Northwest Arkansas hospital becomes latest site for state’s maternal health program

A program aimed at supporting high-risk pregnancies has expanded to Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas, Department of Human Services officials announced Monday. 

The Maternal Life360 program provides low-income pregnant Arkansans with home visits from trained community outreach workers through a child’s second birthday. The program is part of the state’s efforts to address poor maternal outcomes in Arkansas, a state with some of the nation’s highest maternal and infant mortality rates.

Drive time to Arkansas hospitals for labor and delivery getting longer, report shows

“The need has never been greater in the state of Arkansas,” Whitney Tolbert, Mercy Northwest Arkansas’ vice president of women’s and children’s services, said during a program blessing and launch celebration Monday. 

To be eligible, participants must be enrolled in Medicaid or the state’s Medicaid expansion program, have a high-risk pregnancy diagnosis and live in a Life360 service area, according to the Department of Human Services. They also must not be receiving any state or federally funded home-visiting services.

Mercy Northwest Arkansas is partnering with Springdale-based nonprofit Family Network to deliver services, which include education on healthy pregnancy, postpartum recovery and newborn care, according to a press release. 

Family Network has provided in-home services in the region for more than 25 years, “a very powerful intervention” that breaks down many barriers, Executive Director Audrey Zavaleta said. 

“Because the home visitors, community outreach workers, are literally going into the home, sitting on moms’ couches, talking to them as a friend,” Zavaleta said. “They’re building that trusting relationship.”

Participants also receive assistance accessing transportation, community resources, diapers and wipes, parent support groups and other services available in English, Spanish and Marshallese, according to the release. 

“We know this model works, and so being able to expand it to other areas of the state through this program, that’s what we’re here for,” said Elizabeth Pitman, director of the Department of Human Services’ Division of Medical Services, which manages the state’s Medicaid program.

Mercy Northwest Arkansas is the fourth location for the program in operation. A fifth had been offered through White River Health in Batesville, but that program closed in June, officials said. Baptist Health operates programs in Little Rock and North Little Rock, and St. Bernards offers a program in Jonesboro.

The state intends to continue expanding the program, DHS officials said.