Pictured above are Dr. Janine Rethy, chief of Community Pediatrics at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, with a new mom and her baby.
Pregnant mothers and women with newborns and infants in the most underserved communities in Washington, D.C., can look to their MedStar Health physician’s office to provide more than medical services.
Andrea Pitts knows that firsthand.
“I was coming up short at the end of the month,” says Pitts, a 36-year-old mother of three, including an infant. “So when I got the call about signing up for this service, I thought it was a blessing.”
The service is a weekly meal delivery program offered to patients in need as part of the D.C. Safe Babies Safe Moms initiative, a program made possible through a historic $27 million endowment from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation. It’s the largest philanthropic donation in MedStar Health history.
The initiative aims to give mothers and babies in the region’s most at-risk communities easy and immediate access to a range of critical services needed to live healthier lives. These services include prenatal and postpartum care, nutrition education, mental and behavioral health services, healthy meal delivery, housing and transportation assistance, legal services, and help navigating health insurance and social service programs.
“We’ve found that a holistic approach is the best way to serve the needs of our families,” says Janine Rethy, MD, chief of Community Pediatrics at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. “We start by considering the patient perspective to determine how we can help mothers get the care they need with as few barriers as possible.”
The approach includes integrating all aspects of health and overall well-being, and connecting patients to support at the point of service, instead of offering a referral or recommendation and assuming the patients will follow up on their own.
“When families have other, more pressing concerns to deal with in their daily lives, they may not take the time to figure out what to do with a referral,” Rethy says. “It’s critical that we give them a warm handoff directly to partners that can help them right away.”
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To enhance coordination, the program relies on key partnerships with local agencies, nonprofits and community organizations. Partners include: Breathe D.C., to help identify unhealthy living conditions in the home, such as mold and rodent infestation; the Health Justice Alliance at Georgetown University Law Center, to help families obtain birth certificates, proper identification, and legal forms needed to obtain health coverage; Mamatota Village, to help mothers of newborns with breastfeeding education, family and parenting support, and career-building services; and other trusted community resources.
The initiative is focused on our care teams at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, which serve families in Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8—areas that have the largest number of children living below the federal poverty threshold. In Ward 8, more than 50% of children live in poverty, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics.
Rethy says the goal of the Safe Babies Safe Moms initiative, which will serve about 3,600 pregnant women this year, is to reduce infant mortality rates in Washington, D.C., by 30% over the next five years. Currently, the area has among the highest rates of infant deaths in the country.
“Every child deserves the opportunity to thrive,” she says.
For Andrea Pitts, the healthy groceries she receives every Wednesday is just one of the ways she’s ensuring that her children do just that.
“Not every community has access to the things they need,” says Pitts. “I appreciate the help, especially for my kids.”