Alabama hopes to launch the state’s first Mom and Baby Mobile Health Center next fall as part of the effort to improve maternal and infant health outcomes in the state, particularly in rural areas.
The mobile clinic will be funded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama in partnership with the March of Dimes. There are currently five Mom and Baby Mobile Health Centers in operation nationally.
The mobile clinics provide education, support and health care access to women and children from pre-conception through pregnancy, postpartum and newborn stages of life. Services include primary care, wellness and preventative care, delivered to residents in underserved communities who are uninsured or underinsured.
The March of Dimes recently released their report “Nowhere to Go: Maternity Care Deserts Across the U.S.” Maternity care deserts are counties where there’s no access to birthing hospitals, birth centers offering obstetric care or obstetric providers.
Staggering stats
According to March of Dimes data for Alabama counties:
- 458% have low or no access to maternal care.
- 437.3% do not have an obstetric clinician.
- 414.9% have only one obstetric clinician.
- 47,300 babies are living in maternity care deserts.
- 412.2% of childbearing aged women live in no access areas.
“Improving maternal and infant health outcomes across our state is a top priority,” said Sophie Martin, director of corporate communications and community relations for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama. “We care about giving moms access to the care they need at all stages of their pregnancy.”
Alabama’s mobile unit aims to launch in the fall of 2025 and plans to serve the following cities and their surrounding counties: Florence, Selma, Tuscaloosa, Gadsden, Anniston and Montgomery.
Ashley Toms, executive director of March of Dimes, noted the mobile health center will support existing partnerships in local communities to help with nutrition, mental health, housing and other needs in hopes of “minimizing barriers to accessing care.”
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