Vermont's first milk bank opens for parents who can't breastfeed

Doctors from USC have formed a small street team that travels to homeless communities to treat medical concerns and help provide assistance. Part of a growing trend around the United States, these teams are playing a vital role for the homeless by eliminating barriers such as the need to "schedule an appointment, find transportation to the clinic, pick up prescriptions, or pay for their treatment."

After deducing that preeclampsia was "the number one cause of maternal hospital readmissions and maternal mortality," doctors at Penn Medical began sending new mothers home with a blood pressure cuff and then texting them for readings. Proving to be a successful intervention methodology, this practice has expanded to other hospitals in the state and may soon scale nationally.

Reported cases of congenital syphilis have significantly increased in Los Angeles County, but the solution may be in more thorough intake assessments. Similar to the role drug industry representatives play in operation rooms, these reps "encourage doctors to take thorough sexual histories of patients, screen all women of childbearing age for syphilis and retest periodically throughout a pregnancy."

Community Health Workers in Richmond County work to reduce barriers - including employment, education, smoking, food security or housing - that may contribute to the likelihood of infant mortality. Using the Community HUB Pathways Model to minimize significant sources of stress in a woman’s life, they are helping drive down infant mortality rates in Ohio, particularly for women and babies of color.

Child mortality is a global problem that can be reduced by increasing breastfeeding rates; however, many mothers are either under too much cultural pressure, need to work, or cannot lactate enough milk. Brazil has devised an education program to help mothers breastfeed and has also created milk banks, through which mothers can donate excess milk to mothers who cannot produce. Additionally, Brazil offers paid maternity leave for mothers who have time to breastfeed and provide better health for their bodies as well as their new babies.

Through programs across the country, nurses, social workers, or trained mentors offer support to new or expectant parents, imparting skills to help them become better teachers for their children. Through regular home visits with the families, these programs are working to close an achievement gap between rich and poor children that starts as early as just nine months into a child's life.

The solar-powered freezer donated by Green Life Energy allows vaccines to be stored at the appropriate temperature, providing more access to necessary immunizations, specifically for those in rural communities. Nurses say the freezer box has the capacity to hold up to 500 doses of different vaccines, including polio, measles, tuberculosis, and the COVID-19 vaccine.

Miraclefeet is a U.S. based nonprofit that provides free clubfoot treatment in 29 countries, including 15 in Africa. Following Ponseti, a nonsurgical treatment plan, caregivers gently manipulate a child’s feet by stretching them into the correct position and using plaster of Paris to cast the foot in that position. After 5-8 weeks, children wear braces for 23 hours every day for the first three months, then only while sleeping for 3-5 years, in order to maintain the correction. The brace is made up of a special shoe that is clipped to a bar. The treatment is less expensive and 98% effective when done early.

To reduce maternal mortality in the Masai region of Tanzania, Catholic nuns with Sisters of Notre Dame are building hospitals and educating local women about the importance of giving birth in a medical setting. Although this goes against the community's use of a "traditional birth attendant," delivering in a hospital allows for emergency situations to be better addressed and is receiving positive feedback from women in the region.

The University of Tennessee Medical Center clinic has engaged a specific set of experts to form the High Risk Obstetrical Consultants team that focuses on treating opioid-addicted pregnant women as well as the infant after childbirth. The goal of the program is to stabilize the mother and then offer a choice for the rest of the pregnancy of either completely detoxing or remaining on medically assisted treatment.