Now than Ever
The
You Quit,Two Quit
team is available to provide technical assistance and training remotely! Contact our team by using the training request form or emailing Jaimie Lea
.
There has never been a better time to help your patients quit tobacco. Smoking and vaping can make people more susceptible COVID-19 and the acute respiratory distress that leads to hospitalization and serious complications. As you provide care via telehealth, continue to address tobacco use. Resources are available at
YouQuitTwoQuit.org
.
QuitlineNC continues to be an excellent resource for North Carolinians who are thinking of quitting, ready to quit, or looking for more information. You can refer patients to QuitlineNC by fax referral form, secure email, or routing a referral through your Electronic Health Record system. For more information on how to refer patients, view the recorded
webinar created by the NC Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch. All handouts mentioned by the presenter are available for download within the Adobe Connect recording.
For more information, contact Jaimie Lea at
jaimie@med.unc.edu.
|
|
|
The Perinatal/Neonatal Outreach Coordination (PNOC) project has been has been dedicated to improving maternal and neonatal systems of care and increasing the availability of immediate postpartum insertion of highly effective, long-acting reversible contraceptive methods. This project will conclude on May 31, 2020. Our team has had the opportunity to share the work at a national level, including multiple workshps
at the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine conference in February.
Kimberly Harper, Audrey Lourde, Laura Louison, and Dr. Jes Morse authored a manuscript focused on their efforts to support access to contraception. "Stage-based implementation of immediate postpartum long-acting reversible contraception using a reproductive justice framework" was published in AJOG in April. Click HERE for the abstract.
CMIH is the recipient of four subcontracts to partner with the NC Division of Public Health to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity in NC. The Erase Maternal Mortality project seeks to educate health care providers who may come into contact with a postpartum woman, including Emergency Department and NICU staff, local health departments and home visiting programs, etc., about the AWHONN Post-Birth Warning Signs. The 4th Trimester project focuses on improving postpartum care by supporting community partnerships and implementing the ACOG Postpartum Toolkit. CMIH will also be leading the coordination of the state-wide Obstetric Champion Network and NC Perinatal Care Region IV's Perinatal Nursing Champion Network.
Executive Director, Dr. Sarah Verbiest, gave virtual key note presentations at the New Mexico Breastfeeding Conference, the March of Dimes Preconception Health Summit and the Cradle Kalamazoo Clinical Health Equity Conference. The 4th Trimester
team including Drs. Kristin Tully, Alison Stuebe, Sarah Verbiest along with Dr. Joia Crear-Perry partnered with Dove Baby Care in a series of Instagram Live sessions and posts around maternal mental wellbeing. Click to learn more.
Kimberly Harper joined March of Dimes for a Facebook Live event about planning a healthy pregnancy -
watch here.
Members of the
NC Perinatal Health and Incarceration Working Group
have
created a specific bail fund for pregnant persons in North Carolina who are being held pretrial.
In addition, members from the working group have collaborated with leaders from NC's Department of Public Safety to address the health and safety of incarcerated persons during this pandemic, including incarcerated persons. Click
HERE
to read more about these efforts and connect with Megan Canady.
|
Connect with UNC CMIH!
We may be working remotely, but we are working just as hard as before to bring quality services to families and providers in North Carolina!
Find us online. Share your work! Stay updated on the latest from CMIH:
|
Read our Mother's Day greetings
here.
The images above are images shared by our CMIH team of special moments in their motherhood journey.
Some recent news from our team:
|
Our own Kimberly Harper, MSN, RN, MHA, CMIH Perinatal Neonatal Outreach Coordinator, was live and knocked it out of the park!
|
|
UNC Center for Maternal and Infant Health
Alison Stuebe, & Wayne Price, Directors
Sarah Verbiest, Executive Director
Bill Goodnight, Fetal Care Director
Erin McClain, Assistant Director
Campus Box 7181, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7181
|
|
|
|
|
|