Pittsburgh: A Safer Childbirth City Partners Organize Maternal Health Training and Education Programs

 This is the first article in a series featuring the Pittsburgh: A Safer Childbirth City partners. As part of Merck for Mothers' network of 20 Safer Childbirth Cities across the U.S., Pittsburgh: A Safer Childbirth City aims to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in maternal mortality and morbidity rates across the city. Safer Childbirth Cities g...

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Perinatal Health Equity Champions Program Applications Available

The Perinatal Health Equity Champions Program is designed to build workforce capacity to help address racial disparities and improve maternal health care in the Pittsburgh region. This year-long program provides the opportunity to bring together community and hospital-based birth workers for maternal care quality improvement initiatives to address ...

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WHAMglobal Holds First Meeting of Pittsburgh: A Safer Childbirth City and Community Fund Partners

The Pittsburgh: A Safer Childbirth City partners met with the Community Fund partners for the first time in February, to discuss their collective work in promoting maternal health. The Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) facilitated the meeting to provide a space and opportunity for the Pittsburgh-based organizations to share knowl...

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WHAMglobal Board Discusses Human Trafficking as a Public Health Issue

On February 21, the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) Board met to discuss human trafficking and how it affects women in a few international contexts. Guest speakers presented varying approaches to addressing the women's health impacts that stem from human trafficking from around the world. Jewish Healthcare Foundation President ...

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Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative Celebrates 2021 Successes, Discusses Future Priorities

On December 15, the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) convened for a virtual learning session focused on the PA PQC's 2021 successes and upcoming 2022 initiatives, which will include a focus on substance use. The collaborative, consisting of 60 birth sites and neonatal intensive care units and 14 health plans across the Commonwe...

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JHF Guides PA Doula Commission to Launch as Nonprofit

 The PA Doula Commission is pleased to announce its official launch as a nonprofit organization! The mission of The PA Doula Commission is to promote equitable access to doula services through workforce development for the doula profession while facilitating childbirth with dignity, improving perinatal health outcomes, and eliminating barriers...

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Opt in PA Event Highlights Pennsylvania Postpartum Medicaid Extension Opportunity

On November 4, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) partnered with State Representative Morgan Cephas' office to host Opt in PA: A Panel on Postpartum Medicaid Extension, the 2021 installment of the annual Birthing a Movement event series. This year's event focused on Pennsylvania opting in to ex...

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Maternity Full Court Press Team Convenes on PA WIC Collaboration

On November 29, the Maternity Full Court Press Team met to explore collaborative opportunities to help achieve common service delivery goals for Pennsylvania's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). WIC participation in Pennsylvania has been decreasing for years, and stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic have has...

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JHF, PA DHS Recognize UPMC Magee’s PA Perinatal Quality Collaborative Work

On November 16, representatives from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (PA DHS), UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) met for a roundtable discussion to highlight UPMC's work to promote greater use of best practices in perinatal care, especially to address perinatal depression and improve health equity....

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Local Brewery Hosts Fundraiser for WHAMglobal on Oct 17

Pittsburgh-based Mindful Brewing Company and the Pittsburgh Brewery Diversity Council are hosting a fundraiser event to support WHAMglobal, with proceeds from sales of a new entry in the She Knows Beer campaign. She Knows Beer was created as a collaborative series of beers that celebrate women and female-presenting people in the beer industry. Mind...

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PA Perinatal Quality Collaborative Awards UPMC Hamot $15,000 to Address Maternal Hypertension

The PA Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) has awarded UPMC Hamot the $15,000 PA AIM Innovation Award to develop solutions for maternal hypertension. This is part of the PA PQC's AIM Severe Hypertension and Disparities initiative to improve severe hypertension treatment and reduce racial/ethnic disparities in pregnancy. As an action arm of the...

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WHAMglobal Board Delves into COVID-19’s Disproportional Stressors for Women

 During the July Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) board meeting, members explored how COVID-19 disproportionately burdened women globally. The pandemic created unforeseen caregiving pressures, forced women into educator roles for which they were unprepared, pitted professional against family responsibilities, created financ...

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Maternity Full Court Press Team Responds to WIC Crisis

On June 28, the Maternity Full Court Press Team met to discuss the current crisis with the crucial Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program in Pennsylvania. In 2020, the disruptive request for applications process to renew WIC agency funding caused the loss of WIC agencies across the state, and enrollment has been decreasing steadily in...

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Full Court Press Teams Explore Community Health Workers & Tech’s Role within Pregnancy and Senior Care

On April 15, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) Maternity and Senior Living Full Court Press Teams held a joint meeting to discuss innovations in technology to support perinatal community health workers and high-quality senior living. The meeting built on JHF's history of dedicated effort to train, certify, and establish community health worker...

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WHAMglobal Kicks Off Statewide Doula and Perinatal Community Health Worker Advisory Group

The Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) convened a statewide Doula and Perinatal Community Health Worker Advisory Group, to create more equitable access to doulas and to develop a statewide infrastructure to support the work of doulas and perinatal community health workers across Pennsylvania. The Advisory Group first met on April ...

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PA Perinatal Quality Collaborative Heads Black Maternal Health Week Event

On April 15, the PA Perinatal Quality Collaborative, an initiative of Jewish Healthcare Foundation operating arm the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) to present an event for Black Maternal Health Week, "Maternal Health, Birth, and Reproductive Justice." The event convene...

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WHAMglobal Releases Maternal Health Policy Guide

The Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal), an operating arm of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, has developed a maternal health policy guide to the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 and its implications for the Pittsburgh region. In February 2021, Representative Lauren Underwood, Senator Cory Booker, and the Black Maternal ...

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Maternity Full Court Press Reviews Proposed Federal “Momnibus”

On March 31, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation Maternity Full Court Press Team met to discuss the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 and its implications for Pennsylvania. Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) Community Engagement and Policy Associate Morgan Overton led an overview of the Momnibus. Overton reviewed how the Mom...

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Jewish Healthcare Foundation Amplifies WIC and Doulas Work

The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) staff presented during the March 16-18 National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference, co-sponsored by Feeding America and the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC). JHF Chief Policy Officer Robert Ferguson and Global Health Associate Hanifa Nakiryowa presented on JHF's work with WIC. They highlighted how JHF conve...

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Town Hall Raises Awareness of Maternal Health and Medicaid Barriers

On March 11, the Philadelphia-based PA Prenatal to 3 Collaborative, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, and Maternity Care Coalition of Philadelphia held a Maternal Health Town Hall. The event featured Representative Morgan Cephas, who was joined by moderators Simone Snead, MPH, CLC, Maternal Mortality Review Community Action Team Coordin...

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PA Perinatal Quality Collaborative Presents 2021 Goals

On February 25, the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) met to discuss priorities for 2021. The collaborative, launched in 2019, aims to reduce maternal mortality and improve care for pregnant and postpartum women and newborns affected by opioids. The PA PQC is growing its work within its two main focus areas: maternal Opioid Use ...

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WHAMglobal Board and Learning Collaborative Convene

On Thursday, December 10th, the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) Safer Childbirth Cities team convened its first Learning Collaborative virtual meeting. The Learning Collaborative welcomed Brown Mamas, The Birthing Hut, Elephant Song Doula Services, Kangaroo Birthing, and MAYA Organization to the space with an orientation of the...

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Statewide Program Highlights Maternal Mental Health Innovations During Pandemic

The Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) hosted a January 26 Maternal Health Awareness Day program in partnership with the PA Section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC). This year's program highlighted maternal mental health during the pande...

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Statewide WIC Summit Convenes Key Stakeholders

On October 14 and 15, over 300 WIC statewide leaders, advocates and stakeholders convened virtually for the Pennsylvania WIC Stakeholders' Collaborative Summit webinars. Hosted by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and the Pennsylvania Health Funders Collaborative, the webinars highlighted innovative best practice models from across the country that ...

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WHAMglobal Hosts 2020 Election Town Hall: What’s at Stake for Women+

 On October 15, the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) convened expert health and policy leaders for a discussion of crucial women+ health issues and policy points. Over 50 attendees joined via Zoom and 1,442 people were reached via Facebook Live. The town hall highlighted that much is at stake for women+ when elections occur...

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PA PQC Announces Awards and Advances Maternal Health Quality Improvement

The Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) awarded $75,000 across 5 PA PQC birth hospitals and NICUs in recognition of the quality improvement milestones they completed to improve care for pregnant and postpartum women with opioid use disorder (OUD) and newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). The PA PQC also awarded $45,000...

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New ROOTS, Beyond Medicalization: Midwives and Maternity Care in America

Introducing the Jewish Healthcare Foundation's new ROOTS publication, Beyond Medicalization: Midwives and Maternity Care in America. Under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is rapidly moving into a new era of healthcare delivery. Across the country, maternal healthcare policies are changing daily in order to ensure birthing families ha...

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