Mama to Mama adds to mothers' support system

Over the past two decades, Jennifer Strane-Harris of Portland has given birth to 11 children, ranging from eight months to 21 years old.

With a family that size, it'd be easy to assume Strane-Harris was flooded with support when she was told she was pregnant with her youngest early last year. But with so many kids to keep track of and a diagnosis of diabetes lingering over her head, Strane-Harris said no amount of support could seem enough.

"I don't have a lot of support outside the house," Strane-Harris said. "When I went to the doctor and he said you're nine weeks pregnant ... I mean, I cried."

Enter Mama to Mama, a relatively new nonprofit that supports local mothers with free services such as childbirth education, parent support groups, parent-child activities and, for women like Strane-Harris who are referred by other organizations, a volunteer doula program.

A doula is a birth professional who provides emotional and physical support during childbirth and the immediate postpartum.

The doula program differs from other area parental services in that it pairs clients with a volunteer who can visit a client's home to talk about prenatal care, answer questions and provide a listening ear throughout the entire birthing process — including during labor in the hospital.

Such access is not granted to case workers who assist families through the federally funded Health Access Nurturing Development Services (HANDS) and Healthy Start programs or the nonprofit Center for Women and Families, officials with the agencies said, and Mama to Mama founder Shannon Stone Porter said her nonprofit is slowly working to fill that gap.

"I'm sure that most of the doula clients we've had were also receiving WIC and were maybe involved in HANDS or Healthy Start at some point," Porter said. "You just can't overdo it with parent support, in my opinion."

But for mothers looking for someone to turn to during their pregnancy, the doula program is only one more option among a range of somewhat limited services — often restricted by regulations or reliant on unstable funding.

Both the Healthy Start and HANDS programs are run through the Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness Department and have been in place since 1998 and 2001, respectively. But because they are federally funded, both programs come with restrictions: Healthy Start assists families in only six western Louisville ZIP codes, while the HANDS program, which operates at the Family and Children's Place, assists only first-time parents.

The HANDS program's limitations will ease July 1, when a new grant will allow the program to provide help for families with multiple children, but program manager Judi Steilberg said it will still not be able to provide all the services offered by Mama to Mama or other agencies.

"We would certainly refer a family interested in (the doula) program to Mama to Mama," Steilberg said. "Not everybody's going to fit for that, but it's a beautiful program for people interested in it."

While HANDS is doing well financially, the health department has dealt with unstable funding for two other programs in recent months.

In November, the department expressed concern about losing a grant for the Healthy Start program, which works to decrease the rate of infant deaths. A $1.15 million grant came through at the last minute, allowing the department to carry the program through March 2019, but the local Women, Infants and Children nutrition program hasn't been as lucky.

In April, the department announced plans to eliminate half of its Women, Infants, and Children clinics because of a projected $800,000 budget shortfall this year. The department operates six locations across the city for WIC recipients to receive federally funded benefits, which are aimed at helping pregnant women, new mothers and children under age 5. But three of the clinics, in the Fairdale, Middletown and Iroquois neighborhoods, will close by June 30, forcing about 5,000 women and children to go to the other clinics, which may be less convenient.

Porter, who opened the natural parenting store Mama's Hip on Bardstown Road more than seven years ago, started work on Mama to Mama in 2012 after seeing that the classes and programs offered at the store were not reaching as many people as she'd like.

In February, Mama to Mama celebrated its first anniversary as an official nonprofit. In its first 10 months, the agency provided mothering classes for 80 women, art-based family events for 40 families and volunteer doula services for 16 mothers, most of whom have or are still experiencing trauma such as addiction recovery or domestic abuse, Porter said.

"Those are the women we find have the least amount of direct family support," Porter said, mentioning a visit to Volunteers of America's Freedom House —an organization that provides aid to people not served by other charities — in which women were asked to say a word that came to mind when they thought about going into labor. "Overwhelmingly, the women said 'alone' or 'lonely.' Can you imagine going to the hospital alone to have a baby? It's not OK."

Emily Pickett, Mama to Mama's director of programs and a certified doula, said she joined the agency during its formation because she feels strongly that everyone should have access to the same kinds of support, despite their situations. Mama to Mama spends about $500 to provide a doula to a client, and the client incurs no cost.

For the nonprofit, Pickett interviews referred mothers and sets them up with a volunteer who has been trained to handle clients with trauma. From there, the doulas meet with the women throughout the pregnancy to discuss what the mothers can expect and answer any questions.

"Every woman brings a tremendous amount of uncertainty into that birth and having someone there to listen and process that together, it's really valuable," Pickett said.

Stane-Harris, who learned about Mama to Mama through the Neighborhood House, said the opportunity to have a doula was amazing and she wished she could have had that kind of support during her other births.

"She was there day or night, telling me what I could do to make it better," Stane-Harris said. "She met me in the hospital. ... She was just a big, big, big benefit to us as a family."

Reach reporter Bailey Loosemore at (502) 582-4646. Follow her on Twitter at @bloosemore.

ARE YOU A PARENT WHO NEEDS HELP?

Check out these local organizations:

•Mama to Mama — The nonprofit offers services to local mothers including prenatal and new parent education, family support groups and a cloth diaper loan program. It also provides volunteer doulas to women referred by other local agencies, such as the Center for Women and Families and Volunteers of America's Freedom House. To learn more, visit mamatomama.us.

•HANDS — The federally-funded Health Access Nurturing Development Services program is a voluntary home visitation program for new and expectant parents. Currently, the Jefferson County office assists only new parents, but starting July 1, all parents will be welcomed. To learn more, visit chfs.ky.gov/dph/mch/ecd/hands.htm or call (502) 893-3900.

•Healthy Start — The federally-funded program run by the Metro Department of Health & Wellness aims to decrease the rate of infant deaths in six West Louisville zip codes through home visits by health workers. The eligible zip codes are 40212, 40211, 40210, 40203, 40202 and 40208. To learn more, visit www.nationalhealthystart.org or call (502) 574-6676.