Thanks to the support of a $4 million grant, CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs will improve access to maternal health care in rural areas

Little Rock, Arkansas – Thanks to $4 million funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs will work over the next four years to expand access to essential, high-quality prenatal care for pregnant women in 11 counties across Southwest Arkansas.

A press statement states that this is the largest grant the healing ministry has ever received. By establishing AR MOMS, a network of dedicated, rural healthcare partners, CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs will be able to better coordinate a range of services for expectant mothers, from planning for a family to caring for a newborn.

“Residents in many of these counties currently have limited or no access to prenatal and maternity care resources. On top of that, communities struggle with food insecurity, poverty, and limited access to technology among other challenges,” said CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs President Dr. Douglas Ross. “We want to interrupt those cycles and make sure these babies and their mothers have the best start possible. CHI St. Vincent has long-standing relationships with Southwest Arkansas’ rural providers and now the resources necessary to take that work to the next level.”

Calhoun, Clark, Columbia, Dallas, Hot Spring, Howard, Montgomery, Ouachita, Pike, Polk, and Sevier are the eleven counties in Southwest Arkansas that the AR MOMS program will work with community partners to increase local access to care, ensure mothers can access risk-appropriate obstetric care near them up until at least 32 weeks, and improve access to telemedicine.

“One in three women in these areas receive no first-trimester obstetric care at all. We have an opportunity here to decrease infant and maternal mortality rates by ensuring that they have access to appropriate prenatal care,” said Dr. Ross. “That also means improving lifelong outcomes for them, their families, and everyone throughout these communities.”

CHI St. Vincent’s explained that the program fits into its larger goal of improving the “healing presence of God known in our world by improving the health of the people it serves, especially those who are vulnerable.”