The Jackson Park Hospital (JPH) Extended Doula Program

 

1/1/2007 – 12/31/2007

Funded by the Illinois Chapter of the March of Dimes

The purpose of the project is to improve birth outcomes for pregnant women with mental illness and substance abuse by initiating a pilot Extended Doula Program. The doulas develop a trusting relationship as early in the pregnancy as possible, intensify their involvement in the third trimester, especially labor and delivery, and then follow the mother and newborn through a 12-week postnatal period. During the pilot period, 24 mentally ill pregnant women were identified, primarily from the inpatient service and a few from the outpatient OB triage area. The project was based at Jackson Park Hospital (JPH), a community-based hospital serving Chicago’s southeast side, which has the largest inpatient unit for acute mental illness and short-term substance abuse detoxification in the city. Its specific objectives included:

  • Decrease the complications of birth, including low birth weight and caesarian section
  • Increase the number of pregnant mentally ill women who adhere to prenatal treatment plans
  • Increase the number of women who adhere to postnatal treatment plans
  • Increase the number of women who adhere to mental health/substance abuse treatment plans
  • Decrease lost to follow up rates; increase retention rates for ob-gyn/ MH and peds
  • Increase bonding between mother and newborn as evidenced by increased scores on the NCAST maternal-infant interaction scales
  • Increase the duration of breastfeeding as appropriate pharmacologically
  • Decrease the number of infants who become wards of DCFS

The project director for this program was Rossana Barrera, MPH, rbarrera@jacksonpark.com

Title III Capacity Development
Jackson Park Hospital Foundation & Surrounding Community Areas
8/1/2004 – 7/31/2006

In response to a lack of coordination among medical providers and the high percentage of patients lost to follow-up on Chicago’s South Side, Jackson Park Hospital, a community-based hospital with the largest inpatient unit for acute mental illness and short-term substance abuse detoxification in the city, received a Title III Capacity Building grant. The central aim of the project was to create a strong, durable and expandable network, anchored at Jackson Park Hospital (JPH), of community mental health, substance abuse, social service and housing providers and agencies who agreed to share protocols, information, data and adherence strategies in order to give mutual patients treated by multiple providers on the South Side a stronger, more elastic, more comprehensive and interactive network. The backbone of this network is a robust, patient-specific, HIV care and follow up information system. This system included inpatient and outpatient data and care protocols, as well as comprehensive data on medical, psychiatric, substance abuse, and other social and behavioral aspects of care in a single unified system.

In order to ensure the quality of this system, JPH is embedding in it a QA/CQI program based on current standards of care which meets all federal and state standards governing patient privacy and HIV confidentiality. JPH is also incorporating into the system a cultural sensitivity program centering on the treatment, referral and long term care of multiply diagnosed HIV positive patients, encompassing the widest possible concentric circles. Finally, JPH is developing a community-based HIV education program for patients, families and other significant persons in our community to raise awareness of and knowledge of comprehensive, long term HIV counseling, testing, treatment and multi-disciplinary care.