Emerging Practice

GROWTH with Doulas and Dads

State/Jurisdiction: Florida
Setting: Community
Population: Families & Caregivers Women & Maternal
Topic Area: Access to Quality Healthcare Family & Youth Engagement Birth Outcomes
NPMs:

The GROWTH with Doulas and Dads Project provides an integrated continuum of personalized, prenatal, childbirth, doula, early parenting and breastfeeding support services countywide for low-income mothers whose infants are at high risk for poor health, social and cognitive outcomes. Extensive outreach with providers and community organizations is conducted to engage and serve pregnant women whose infants are at the highest risk for poor health, social and cognitive outcomes and whose infants would benefit most from breastfeeding. Participants can access services through four avenues: Community Referrals, Healthy Start Referrals, hospital referrals, and self-referrals. The RU intake coordinator processes referrals and the program manager assigns the client to doulas covering the area. Doulas contact clients and make phone introductions, conduct clinic and home visits for each client beginning the 36th week through 40 weeks (earlier if high risks), render hospital-based labor and delivery services and immediately postpartum. The doula will continue to provide home-based services and breastfeeding support up to and including 8 weeks postpartum. In keeping with the commitment to community capacity building, REACHUP Inc. worked together with community agencies and county hospitals to enhance doula service delivery, provide community-based services aimed at decreasing exceptionally high rates of infant mortality and morbidity where the majority of mothers are young, low income, undereducated, and unmarried.


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Implementation Handout



CONTACT INFORMATION
REACHUP, Inc.
Ankita Patel
apatel@reachupincorporated.org
(813) 317-3033
Practice Website
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