ANKENY, Iowa — Health care professionals, researchers, policymakers and community leaders met Monday to discuss solutions to problems some expectant parents are facing, especially those in rural areas of Iowa.
"When moms know about urgent maternal warning signs when they know about what the barriers are, and we give them solutions, a way to get around that barrier, outcomes improve," said Emily Price, the CEO of Healthy Birth Day, a stillbirth prevention organization.
They are the organization behind the “Bridging the Gap: Improving Maternal and Rural Health Symposium. Those at the symposium talked about possible ways to improve birth outcomes for Iowa families.
Price said access for rural families in the state can be a challenge.
"We have seen a lot of birthing hospital closures in recent years. And it is creating a lot of access issues for expectant parents throughout our state.”
Price said solutions discussed at symposium include mobile health clinics, having ultrasounds at urgent care clinics and properly training professionals.
"The quicker you can get to your doctor, the quicker you know that something might be off, is one solution to the problem to getting moms to care quicker, in order to identify issues before they become life-threatening to either mom or baby,” Price added.
UnityPoint OBGYN Dr. Lydia Alexander said the lack of care for expectant mothers in rural areas can also create economic strife.
"For some patients, that becomes a complete barrier to care to the point where their routine OB care or their specialized OB care is completely non-existent because they just simply can't make it work until critical and sometimes very dangerous parts of their pregnancy,” Alexander said.
Care prior to pregnancy is a relevant topic as well.
"When patients don't have access to adequate just baseline care, they aren't able to optimize their health prior to even getting pregnant,” Alexander said.
Both Alexander and Price believe the symposium provided the maternal healthcare community with the opportunity to ensure every family, no matter their location, has a healthy start to life.
Organizers said the symposium looked at current data and trends happening in Iowa and around the U.S. regarding maternal health, with hopes to follow up on new solutions and policies heading into 2024.