Author: Barrack Owen
As part of its ongoing initiative to confront several social determinants of health in New Mexico, UnitedHealthcare gave three organizations with operations in the state $180,000, in community grants to tackle maternal and behavioral health in surrounding communities.
This week, UnitedHealthcare increased its charitable funding efforts in New Mexico to over $380,000. The fund is intended to aid local health providers and organizations with resources to confront various social determinants of health in local communities.
Specifically, the grants, awarded to three New Mexico-based health organizations, will equal $180,000 in total and are expected to address maternal and behavioral health in nearby towns and communities.
The grant recipients include:
National Latino Behavioral Health Association (NLBHA)
The National Latino Behavioral Health Association (NLBHA) raised $98,000 to establish youth cooperation groups and training programs for behavioral health multilingual language interpreters to focus on handling risk factors at the genesis of tobacco, alcohol, and other controlled substance abuse.
The New Mexico Perinatal Collaborative (NMPC)
The New Mexico Perinatal Collaborative (NMPC) received $40,000 to facilitate and extend its statewide birthing initiative in over 27 delivery rooms around New Mexico. The birthing initiative will enable NMPC to improve the quality of outcomes for birthing mothers and their infants by advocating safe delivery strategies and providing resources to train midwives, nurses, and doctors.
New Mexico Doula Association (NMDA)
The New Mexico Doula Association (NMDA) received $50,000 to enable better access to doula care for pregnant women and nursing mothers in financial need, providing extended maternal care to rural and borderline communities.
Advocate For The Greater Good
“Enabling more communities in New Mexico by directly providing prevention services and behavioral health workforce members is crucial in the grand scheme to facilitate the capacity of New Mexico’s behavioral health system,” said NLBHA’s Executive Director, Frederick Sandoval.
According to New Mexico Human Services Department, the state is facing a higher maternal death rate of 21.5% in 100,000 live births against the country’s average of 17.4% in 100,000 live births.
“Our community-based approach, which focuses on tackling the problems of every unique individual in the community, is vital to accomplishing health equity and lowering health disparities in the underserved communities of New Mexic,” said UnitedHealthcare Community & State Of New Mexico CEO Drew Peterson.
Providing better access to essential doula and maternal care will help find and solve most issues that women and birthing families may experience, such as cardiac complications, hemorrhage & embolism, and mental health conditions.
“Funding from UnitedHealthcare will greatly enable the perinatal health providers and groups in New Mexico – especially those situated in rustic and frontier communities with little access to vital training and ongoing education – by sufficiently resourcing them to become capable of improving the outcomes of the families living in those communities,” said NMPC Executive Director, Jennifer Mastripolito.
“With this opportunity, we can organize a doula labor force and a birth team that will help improve maternal health outcomes,” said NMDA Executive Director Marie Lopez.
In New Mexico, UnitedHealthcare assists several health organizations, including those tackling food problems, housing conditions, and nutritional aid, operating in less-developed communities, totaling the company’s charitable efforts in the state to over $380,000.
Summary
UnitedHealthcare’s continuing policy to tackle social determinants of health in the city of New Mexico is becoming a growing commitment. Last year, the company awarded $2.85 million to the March of Dimes to provide quality hospital initiatives to address colored maternal health problems. In a company statement earlier, Drew Peterson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Community & State of New Mexico, said: We are committed to enabling local healthcare facilities and organizations with grants and awards to confront social determinants of health for the great people of New Mexico.