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Impact of Doulas on MCH

This webinar will highlight the benefits of doula services and doulas' roles in improving birth outcomes, increased legislation of doula services through Medicaid, and the current landscape for doulas in the healthcare industry.

Attendees will learn strategies for improving doula-provider relationships and tips for better incorporating doula services in healthcare systems. Attendees will hear from certified doulas who will share the significant challenges they have experienced when providing services, and recommendations and strategies to improve.

Date
Length
1 hour
Moderator
Stacy Scott, PhD., MPA, VP Health Equity Innovation at NICHQ
Speakers
Tatiana Egbuna, Project Coordinator, NICHQ
Zsakeba Henderson, MD, FACOG, Senior Health Advisor, NICHQ

The Equity Exchange: The State of DEI

The Equity Exchange is a new, equity-focused virtual event, hosted by NICHQ’s Department of Health Equity Innovation. This series provides a unique space to exchange innovative ideas, learn and discuss emerging theories, and share resources and tools on topics related to equity in maternal and child health. Expect something different than your standard webinar, with more ways to interact and engage on our new platform. 

Our first conversation focused on the “state of equity,” and the Equity Systems Continuum, an evidence-based framework for looking at racism in organizational systems.  

Date
Length
1 hour
Speakers
Stacy Scott, PhD., MPA, VP Health Equity Innovation at NICHQ
Michelle Edison, MPH, MS, Director of Network Development at the Pathways Community HUB Institute®
Avery Margenot, MPH, Certified Doula, Equity Consultant with Global Infant Safe Sleep Center, and Manager of Sexual & Reproductive Health at Cityblock Health

Their stories are so powerful: Community-based approaches to infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion

Significant racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities exist among sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) and breastfeeding practices in the U.S. Combining infant safe sleep (ISS) and breastfeeding promotion on the community level presents opportunities to address these racial/ethnic disparities and associated socioeconomic, cultural, and psychosocial influences.  

The National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement and Innovation Network (NAPPSS-IIN) hosted a series of listening sessions in spring 2021 to examine the phenomenon of community-level providers promoting breastfeeding and infant safe sleep in communities vulnerable to disparities.

This webinar will highlight findings from a recent NICHQ-led study, Community-based approaches to infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion: a qualitative study published in BMC Public Health where researchers addressed two questions: (1) What are the areas that community-level organizations need support to serve their population’s needs around safe sleep and breastfeeding? (2) What tools or resources could assist them in improving their work promoting safe sleep and breastfeeding?  

Implications for safe sleep and breastfeeding policies and education will be discussed. Community partners will share their experiences leading and implementing activities.

Date
Length
1.5 hours
Moderator
Meera Menon, Ph.D, Associate Director of Research and Evaluation, NICHQ
Speakers
Lynnette Byfield, Community Health Worker, Babies Born Healthy, Montgomery County, MD
Angeline Bell, BS, RN, CCE, CBS, Certified Childbirth Educator and Lactation Specialist, Program Manager, Babies Born Healthy, Montgomery County, MD
Crystal Trent Paultre, MSN, RN, CBS, Community Health Nurse, Babies Born Healthy, Montgomery County, MD
Stacy Scott, Ph.D., MPA, VP of Health Equity and Innovation, NICHQ
Rebecca Huber, MPP, Senior Analyst, NICHQ

Harnessing the Power of Collaboration to Improve Outcomes for Families Affected by Substance Use Disorder in Pregnancy

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (NNPQC) coordinated by the National Institute for Children's Health Quality (NICHQ), and the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) recently hosted a webinar on implementing Plans of Safe Care (POSC) to support infants, parents, and caregivers affected by substance use disorder. This webinar supported the Biden-Harris Administration’s Drug Policy Priority to “explore, identify barriers, and establish policy to help pregnant people with substance use disorder (SUD) obtain prenatal care and addiction treatment without fear of child removal.”

The webinar highlighted Oklahoma’s collaborative approach to supporting infants and families affected by prenatal substance use, including the partnership with the Oklahoma Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative, the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, and the Department of Human Services. Participants were introduced to state Perinatal Quality Collaboratives and the technical assistance resources available through NCSACW.

Watch the webinar recording to hear from national experts to learn more about:

  • Oklahoma’s implementation of family care plans during the prenatal period to improve outcomes for families and prevent unnecessary child placement and to support these infants, families, and caregivers
  • Oklahoma’s changes in health care, substance use disorder treatment, and child welfare systems that support collaborative practice
  • How Oklahoma has aligned and integrated cross-system supports for substance-exposed infants
Date
Length
1 hour
Speakers
Stephen W. Patrick, MD, MPH, MS, FAAP, Senior Policy Advisor, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
Scott D. Berns, MD, MPH, FAAP, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Institute for Children's Health Quality Principal Investigator, National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives
Nancy K. Young, PhD, MSW, Executive Director, Center for Children and Family Futures Project Director, National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
Teri Kook, MSW, Senior Program Associate, Children and Family Futures National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
Barbara O Brien, MS, RN, Director, Oklahoma Perinatal Quality Improvement Center
Teresa Stephenson, M Ed, Senior Director, Adult & Family-Centered Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Services, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Deborah Shropshire, MD, Director, Child Welfare Services, Oklahoma Department of Human Services

Centering Community Voices: Solutions to Safe Sleep and Breastfeeding Using a Quality Improvement Framework

While sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) and breastfeeding are public health issues across population groups, significant disparities exist across race, ethnicity, and geography. To center the lived experiences of communities, many MCH programs are shifting to community-driven work to promote safe sleep and breastfeeding, including the National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement and Innovation Network (NAPPSS-IIN).

This webinar will discuss how the NAPPSS-IIN programmatic and evaluation pursuits shifted to center community voices within participatory quality improvement (QI). Community partners will share their experiences leading and implementing QI activities. Implications for MCH projects and community-based research will be discussed.

Date
Length
1 hour
Moderator
Stacy Scott, Ph.D., MPA, Executive Project Director and Equity Lead at NICHQ
Speakers
Angeline Bell, Public Health Nurse at Montgomery County Health and Human Services
Crystal Trent-Paultre, Registered Nurse at Montgomery County Health and Human Services
Olga Garcia, MCH Quality Management Coordinator at WellFlorida
Jarvis Gray, Business Strategist, Adviser, Entrepreneur Coach 

Connecting Providers and Community Based Organizations to Improve SCD Appointment Attendance

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) affects approximately 100,000 Americans causing acute pain crises, dangerous infections, and other serious health problems that can damage every organ in the body. That makes consistent and regular appointments vital for people living with SCD.

People living with SCD and their families and family caregivers miss critical healthcare appointments for a variety of reasons. According to a 2019 national study, a majority of patients reported missing a clinic appointment in the previous 12 months. One key strategy NICHQ has learned from patients, caregivers, and providers in interviews and webinars is that addressing the barriers to appointment attendance works better when providers partner with community-based organizations to communicate with patients.

This webinar – the third in its series – focuses on developing a strong relationship between SCD clinics and the CBOs supporting people living with SCD.  Forging shared provider/CBO strategies provides improved messages and supports to patients and families who may be struggling with barriers that health care systems don’t realize.

Webinar Objectives:

  • Identify three of the common reasons for missed appointments for people living with SCD and their families
  • Learn how providers and SCD CBOs can work together to address appointment challenges for people living with SCD
  • Identify resources to forge or strengthen relationship between CBO and clinic
  • Learn resources for providers, CBOs, patients and caregivers to improve conversations to resolve appointment barriers.

Audience: 

  • All SCD stakeholders: advocates and community-based organizations, health professionals, and service providers, people living with SCD and their families
  • Webinar content also will be useful to providers and CBOs that support any patient or caregivers who face barriers to healthcare appointment attendance.
Date
Length

1 hour

Moderator

Judith Gooding, Project Director for Disseminating Results: Missed Sickle Cell Disease Clinic Appointments and the Health Belief Model

Speakers

TaLana Hughes, MPH, Executive Director of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of Illinois

Suzette Oyeku, MD, MPH, Professor of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Carolyn Rowley, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Certified Nutritionist, Executive Director at Cayenne Wellness Center | Sickle Cell Education, Support, and Advocacy

Toolkit: Defining and Assessing Early Childhood System Performance for Quality Improvement

Early childhood systems exist to improve outcomes for children and families, but it can be a challenge to tell the story of why our system-building efforts matter. To help system builders and stakeholders identify ways their system is working well, as well as areas for improvement, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) developed the Early Childhood System Performance Assessment Toolkit in partnership with members of its Early Childhood Learning and Innovation Network for Communities (EC-LINC). 

During the past year, in partnership with National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ) and Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (ECCS CoIIN) Teams, CSSP has updated and expanded the Toolkit to improve its alignment with the ECCS CoIIN logic model. This webinar will provide an overview of the Toolkit, including two new and two revised measures, and ways communities can use measures from the Toolkit to improve their system’s performance.

Webinar Objectives:

  • Participants will be able to articulate how an early childhood system contributes to better outcomes for young children and their families
  • Participants will improve their understanding of the concept of system performance
  • Participants will be able to identify measures from the Early Childhood System Performance Assessment Toolkit that they could use in their own systems
Date
Length

1 hour

Moderator

Loraine Swanson, MPH, Senior Project Director, NICHQ

Speakers

Cailin O’Connor, MS, Senior Associate, Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP)

David Willis, MD, FAAP, Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP)

Conversations to Improve Patient/Provider Relationships and Increase Appointment Attendance

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) affects approximately 100,000 Americans, predominantly those of African descent. This inherited blood disorder may cause acute pain episodes, infection, and other serious health problems that can damage every organ in the body.

Too often, people living with SCD and their families and caregivers miss critical healthcare appointments for a variety of reasons. According to a 2019 national study, a majority of patients reported missing a clinic appointment in the previous 12 months. In disseminating the study results, NICHQ interviewed patients, caregivers, and providers – and found that systemic and individual bias and racism contributed to poor patient/provider relationships, which in turn undermined solutions to appointment attendance problems. 

While the relationship between patients or caregivers and their providers is not the main problem, improving that partnership is a big part of the solution. In this interactive session, our panelists will model conversations among providers, families, and advocates about reasons for and solutions to missed SCD healthcare appointments. Using webinar interaction tools and polls, webinar participants will examine, dissect, and discuss what works and what doesn’t in these conversations.

Webinar Objectives:

  • Identify three of the common reasons for missed appointments for people living with SCD and their families
  • Learn three conversation strategies to improve appointment attendance
  • Identify one immediate and one longer-term action to improve healthcare relationships

Audience: 

  • SCD stakeholders: advocates and community-based organizations, health professionals, and service providers, people living with SCD and their families
  • Any caregiver, provider, or advocate in children’s healthcare who experiences frustration with missed appointments
  • Others who want to improve their conversations, their patient/provider relationships, and their appointment attendance
Date
Length

1 hour

Moderator

Judith Gooding, NICHQ Senior Advisor and Project Director for Disseminating Results: Missed Sickle Cell Disease Clinic Appointments and the Health Belief Model

Speakers

Suzette Oyeku, MD, MPH, Professor of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine

TaLana Hughes, MPH, Executive Director of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of Illinois

Carolyn Rowley, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Certified Nutritionist, Executive Director at Cayenne Wellness Center | Sickle Cell Education, Support, and Advocacy

James McElligott, M.D., MSCR, Executive Medical Director for Telehealth at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Associate Professor in the Division of General Pediatrics at MUSC Children’s Hospital

Managing aHUS: A Multidisciplinary Team Approach to Thrombotic Microangiopathy

Thrombotic microangiopathies are rare, life-threatening diseases whose treatment involves multiple physicians from different specialties. Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a form of thrombotic microangiopathy characterized by the formation of blood clots in the body’s small blood vessels, with symptoms often first appearing in childhood. Severe forms of aHUS can lead to chronic kidney disease and kidney failure. Because symptoms are often non-specific (including paleness, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, drowsiness, high blood pressure, and swelling), diagnosis of aHUS can be complex and can impact the success of pediatric kidney transplants.  

Hosted following National Pediatric Transplant Awareness Week, NICHQ invites pediatricians and specialists to continue the conversation by widening their understanding of the clinical presentation of aHUS, learn more about the presentation and treatment, and discover how a team approach can successfully manage aHUS. 

Webinar Objectives:  

  • Understand the clinical presentation of aHUS 

  • Understand the pathophysiology of aHUS and the genetic background of the disease 

  • Multidisciplinary Team approach to the management of aHUS 

Date
Length

1 Hour

Speakers

Jean M. Francis, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine

Learning from the Landscape: Strategies in Early Childhood Health Equity

During the last decade, there has been an increasing understanding of how the social determinants of health (e.g., systemic and environmental challenges such as poverty, poor housing, and poor health care) affect the health and well-being of young children and their families. The multi-faceted nature of these challenges has led many communities and states to build – or expand – initiatives composed of representatives from multiple sectors, disciplines, and systems to join to address disparities in early experiences and outcomes for young children.

As interest in health disparities (and community-wide solutions to address them) grows, there is a need to better understand what challenges these initiatives face and what strategies communities have used to address those challenges.

The Early Childhood Health Equity (ECHE) Landscape Project set out to understand and highlight promising strategies to address key issues such as sustainability, data use, state and local relationships, cross-sector partnerships, and operationalizing health equity within the context of early childhood health equity initiatives.

Webinar Objectives:

  • Identify other early childhood health equity initiatives for potential networking
  • Describe key strategies that early childhood health equity initiatives have found to be impactful

Speakers will include:

  • Researchers from the teams at NICHQ and Child Trends who conducted the project
  • Representatives from early childhood health equity initiatives who will share their perspectives on success, challenges, and needs for the future
Date
Length

1 Hour