The WHAMglobal Board convened on June 21 for a presentation on women's health equity at the international level. During the meeting, Jewish Healthcare Foundation President and CEO Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD and JHF COO and Chief Program Officer Nancy Zionts provided a high-level overview of takeaways from the recent JHF study tour to Norway and Finl...
Maternal mortality is a serious public health issue in Pennsylvania, with a pregnancy-associated mortality rate of 82 deaths per 100,000 live births. Race, pre-existing health conditions, social determinants of health, and early access to prenatal care have all been linked as contributing factors of poor maternal outcomes. The Jewish Healthcare Fou...
WHAMglobal was designed to concentrate on an area of women's health for a period of time, drive and hopefully document significant progress, and then address another area in need of the same attention and action. On Thursday, March 23, the WHAMglobal board convened to focus on a new topic, Women's Health Inequity in Older Age. An exceptional cohort...
A kickoff session was held June 14 for the new Perinatal Health Equity Champions Program, a year-long engagement model designed to build capacity in the birthing workforce to help address racial disparities and improve maternal health care in the Pittsburgh region. The cohort includes 14 Champions from 10 different organizations including doulas, a...
On June 22, the Health Careers Futures (HCF) and WHAMglobal boards convened in a joint meeting to discuss the evolution, impact, and future of the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) and related maternal health efforts. Debra L. Caplan, MPA, chair of WHAMglobal and Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) boards, and Patricia L. Siger, ...
WHAMglobal's Birthing a Movement multi-day event and exhibit at the Three Rivers Arts Festival received a great reception over the first weekend of June. Birthing a Movement included commissioned artwork, interactive artwork, local birthworkers discussing their work, and Anthropology of Motherhood's "Culture of Care Exhibit," a combination showcasi...
You are invited to join us at this year's Birthing A Movement event uplifting and celebrating the maternal health workforce at the 2022 Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival. In partnership with Anthropology of Motherhood (AoM), WHAMglobal will host Birthing A Movement at AoM's Culture of Care Exhibit from June 3-12 at 100 7th Street, Pittsbu...
This is the first article in a series featuring the Pittsburgh: A Safer Childbirth City partners. As part of Merck for Mothers' network of 20 Safer Childbirth Cities across the U.S., Pittsburgh: A Safer Childbirth City aims to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in maternal mortality and morbidity rates across the city. Safer Childbirth Cities g...
The Perinatal Health Equity Champions Program is designed to build workforce capacity to help address racial disparities and improve maternal health care in the Pittsburgh region. This year-long program provides the opportunity to bring together community and hospital-based birth workers for maternal care quality improvement initiatives to address ...
The Pittsburgh: A Safer Childbirth City partners met with the Community Fund partners for the first time in February, to discuss their collective work in promoting maternal health. The Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) facilitated the meeting to provide a space and opportunity for the Pittsburgh-based organizations to share knowl...
On February 21, the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) Board met to discuss human trafficking and how it affects women in a few international contexts. Guest speakers presented varying approaches to addressing the women's health impacts that stem from human trafficking from around the world. Jewish Healthcare Foundation President ...
On December 15, the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) convened for a virtual learning session focused on the PA PQC's 2021 successes and upcoming 2022 initiatives, which will include a focus on substance use. The collaborative, consisting of 60 birth sites and neonatal intensive care units and 14 health plans across the Commonwe...
The PA Doula Commission is pleased to announce its official launch as a nonprofit organization! The mission of The PA Doula Commission is to promote equitable access to doula services through workforce development for the doula profession while facilitating childbirth with dignity, improving perinatal health outcomes, and eliminating barriers...
On November 4, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) partnered with State Representative Morgan Cephas' office to host Opt in PA: A Panel on Postpartum Medicaid Extension, the 2021 installment of the annual Birthing a Movement event series. This year's event focused on Pennsylvania opting in to ex...
On November 29, the Maternity Full Court Press Team met to explore collaborative opportunities to help achieve common service delivery goals for Pennsylvania's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). WIC participation in Pennsylvania has been decreasing for years, and stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic have has...
On November 16, representatives from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (PA DHS), UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) met for a roundtable discussion to highlight UPMC's work to promote greater use of best practices in perinatal care, especially to address perinatal depression and improve health equity....
Pittsburgh-based Mindful Brewing Company and the Pittsburgh Brewery Diversity Council are hosting a fundraiser event to support WHAMglobal, with proceeds from sales of a new entry in the She Knows Beer campaign. She Knows Beer was created as a collaborative series of beers that celebrate women and female-presenting people in the beer industry. Mind...
The PA Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) has awarded UPMC Hamot the $15,000 PA AIM Innovation Award to develop solutions for maternal hypertension. This is part of the PA PQC's AIM Severe Hypertension and Disparities initiative to improve severe hypertension treatment and reduce racial/ethnic disparities in pregnancy. As an action arm of the...
During the July Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) board meeting, members explored how COVID-19 disproportionately burdened women globally. The pandemic created unforeseen caregiving pressures, forced women into educator roles for which they were unprepared, pitted professional against family responsibilities, created financ...
On June 28, the Maternity Full Court Press Team met to discuss the current crisis with the crucial Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program in Pennsylvania. In 2020, the disruptive request for applications process to renew WIC agency funding caused the loss of WIC agencies across the state, and enrollment has been decreasing steadily in...
On April 15, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) Maternity and Senior Living Full Court Press Teams held a joint meeting to discuss innovations in technology to support perinatal community health workers and high-quality senior living. The meeting built on JHF's history of dedicated effort to train, certify, and establish community health worker...
The Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) convened a statewide Doula and Perinatal Community Health Worker Advisory Group, to create more equitable access to doulas and to develop a statewide infrastructure to support the work of doulas and perinatal community health workers across Pennsylvania. The Advisory Group first met on April ...
On April 15, the PA Perinatal Quality Collaborative, an initiative of Jewish Healthcare Foundation operating arm the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) to present an event for Black Maternal Health Week, "Maternal Health, Birth, and Reproductive Justice." The event convene...
The Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal), an operating arm of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, has developed a maternal health policy guide to the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 and its implications for the Pittsburgh region. In February 2021, Representative Lauren Underwood, Senator Cory Booker, and the Black Maternal ...
On March 31, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation Maternity Full Court Press Team met to discuss the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 and its implications for Pennsylvania. Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) Community Engagement and Policy Associate Morgan Overton led an overview of the Momnibus. Overton reviewed how the Mom...
The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) staff presented during the March 16-18 National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference, co-sponsored by Feeding America and the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC). JHF Chief Policy Officer Robert Ferguson and Global Health Associate Hanifa Nakiryowa presented on JHF's work with WIC. They highlighted how JHF conve...
On March 11, the Philadelphia-based PA Prenatal to 3 Collaborative, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, and Maternity Care Coalition of Philadelphia held a Maternal Health Town Hall. The event featured Representative Morgan Cephas, who was joined by moderators Simone Snead, MPH, CLC, Maternal Mortality Review Community Action Team Coordin...
On February 25, the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) met to discuss priorities for 2021. The collaborative, launched in 2019, aims to reduce maternal mortality and improve care for pregnant and postpartum women and newborns affected by opioids. The PA PQC is growing its work within its two main focus areas: maternal Opioid Use ...
On Thursday, December 10th, the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) Safer Childbirth Cities team convened its first Learning Collaborative virtual meeting. The Learning Collaborative welcomed Brown Mamas, The Birthing Hut, Elephant Song Doula Services, Kangaroo Birthing, and MAYA Organization to the space with an orientation of the...
The Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) hosted a January 26 Maternal Health Awareness Day program in partnership with the PA Section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC). This year's program highlighted maternal mental health during the pande...
On October 14 and 15, over 300 WIC statewide leaders, advocates and stakeholders convened virtually for the Pennsylvania WIC Stakeholders' Collaborative Summit webinars. Hosted by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and the Pennsylvania Health Funders Collaborative, the webinars highlighted innovative best practice models from across the country that ...
On October 15, the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) convened expert health and policy leaders for a discussion of crucial women+ health issues and policy points. Over 50 attendees joined via Zoom and 1,442 people were reached via Facebook Live. The town hall highlighted that much is at stake for women+ when elections occur...
The Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) awarded $75,000 across 5 PA PQC birth hospitals and NICUs in recognition of the quality improvement milestones they completed to improve care for pregnant and postpartum women with opioid use disorder (OUD) and newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). The PA PQC also awarded $45,000...
The WHAMglobal Community Fund Application is now open! Application link: https://bit.ly/3jQ2FugNOTE: The application deadline has been extended until Friday, August 28, 2020 at 5:00 PM ESTThe intent of the Fund is to provide increased support to community-based maternal health organizations who are trusted in their communities,...
Introducing the Jewish Healthcare Foundation's new ROOTS publication, Beyond Medicalization: Midwives and Maternity Care in America. Under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is rapidly moving into a new era of healthcare delivery. Across the country, maternal healthcare policies are changing daily in order to ensure birthing families ha...
The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) and its operating organization the Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) are excited to announce the launch of Pittsburgh: A Safer Childbirth City, an initiative that aims to transform the city into a safer, more equitable and accessible place to give birth. Bringing together community organizat...
The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced last week that the Wolf Administration launched the eWIC program on July 22, 2019, for families in Southwestern Pennsylvania who receive benefits in Pennsylvania's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). "Families in Southwestern Pennsylvania will n...
This article originally appeared on STAT News: reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine. Laurie Zephyrin, M.D., is the vice president for health care delivery system reform at The Commonwealth Fund, a member of Women of Impact, and a WHAMglobal Board Member. I have had babies, delivered other women's babies, and worked in a bustling...
Where is the safest and most comprehensive perinatal program in Pennsylvania? How are maternal health practitioners factoring "implementation science" into their programs? On June 4, this summer's Patient Safety Fellowship kicked off with the unique opportunity to combine Jewish Healthcare Foundation's signature quality improvement methodology (Per...
The Women's Health Activist Movement Global (WHAMglobal) connected with hundreds of women and girls on June 8 and 9 with two public events on the theme of "Birthing A Movement." WHAMglobal's mission is to identify the root causes of maternal mortality and better understand how to support and care for moms through the entirety of their care. At the ...
The Heinz Endowments has made a significant grant to the Jewish Healthcare Foundation to help launch two new programs in 2019: $100,000 for the Grandparent Activist Network (GRAN) to strengthen the connections between the regions seniors and youth, and $200,000 for the WHAMglobal Community Fund to establish an innovative collaborative for maternal ...
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as the WIC Program, has been a cornerstone in efforts to support the health of mothers and babies – physically, socially and mentally – for more than 40 years. By providing nutritious supplemental foods, breastfeeding promotion and support, education on healthy eatin...
Over 150 leaders met in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from March 30 to April 2 to envision an equitable maternity care system. The Jewish Healthcare Foundation and WHAMglobal were among the sponsors of the U.S. Birth Summit IV, created and organized by the University of British Columbia and its Birth Place Lab. A Pittsburgh delegation — including maternal ...
The Pennsylvania Health Funders Collaborative held its spring meeting with a dozen state legislators and administration officials on April 29 in Harrisburg. The 25 members from PHFC, a network of 45 health foundations across the state, focused on four areas: WIC (Women, Infants, and Children). For its 45thanniversary, Gov. Tom Wolf proclaimed May a...
The statewide kickoff for the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) was standing-room only. The April 24 event at the Harrisburg Hilton was the first gathering of healthcare professionals who will work across disciplines to improve maternity care for mothers and infants and to prevent needless mortalities. "We planned for 150 people...
During the International Women's Forum conference in Barcelona, JHF helped to organize the April 11 breakfast meeting for IWF leaders who share an interest in health and health care. The first formal program of IWF's Women in Health Care Special Interest Group — initiated by JHF President Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD, and WHAMglobal Chair Debra Caplan...
Zita's Healthy Beginnings, a nonprofit started by Zita Iwuoha to respond to the maternal health crisis in rural Nigeria, hosted their first-ever maternal health workshop for women of African descent in the diaspora. The purpose of the workshop was to explore the intersectionality of pregnancy and birth risks that affect women both in Africa and in ...
The Pennsylvania Affiliate of the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM-PA) held its first annual meeting, Midwifery Forward 2019, on March 23 and 24 at Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA. WHAMglobal and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation were among the sponsors. The event was for midwives, midwifery students, and other healthcare profession...
The first Board of Trustees meeting of WHAMglobal (Women's Health Activist Movement), held as a webinar from the Jewish Healthcare Foundation's office on the afternoon of March 13, was a worldwide affair. Nadene Alhadeff logged in from Australia — local time, 5 a.m. — with strong coffee at hand. In Israel, Chen Shapira, MD, pushed back her bedtime ...
Debra Caplan, MPA, vice chair of JHF's Board of Trustees, was selected as one of the region's Women of Influence by the Pittsburgh Business Times. She received the award at a ceremony at the Westin Convention Center Hotel on March 20. Two other women with ties to the Foundation were among the 26 honored: Health Careers Futures Board Member Jessica ...