NewYork-Presbyterian Launches Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center in New York City
The mobile unit, made possible through a collaboration with March of Dimes, brings quality pregnancy and women’s health care to underserved communities.
Dr. Auja McDougale, medical director of the Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center.
NewYork-Presbyterian today announced the launch of a Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center that provides high-quality health care to women who are pregnant and of childbearing age in underserved communities in New York City.
The Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center® is provided through a collaboration with March of Dimes and is their first in the tristate area. The mobile center brings pregnancy, post-birth, and women’s health care directly to women right in their communities, regardless of their insurance or immigration status.
Services include full obstetric and well-woman exams, prenatal and postpartum care, screenings for cervical cancer and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), breast exams, vaccination, laboratory testing, ultrasounds, contraceptive counseling, mental health screenings and referrals, and education about caring for a newborn with breastfeeding support for new moms. Patients are scheduled, as needed, with an appointment for follow-up care at a medical location.
“The Mom & Baby Mobile Health Center offers a bridge to care,” says Dr. Auja McDougale, the mobile center’s medical director, who is an obstetrician and gynecologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Bringing patients into the healthcare system so they have ongoing much-needed medical care is vital for healthy moms and healthy babies.”
About one in 18 infants is born to a woman receiving late or no prenatal care in New York, according to March of Dimes. Early and regular prenatal care can improve the likelihood of a healthy pregnancy and baby.
“March of Dimes is proud to assist families at every stage of the pregnancy journey, even when access to high-quality care is out of reach,” says Darcy Dreyer, March of Dimes Director of Maternal Infant Health for New York. “Our mobile health centers offer on-the-ground, maternal health programs with services aimed at bringing support, education and care to moms, moms-to-be and their families.”
Staffed by a team of NewYork-Presbyterian healthcare providers, the 40-foot unit has two exam rooms and an intake and lab area with refrigerators for specimens, medications, and vaccines.
NewYork-Presbyterian’s Division of Community and Population Health collaborates with community-based organizations to bring the mobile health unit to the women the groups serve. The Mom and Baby Bus currently visits two shelters for unhoused women and families in Queens, operated by the non-profit agency CAMBA, with plans to expand to additional neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn that have high rates of late or no prenatal care.
The mobile unit aims to help close the access gap, reduce health disparities, and improve health outcomes for moms, babies, and women of childbearing age.