After recently celebrating the one-year anniversary of successfully launching Arkansas’ first Maternal Life360 HOME program, St. Bernards Healthcare recently announced the expansion of its program from Craighead to Greene County.
The program, which provides care to women enrolled in Medicaid and facing high-risk pregnancies, aims at improving maternal health outcomes and health-related social needs like food security and housing. St. Bernards has partnered with the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) and Parents as Teachers to provide essential in-home prenatal and postpartum care services for up to two years after birth.
Currently, there are four Maternal Life360 HOME programs in Arkansas funded by DHS.
Emily McGee, St. Bernards Vice President for Nursing and Women’s & Children’s Services said she is grateful that the state of Arkansas is aiding St. Bernards as it expands its program into Paragould, providing care to expectant mothers in Greene County.
“The Maternal Life360 HOME program has allowed us to provide continuity of care to over 60 growing families in Craighead County,” McGee said. “Now, we feel blessed to expand this depth of prenatal and postpartum care to our patients in Greene County.”
DHS Division of Medical Services Director Elizabeth Pitman said that in addition to St. Bernards’ Maternal Life360 HOME programs in Craighead and Greene counties, DHS also partners with programs at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock/North Little Rock and White River Health in Batesville. She added that DHS has three additional hospitals in the pipeline to become a Maternal Life360 provider.
“Life360 HOMEs are one important component of our ongoing focus on improving access to maternal care in our state, and we are thrilled to know that this program has been successful in Craighead County and that it is now expanding to Greene County,” said Pitman. “Life360s and the services they comprise can transform and save lives for pregnant women, new mothers and babies. We’re grateful to St. Bernards and our other partners across the state who are helping make this program a reality.”
According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Arkansas has the second-highest infant mortality rate in the U.S. at 8.22 deaths per 1,000 live births and the fourth-highest maternal mortality rate at 38.3 deaths per 100,000 live births. Nationwide average rates, meanwhile, are 5.65 for infants and 23.2 for mothers.
McGee said these figures are a stark reality, but they do not tell the entire story.
“Through our Pregnancy Clinics and Maternal Life360 HOME programs, St. Bernards is helping individual moms and babies get healthy starts,” McGee said. “We provide the care they need, regardless of their insurance status, financial ability or health history. The numbers have already started to reflect the work our teams have done, and we will continue to care for each patient and their families uniquely. Our calling is to serve them however and wherever we can, and we plan to continue to grow by serving additional counties in the near future.”
