HealthPartners is investing in pregnancy support services for Black women in the Twin Cities area. Through support groups and classes, the organization is working toward better health outcomes for the historically underserved demographic.
Dr. Corinne Brown-Robinson, an OB-GYN at the Minneapolis-based nonprofit provider, said patients have shared stories with her about experiencing negative interactions with healthcare providers, including seemingly unnecessary drug tests and undertreatment for pain. They have also pointed to a lack of resources regarding breastfeeding.
Brown-Robinson provides care at Regions Hospital Family Birth Center in St, Paul, one of seven birth centers in the HealthPartners system, which strives to provide high-quality care to pregnant and postpartum patients. She and other clinicians at the birth center have played key roles in driving more positive patient experiences, including for Black mothers.
“Given [the] diversity of our patient population, not everybody has the same experience in their birthing journey,” she said. “It’s this compounding effect that has built this generational [distrust] of healthcare systems that we have to systematically dismantle.”
Black women in the U.S. are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than their white counterparts. Varied quality in healthcare services, underlying chronic conditions, structural racism and implicit bias all contribute to the disparities, research has shown. In 2021, HealthPartners worked with a consulting agency on a survey project to document Black women’s healthcare experiences across the eight-hospital system.
The findings led to the launch last year of Community Circles, twice-monthly virtual group classes aimed at creating an encouraging space for Minneapolis- and St. Paul-area Black patients and their families during and after pregnancy. Groups of 10 or fewer connect over shared pregnancy experiences, combat feelings of isolation and discuss different aspects of their lives that may affect parenting. In the past year, HealthPartners has hosted 18 Community Circles groups, serving nearly 50 women.
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HealthPartners also rolled out monthly Expecting Together virtual classes in January, offering a more clinical approach to help prepare Black patients in the Twin Cities on what to expect during doctor’s appointments, labor and delivery. The classes, which have served 36 women so far, are meant to help build trust between patient and provider, Brown-Robinson said. She said these classes could be tailored to different demographics, such as teen mothers or members of the LGBTQ community.
HealthPartners promotes both groups through clinic advertisements, a spokesperson said.
Seven HealthPartners facilities in the Minneapolis and St. Paul region also offer weekly "Lactation Cafés" where new mothers can get breastfeeding support from certified consultants. Some of the Lactation Cafés, which launched in 2015, have language interpreters and peer counselors providing additional support to new moms. A virtual option is available once a week.
All the services are free to patients.
Brown-Robinson said she wants to keep growing programs to support Black women during and after pregnancy and hopes similar models will spread nationally.
“When we invest in women and children at this stage, and we’re able to provide the supports and care that they need during their most vulnerable time, it has a tremendous return on your investment with a lifelong patient because that person will bring her entire family,” she said.
