Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program - Seven Valleys Health Coalition 10 Kennedy Parkway, Cortland NY 13045 Entity type: 501c3 – Rural Health Network www.sevenvalleyshealth.org Cortland County, New York Network name: Cortland County Perinatal Health Network Legislative aim(s): Expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of basic health care services and associated health outcomes. Strengthen the rural health care system as a whole. Focus area(s) based on community need: Perinatal health Funding preference: Qualification 1: Health professional shortage area and Qualification 2: Medically underserved community/population Abstract The Cortland County Perinatal Health Network (CCPHN) partners aim to integrate and expand access to and improve the quality of prenatal, birth, and postpartum healthcare and social service resources throughout rural Cortland County, NY. With limited access to birth centers, midwives, or other obstetric/gynecological healthcare services within the county, CCPHN would develop an integrated model of care that encompasses a community-based doula organization, hospital partners, the Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), and other service providers for birthing people in this northern Appalachian county. Currently Guthrie Cortland Medical Center is the only hospital-based Labor and Delivery Department in the county; the next closest hospitals are upwards of 25 to 35 miles away. Cortland County also boasts a community-based birth and postpartum doula program, The Doula Partnership, at Seven Valleys Health Coalition (SVHC), the county’s rural health network. Family Health Network (the FQHC), Guthrie, and The Doula Partnership collaborate in some ways, but services could be integrated to increase the accessibility and quality of care for perinatal individuals. Building on community partnerships, the Cortland County Perinatal Health Network would also tap local mental health providers, substance use treatment providers, and community resources to build a cohesive network that supports a person from pregnancy throughout the first 12 months of parenthood with not only their physical health, but also their social determinants of health. SVHC will employ the network director and project director overseeing the CCPHN development in tandem with network members. Project activities include regular network meetings, continuing educational events, creating and implementing network policies, formalizing a patient referral system, and updating the Rural Doula Partnership Program Assessment to reflect current perinatal health data.
