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Pictured from left are Lucas Alabi from the People’s Health Center; Diane Brage Hudson, Ph.D., UNMC associate nursing professor; Barbara Sittner, Ph.D., UNMC assistant nursing professor, Karen McGivney Liechti, a nurse midwife with Heart & Hands Womancare, Christel Barth and Mirena Wray. |
Officials from the UNMC College of Nursing Lincoln Division, Heart & Hands Womancare and People’s Health Center joined forces to receive a $6,500 grant from the March of Dimes.
The grant enables the cooperative to bring the CenteringPregnancy Program — which is offered in 49 states — to Lincoln residents.
Those who work on the effort include:
- Barbara Sittner, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UNMC College of Nursing Lincoln Division;
- Diane Brage Hudson, Ph.D., associate professor in the UNMC College of Nursing Lincoln Division;
- Karen McGivney Liechti, a nurse midwife with Heart & Hands Womancare and who is also a clinical instructor at UNMC College of Nursing Lincoln Division; and
- Lucas Alabi of the People’s Health Center.
“We’re delighted pregnant women will receive nursing care through this premiere program at People’s Health Center,” Dr. Hudson said.
“This program provides group prenatal care and has been associated with lower incidence of low birth weight babies, lower incidence of preterm births and higher breastfeeding rates,” Dr. Sittner said. “In addition, it follows the Institute of Medicine’s Six Aims for Improvement: safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable care.”
The program is based at People’s Health Center in Lincoln and began this month, she said.
Initially there will be two groups of ten women who are near the same gestational age in their pregnancy who will meet for two hours once a month at People’s Health Center. One group will be an English-speaking group and the other group of women will be Spanish-speaking. An interpreter fluent in English and Spanish attended CenteringPregnancy training and will be present at each session for the Spanish-speaking group of women.
The monthly group sessions take the place of their routine obstetrics appointments and will be more frequent as the women near their due dates, McGivney Liechti said.
During the meetings, each of the women will complete a self-assessment on the topic of the session, check their own blood pressure and weight and record that information.
“We have them do this so the women are empowered to take part in their health care,” McGivney Liechti said.
Each woman also will receive a private prenatal assessment that is normally done during the routine ob visit in a secluded area by McGviney Liechti.
After all of the women have done their assessments, the group will then discuss any issues that are of concern to them, as well as receive education in proper nutrition, childbirth, breastfeeding and infant care, Dr. Sittner said.
“The rate of preterm births is more than 12 percent in Nebraska, with this program, we hope to lower that number,” she said.
Rosemary Opbroek, Nebraska State Director for the March of Dimes, also has high hopes for the program.
“We are very excited about partnering with the UNMC College of Nursing, People’s Health Center and Heart & Hands Womancare,” Opbroek said. “Teaching young women about how to have a healthy pregnancy has a direct effect on birth outcomes. I wish we could do a hundred grants like this across the state.”