BEMIDJI — Visiting Bemidji on Thursday, Senator Tina Smith spent time at Sanford Health discussing how maternal outcomes in rural and Indigenous communities can be improved.
During the conversation, Smith said Family Health, a partnership launched in 2021 between Sanford Health, Minnesota, Cass Lake Indian Health Services, Red Lake IHS, and Beltrami County Health and Human Services. I was able to hear about the First Rural Mother Health Collaborative.
“The Families First Collaborative is looking at what we can do to expand access to maternity care to small towns and rural areas, and what we can do to start addressing the deep disparities facing women in rural areas. It’s a true model that shows,” Smith said. The same is true for maternal mortality, especially for indigenous women. ”
Annalize Bratt / Bemidji Pioneer
Since its inception, the Families First Collaboration has worked to improve access to prenatal care across five counties, with a particular focus on improving care for Native American women. This includes increasing opportunities for virtual care, addressing traffic barriers, and supporting satellite clinics and ER partners.
“Our population is very diverse and has many challenges. If we really want to reduce the variety of outcomes that exist, we need the resources to do so,” says Jonah, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Sanford Bemidji.・Dr. Nainas explains.
Annalize Bratt / Bemidji Pioneer
Maternal mortality rates are often high in rural areas, in part because of limited specialized maternal and child care. There are further disparities among Native communities, with Native American women twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.
“We take seriously the social determinants of health and the common barriers we see,” Nainas explained. “One of the biggest problems we see is poverty and traffic barriers, so we provide care where women are.”
By helping local satellite clinics create access to virtual appointments with maternal and child health specialists at Sanford Health, patients living hours away from Bemidji can receive the prenatal care they need in the comfort of their own home. Now available near you.
“There are so many barriers in our community when it comes to living in rural, isolated areas,” said Susan Ningham, supervisor of Red Lake’s Family Spirit Program. “I think[the collaboration]has really improved the quality of care that patients need and removed some of the barriers such as travel, work leave and access to child care.”
Annalize Bratt / Bemidji Pioneer
The collaboration is also working to help pregnant women with other health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and drug use.
“[Maternal health]is a complex issue,” Smith said. “He does more than one thing creating barriers to access to care, which is why this collaborative approach is so interesting and exciting to me.”
Smith hopes the Family’s First Collaboration will serve as a model for the rest of the country. Through the Local Maternal and Child Services Modernization Act passed last year, Smith has worked to improve funding and innovation related to maternal health.
Annalize Bratt / Bemidji Pioneer
“The idea behind the Rural MOMS Act was to continue this kind of cooperation and partnership that started here in Bemidji so that it could be replicated in other parts of the country where there are needs as deep as this.” explained Mr Smith. “I think there are many rural communities that can really learn from your work.”
Contributed
Nicole Ronchetti is a Bemidji Pioneer reporter with a focus on local government and community health.