Michigan health network created to fight infant, maternal mortality
Fourteen of Michigan’s leading health networks and institutions gathered Monday to announce a collaboration funded with state dollars meant to decrease the state’s maternal and infant mortality rates.
From 2018 to 2021, Michigan had a maternal mortality rate of 19.4 deaths per 100,000 births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state had an infant mortality rate of 6.4 per 1,000 live births in 2022, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Representatives from Corewell Health, the Detroit Medical Center and Henry Ford Health as well as universities in Michigan gathered at Second Ebenezer Church in Detroit on Monday to celebrate a partnership called SOS Maternity Network. SOS refers to “synergy of scholars.” The program’s first site opened in June and the fifth site opened in September, said Sierra Steele, a spokesperson for the event.
The program, which is funded by the state of Michigan, pairs women with someone who can help them navigate life and medical issues, said Dr. Sonia Hassan, the leader of the collaborative. The program also gives moms rides to medical appointments.
Hassan announced the health systems and universities joined for the first time to “stop moms and babies from dying.”
“It brings together Michigan’s leading experts in medical care for moms and babies to make sure the most advanced care is available to everyone in Michigan,” said Hassan, the founding director of Wayne State University’s Office of Women’s Health.
The SOS Network facilities will offer women a “pregnancy care bundle” that incorporates the tests and treatments to reduce pre-term birth and preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a serious medical condition during pregnancy in which women experience high blood pressure and other symptoms, according to the Cleveland Clinic. One test is an ultrasound of a patient’s cervix in mid-pregnancy, which can let doctors know if a patient has a high risk of early delivery.
It is an alliance of doctors, hospitals, universities, community groups and policymakers from across the state, she said. Hassan said they all are “united under one program,” which she said “is not always the case” for competing institutions.
Among those at the announcement were representatives from Wayne State, Michigan Medicine’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital.
Dr. Pooja Green, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Trinity Health in Ann Arbor, said there are ways to reduce preeclampsia and prematurity. By taking a daily low-dose aspirin, a mom can reduce her risk of developing preeclampsia by up to 40%, she said.
In Michigan, there are between 80 and 90 maternal deaths each year. Between 2011 and 2020, the most recent data available from the state, that number trended upward, including a 33.6% increase from 2019 to 2020.
Tonyeia Cannon, a pregnant mom who attended the event Monday said she found out about SOS Maternity Network through a doctor’s appointment at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. She said her car was not working in the beginning of her pregnancy, so SOS helped her with free transportation.
“I wanted to make sure I made it to my doctor’s appointments, because they’re really important,” she said.
link
