Much time has passed since my last email to our patients, peers and partners in the community. When you come to our office for your care, you are often describing incredibly busy and stressful lives with children, work, parents-- and you are struggling to fit in self-care—which falls to the wayside. Certainly, our social media reflects these life games of juggling. Hopefully, this coming summer holiday will provide a few days to decompress!

We can all agree that some of our stress is related to national issues. We all have those issues that bring us particular anxiety. Concerns about access to maternal health keep me stressed. Finding local solutions for the women in our community feels like a way to make a true difference. As federal grants and state Medicaid for women and infant health are under scrutiny and may change, we can act now to create sustainable and compassionate models of care that provide access to prenatal and post-partum care now, for our local moms and families. 

This is no longer just a concept, but a clinic that exists in Daytona Beach.  Baby Steps Daytona is a collaboration between our Volusia County Health Department, AdventHealth Daytona and a 501c3 Easy Access of Daytona, Inc. Together, these three partners focused on “how do we make this happen” and not the challenges that could made it appear too difficult. Together, we have and continue to overcome barriers in providing immediate, continuing care to women who have otherwise been unable to find any care at all. 

Who are these women? They are first time moms who are waiting months for their Medicaid to be approved, only to learn there are no offices or clinics who accept the Medicaid. They are women who moved to Volusia later in pregnancy and cannot get into a local office. They are women with Tricare and other insurances who learn that the small number of existing obgyn offices simply do not have capacity to see them. They are women without transportation, houseless, dealing with substance use or mental health issues and cannot get to visits regularly and may have been dismissed from other offices or are simply to frightened to call. Their children go to school with your children and your grandchildren but may not have a secure place with consistent meals to return to after school.

What is Baby Steps Daytona doing differently to help these women? We are responding to every woman who inquires online, by call or who walks in to our clinic. We schedule a visit quickly, regardless of whether they have any insurance or ability to afford care. We assess their needs and assist them with obtaining their Medicaid if eligible, market place insurance or other funding sources. Our charitable care policy will provide care when no other options are available. We offer Uber rides to the clinic and virtual visits when women cannot get to the office due to work, distance or childcare issues. We network to Healthy Start, transitional housing, mental health counseling. We have a Friday afternoon clinic for women whose pregnancy and postpartum are impacted by substance use and mental health concerns. We see women regardless of how far along they are or high-risk they are and we provide the transition to the hospital laborists at both our delivering hospitals so they may have the safest birth and best outcome possible. And they return to us for the year after pregnancy to address their needs in post-partum.

How are we accomplishing this? It is not with grants, or Medicaid reimbursements. We depend on the support of our community in small and major donations, so that we can maintain and expand these services as the need only increases. More families are moving here, more are experiencing financial and situational stress and more are seeking support to have a healthy pregnancy so they may raise healthy children. We believe this model will encourage others to create community partnerships for maternal care that expand beyond a prenatal check and give families the boost to become independent and successful. We welcome your interest, questions and support. Visit us on babystepsdaytona.com. Click on the link here for our donor information.

Warmly,

Dr. Carbiener