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ability and quality of care for pregnant women and babies across our state,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Putnam.
“We’re grateful to St.
Bernards for leading the way, and appreciate our many other partners around the state who are working to implement this program so more women can benefit from these services.”
The DHS office says the St.
Bernards Maternal Life360 HOME will serve women who are enrolled in Medicaid benefits in Craighead County.
A second Life360 HOME at White River Medical Center in Batesville is expected to open in the near future, and will serve women in Independence County, and additional Maternal Life360s are expected to follow in other hospitals around Arkansas.
“St. Bernards has a mission ‘to provide Christ-like healing to the community,’ and we cannot have healthy communities without healthy moms and babies,” said Emily McGee, St. Bernards Vice President of Nursing and Women’s & Children’s Services. “For far too long, our state has struggled with challenging maternal health outcomes, especially in eastern Arkansas. Through our Pregnancy Clinics and free health care services and education, we are improving outcomes throughout our service area.
Still, we recognize a need to provide ongoing services that go beyond prenatal care. By partnering with Parents as Teachers, the Maternal Life360 Program helps us provide care for up to years postpartum, helping women adjust to motherhood and children get healthy starts. We appreciate Governor Sanders and the DHS team for their leadership planning and action to help families.”
A woman is eligible for Maternal Life360 home-visiting services if she is enrolled in Arkansas Medicaid, has a diagnosis of high-risk pregnancy, lives in a Life360 service area, and is not currently receiving other state or federally funded home-visiting services.
DHS plans to measure the impact and outcomes of participants in the Maternal Life360 HOME program on several metrics, including the number of home visits performed, linkages to non-medical services needed, hospital admissions and readmissions, non-emergent ER visits, prenatal visits, elective C-section rates, pre-term/term births, birthweight, NICU stays, and the provision of postpartum contraceptive care.
A ribbon cutting ceremony for this program will be held on Monday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. in the St. Bernards Medical Center Community Room. A separate ribbon cutting will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, Nov.
18, in Newport for new prenatal services.
For more information about Maternal Life360s, visit ar.gov/life360.
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Arkansas seeing recordsetting tuberculosis case numbers
LITTLE ROCK – The latest Arkansas Department of Health figures show tuberculosis cases in the state are setting records.
A department report issued Friday shows the state has seen more than 100 cases as of Nov. 1. DOH officials said this is the first time in 15 years that Arkansas has had more than 100 cases in a single year. According to the department, tuberculosis bacteria usually attack the lungs but can attack any body part, such as the kidney, spine and brain. Officials said not everyone infected with tuberculosis bacteria becomes sick, so as a result two tuberculosis-related conditions exist: latent tuberculosis infection and tuberculosis disease.
Officials clarified that tuberculosis disease can be fatal if not treated properly.
Officials continued that in Arkansas, tuberculosis disproportionally affects African Americans, Pacific Islanders and Hispanics. They said those most at risk of severe complications are babies and young children, the elderly and the immunocompromised. The Centers for Disease Control maintains an information page on tuburculosis (www.cdc.gov/tb/index.html).
