KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Two Kalamazoo-area organizations have each received $50,000 aimed at enhancing health equity for babies and birthing individuals.
Southwest Michigan Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative (SWMPQIC) and Cradle Kalamazoo were two of five Michigan community-based groups that received the grants.
SWMPQIC, which serves seven counties in Southwest Michigan, says they will use the money to train healthcare providers on perinatal grief and loss.
“The layers of trying to navigate any kind of grief and loss with patients is incredibly difficult,” said Kristina Ledlow, a member of the leadership team at SWMPQIC. “It’s not easy to do that … You need to be educated on how to work with these families, not only on working with them, but how you work with yourself, when these kinds of losses occur so this training is directly going to address that.”
According to Ledlow, the training will likely take place in September. SWMPQIC hopes to enroll 125 healthcare providers for it.
She adds the organization received the same grant last year, which allowed them to partner with Postpartum Support International and begin to address perinatal mental health more broadly.
“It was amazing,” said Ledlow. “The the outpouring of questions and wanting to know more is what catapulted us this year to apply for it again.”
Anyone can apply for this year’s training. Those interested should monitor SWMPQIC’s website, which can be found here.
Ledlow believes the education can further reduce the infant mortality rate in Southwest Michigan, which was 5.9 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021. Statewide, the rate was 6.2.
“We can't expect birthing persons and people to come back to us if they don't feel cared for, if they don't feel seen, if they don't feel like they are held in this space, and that their pain is something that is comfortable to bear witness to,” said Ledlow. “[By] provid[ing] this training, we are allowing these patients that space where their physical needs as well as their emotional needs are going to be better met. When you have both of that, you're going to have people coming back, which in turn is going to decrease our infant and maternal mortality rate.”
Cradle Kalamazoo intends to use its money to support its resource-first strategy.
“The resource-first strategy essentially streamlines service delivery, and increases access,” said Emily Deering-Caruso, interim director of development at the YWCA of Kalamazoo, which oversees Cradle Kalamazoo. “We have a community health worker that is centrally located within Cradle Kalamazoo, who receives referrals from other community partners, hospitals, agency service providers, and [the] community can call directly. [They] then refer them to an appropriate home visitation program, or connects them to another resource that they need.”
Deering-Caruso notes in Kalamazoo County, babies of color are up to four times more likely to die than white babies. She says grants like this allow organizations to better tackle those disparities.
“We have lots of opportunities and resources for folks, but in our survey that we conducted with community residents, the key barrier was access to these resources and understanding of what is available and what folks are eligible for,” said Deering-Caruso. “Programs have different eligibility, different resources, [and] are only available different times of the year. Our community health worker knows all of that and they have all of that expertise so when you call with a need, they're able to streamline you to the program that best fits your need and that you are eligible for.”
To learn more about Cradle Kalamazoo, click here.
