Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health launched Maternal Health Connections in Evanston this month. The program offers prenatal and postpartum care through a hybrid model: an in person clinic in Evanston, and patients are connected virtually with Intermountain physicians.
Intermountain Health is part of the Healthy Granite County Network, a program that started in 2018 and is focused on improving access to healthcare in Granite County, Montana. The network received a Rural Maternity and Obstetrics Management Strategies (RMOMS) grant for Granite County. The federal grant is focused on rural maternal healthcare and supports the Maternal Health Connections (MHC) program. Its goal is to improve outcomes in areas with no obstetric care.
“We’re not looking to open up labor and delivery, but we’re looking to see how we can bridge that gap and make the burden of going back and forth to these tertiary centers a little less cumbersome,” said Krystal Richards, a community health program manager and project director for the RMOMS grant.
Last fall, Evanston Regional Hospital announced it was closing its labor and delivery services. In the lead up to the closure, some Evanston physicians worked with Intermountain’s Park City clinic to make sure their patients wouldn’t be left without care. And when the labor and delivery ward officially closed in December, Intermountain stepped in to fill the gap. Maternal Health Connections started seeing patients earlier this month.
Through MHC, patients receive prenatal care and care up to a year postpartum. Vital signs are monitored virtually so the team can watch for any problems. They also offer virtual mental health support, virtual genetic counseling, and additional help for patients with substance use disorders.
Courtney Bettinson, a women’s health registered nurse at the clinic, said patients were often driving to Utah or Rock Springs for 15 minute appointments.
“They’re having to take pretty much entire days to go to a prenatal visit,” she said. “So they’re losing hours at work, which means they’re losing wages.”
After the closure of labor and delivery services at the Evanston hospital, Bettinson said there has been a serious gap in prenatal care in the area. This means that some people are showing up in labor having received little to no prenatal care, which is dangerous for both mothers and babies. MHC is trying to fill that gap.
“To make sure that patients are not just walking around with no plan for what’s going to happen,” said Bettinson. “We can discuss with them, you know, should you go into labor, this is what you need to do.”
Bettinson will set up a birth and postpartum plan with each patient. She said most are going to Park City, Utah, or Ogden, Utah, to give birth.
MHC has been running for a few weeks, but the program already has about 25 referrals. Richards hopes they can expand the program into other areas, like Kemmerer, whose regional hospital ended labor services in 2022.
Bettinson said her patients have expressed gratitude that they don’t have to travel hours for essential care anymore.
“This is my community and it means a lot to me,” said Bettinson. “I will pour my professional heart and soul into this program.”
