SHERO: Integrating Tech-Enabled COMSS into Perinatal Systems of Care to Advance Equity in New Orleans, LA - The US continues to lead ALL industrialized nations with the highest rates of maternal mortality and morbidity (MMM) with unrelenting racial & ethnic disparities. Black women and their babies die 3-5Xs more than their White counterparts. The highest Black MMM rates are observed in the deep South. New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) offers a unique opportunity combat these disparities through our innovative, tech-enabled, community-based maternal support services perinatal health model (COMSS); enter stage left or swipe right if your tech savvy, SHERO “Shaping Healthy Equitable Reproductive Outcomes” powered by Birth By Us (BBU) in NOLA. Our COMSS model leverages proprietary technology and a 40+ week, evidence and asset based curriculum to offer week by week prenatal, postpartum and social support. We integrate the only 4 interventions individually shown to improve Black perinatal outcomes 1) group care & support, 2) racially concordant care teams, 3) doulas and CHWs and 4) home visitation) into one synergistic solution;. We operate virtually to remove social determinants of health (SDoH) barriers. Our SHERO Squads (licensed health professionals, doulas and community health workers (CHWs) take full accountability for our SHERO moms and serve as an additional safety net for the highest risk, highest costs and highest need populations; that we lovingly consider the highest return on impact and investment. Our team will carry out three novel objectives over the grant period: 1) pilot, evaluate, launch, scale, and sustain SHERO NOLA across the 4 highest-risk Parishes in New Orleans (Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard) to advance equity and improve Black perinatal outcomes; 2) develop and distribute quantitative and qualitative tools to assess fathers and Black men’s roles as key perinatal stakeholders to improve Black maternal and infant health; and 3) recruit, train, employ and deploy Black CHW’s (women and men) to provide perinatal support services in New Orleans. We will serve over 8,500 Black moms, babies, fathers, and families in New Orleans and achieve our primary goal of success with 95% of SHERO moms and 90% of SHERO infants being alive & healthy at the time they graduate from SHERO (12 weeks post-partum). Our grant team represents Silicon Valley tech-pioneers, (Momentum Park, Birth By Us, Heluna Health, the UC-Irvine) and New Orleans equity champions, (DocGriggs Enterprises, Compassion Outreach, Xavier University). The impact of our proposed COMMS project will disrupt the status quo of maternity care and the overall pregnancy experience of Black families in New Orleans.
