Maternal and child Health
The initiatives in this domain provide care to address a wide range of conditions, health behaviors, and indicators that affect the health, wellness, and quality of life of women, infants, children, and families.
Maternal and Child Health
Community-Based Doula Program

Doulas play a crucial role in combating the discrimination, racism, and loss of autonomy that Black and Brown birthing people experience due to historical disinvestment.
We are partnering with Healthy Baby Network, HealthConnect One, and Finger Lakes Community Health on a two-year initiative to innovate Healthy Baby Network’s Black Doula Collaborative, which will improve the health and well-being of women, infants, and birthing families.
The program will identify and train individuals who are trusted members of the community to provide doula services and help improve: prenatal care, raise breastfeeding rates, decrease unnecessary medical interventions, increase positive birth experiences, and improve parenting skills.
Six full-time equivalent doulas will serve 250 Black and Brown women over the course of the two-year program. Utilizing HealthConnect One’s proven “train the trainer” model, the program based at Healthy Baby Network and Finger Lakes Community Health will offer 16 community-based training sessions to doulas employed by these organizations. The program will coordinate with healthcare systems and Federally Qualified Health Centers. Medicaid reimbursement legislation in New York would establish doulas as medical providers and require health insurers to provide coverage for doula services.
The Community-based Doula Program received a Silver Award at the 2023 Greater Rochester Quality Council (GRQC) Performance Excellence Awards. The GRQC Performance Excellence Awards are given annually and help organizations in all sectors of the economy gain valuable insights into strategic areas of their operations, connect with like-minded leaders in high performing organizations, and earn formal recognition for achieving excellence through continuous improvement methodologies.
Our Community Partners



BLACK MOTHERS
51% MORE LIKELY
TO EXPERIENCE A POTENTIALLY LIFE-THREATENING CONDITION related to childbirth than white mothers
*Data is based on the Finger Lakes region according to research conducted by Dr. Christopher Glantz, University of Rochester Medical Center.
BLACK INFANT MORTALITY
NEARLY 3 TIMES THE RATE FOR WHITE INFANTS

