| Members of the Every Mother Counts Board of Directors recently visited the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Institute for Community Health Innovation and Ignite Professional Studies and saw first-hand how community leaders are paving the way to improve maternal health outcomes in Arkansas.
Founded by Christy Turlington Burns, Every Mother Counts is a nonprofit organization that supports maternal health programs by advocating and investing in community-led initiatives around the world. In September, the board of Every Mother Counts visited Bentonville and met with representatives from UAMS and their community partners.
“Our hope for mothers in Arkansas is the same as it is for mothers everywhere: that everyone has access to safe, respectful, equitable maternity care, no matter where they live or what their circumstances are,” Turlington Burns said.
“In Arkansas, where many families face long distances to care, provider shortages, and limited options, that means strengthening the full maternal health workforce and ecosystem, from hospitals and clinicians to midwives, doulas, community health workers, and other trusted providers,” she added. “We want to see evidence-based models of care supported and scaled so that mothers and families have more options, stronger continuity of care, and the support they need throughout pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period.”
Since 2024, the UAMS Institute for Community Health Innovation has worked with Ignite Professional Studies, the Doula Alliance of Arkansas, Ujima Maternity Network, and Birthing Beyond to provide a comprehensive doula training course to high school students in Bentonville.
“I was especially struck by the level of collaboration we saw between UAMS, the Ignite program, and community organizations like Ujima, the Doula Alliance of Arkansas, and Bentonville Birth Services. There was a real understanding that improving maternal health requires many different parts of the system working together and learning from one another,” Turlington Burns said. “Seeing the Ignite students in their doula training was particularly inspiring. Building a pipeline of trained doulas while students are still in high school is such a tangible investment in the future of Arkansas’ maternal health workforce. I left with a real sense of what is possible when institutions and communities approach this work as partners.”
Since launching, the Ignite doula program has enrolled 22 students, with more expected to join the third class in the spring. Additionally, the institute and Ignite launched a community health worker training course this fall, with 29 students enrolled.
“This is one of the most inspiring communities I’ve come to,” said Aviva Romm, a board member for Every Mother Counts. “With the Ignite doula program, they’re training a whole generation of birth change makers.”
The doula course is an extension of the institute’s Doula Expansion Initiative, which aims to train and deploy doulas across the state of Arkansas. To date, more than 100 individuals have participated in the training. The institute is also working with hospitals across the state to deploy the Advancing Doulas and Perinatal Teams (ADAPT) toolkit to encourage better collaboration between healthcare teams and doulas. The board of Every Mother Counts heard about these programs and more during their visit, with presentations from Jessica Imel of Ignite, Whitney Hardie from Mercy Hospital, Liyah Wasson from the Doula Alliance of Arkansas, Nicolle Fletcher of Ujima Maternity Network, and others.
“A few board members shared with me afterward how meaningful and heartwarming the visit was,” said Hannah McHardy, senior director of maternal health programs at the institute. Hearing directly from the students was a highlight for many of them, and they were moved by the depth of collaboration and commitment they saw. The board also recognized something we feel every day: the work happening here isn’t staying here. It’s feeding new efforts across Arkansas and is increasingly being held up as an example for communities around the country.”
To learn more about Every Mother Counts and its mission, visit everymothercounts.org.
Source: news.uams.edu
