Collaborating for Safe Community Birth
In celebration of Birth Center Week 2024, convened by Birth Center Equity, dozens of collaborators gathered to “Imagine a world where birth is safe, sacred, loving, and celebrated for every community; where all birthing people have the opportunity to birth with midwives in a community birth center shaped by the dreams, hopes, and needs of the community they call home.” [Click here to check out panels, Birth Center Stories and more!]
We were thrilled and honored to be part of this incredible event! Amy, Jen, and our Step Up Together collaborative partners at Birth Detroit and Henry Ford Health, came together to explore how interprofessional drills can build strong, collaborative care for safe community birth.
Their webinar offered an in-depth look at strategies to foster safe and effective partnerships between community birth centers and hospital systems, emphasizing the importance of teamwork in creating a seamless, supportive birth experience.
Click to watch the recording. 👆🏼
Here are some key takeaways:
1. Community and Collaboration are Central to Safe Births
High-quality, community-driven care requires strong relationships between birth centers and hospitals built early in the process. But collaboration is not just about aligning practices and processes — it’s about fostering mutual respect between care providers to ensure that everyone is working together with the birthing person’s best interests in mind.
2. Birth Detroit’s Commitment to Community Care
Birth Detroit shared their commitment to safety as one of their core values, with Angela Foster, Lead Midwife, noting, “This partnership helped us to work on communication and care coordination between Birth Detroit and Henry Ford Health.”
Birth Detroit is a unique nonprofit birth center founded by and serving Black and Indigenous communities. Though their physical center isn’t even open yet, they are already leading by example in preparing for safe, seamless care. Their upcoming full transfer drill, supported by the Step Up Together team, will focus on the process of transferring newborns in emergency situations.
“We’re super excited to have Step Up Together present for our full transfer drill,” Angela said. Our partnership and shared mission will create a seamless care continuum between their community birth and hospital settings, ensuring that patients receive the safest, most respectful care possible, even during emergencies.
3. Emergency Preparedness through Interdisciplinary Drills
The heart of the Step Up Together program is running clinical drills to simulate emergencies that might occur during community births. These drills test the transfer process and highlight any areas that need improvement. Drills allow birth centers, hospitals and EMS to strengthen communication, clarify roles, and ensure everyone is prepared when a real emergency arises.
️ Do This First
- Watch the webinar recording and choose from dozens of other amazing panels and events on Birth Center Equity’s Youtube channel.
- Download and share the AIM Community Birth Transfer Resource Kit to access resources for improving perinatal safety in your setting.
- Register for the October Focused Action Cycle to start implementing drills with the support of a like-minded community of care providers!
Thank you for your commitment to excellence and equity. We can have safe and respectful care everywhere, if we work together.
