Baystate Franklin Medical Center Partners with Pioneer Women’s Health on Support Program
GREENFIELD — Together with Pioneer Women’s Health and the Center for Human Development, Baystate Franklin Medical Center is offering the Moms Do Care EMPOWER program, a program designed to offer personalized, trauma-informed support through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum for women in substance-use recovery.
This federal and state grant-funded program provides a team-based approach that includes doulas, a recovery coach, a care coordinator, a nurse navigator, an obstetrician, and a midwife. The team also provides support and advocacy for families involved with the Department of Children and Families.
“Our goal is to offer low-barrier, trauma-informed, peer-led support,” said Josefa Scherer, program director of Moms Do Care EMPOWER.
Participants have access to a doula, recovery coaching, and therapeutic support during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum and also meet with a nurse navigator for help with birth plans, information about caring for babies at risk for withdrawal, and what to expect from their hospital stay.
Because spending time together, breastfeeding, and skin-to-skin are important for bonding and can prevent or lessen the severity of newborn withdrawal symptoms, all families (whether participating in MDC EMPOWER or not) who deliver their babies at the Birthplace at Baystate Franklin Medical Center are provided the opportunity for full rooming-in with their babies throughout their hospital stay.
In order to participate in Moms Do Care EMPOWER, individuals need to complete a brief enrollment process. They also have to meet several eligibility criteria. They must be 18 years of age or older; be pregnant, postpartum, or parenting a child under 36 months old; have current or past experiences with substances; and have been on medication for substance use or have a history of overdose.
Additionally, the Moms Do Care EMPOWER team includes peers who are people with lived experience in recovery. They are specially trained to work with pregnant and postpartum women with current or past experiences with substance use.
Peer mentors can provide emotional and recovery support, assistance with access to care, and advocacy and support for families involved with the Department of Children and Families and the criminal justice system.
Scherer noted that participants can work with their team to develop a family care plan to document their goals, hopes, needs, and fears relative to labor, delivery, and parenting in recovery. Information is also provided about caring for babies who are at risk for withdrawal. Participants learn what to expect if the baby or mother has an extended stay in the hospital.