PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: Leah Garrett, lgarrett@cohdc.org, 202.407.7780
COMMUNITY OF HOPE AND MEDSTAR HEALTH PARTNER TO ADVANCE SAFE BABIES AND SAFE MOMS FOR DISTRICT FAMILIES
Hospital System and Health Center will build a holistic and integrated care model for DC mothers and young children
WASHINGTON (September 8, 2020) – Community of Hope (COH) is partnering with MedStar Health in its D.C. Safe Babies Safe Moms initiative, creating a holistic and integrated care model. Over the next five years, the organizations will work together to address the high maternal and infant mortality rates experienced by families in Washington, DC.
Through the partnership with MedStar Health, Community of Hope will further expand its collaboration with MedStar Georgetown University Hospital’s Department of Family Medicine and MedStar Washington Hospital Center’s Women and Infants’ Services. After the initial planning phase, these collaborations will provide immediate access to key services in the community including onsite sonography at all three of Community of Hope’s health centers with full-scope sonography at two locations; expanded perinatal care coordination; access to a maternal fetal medicine specialist; and increased access to hospital services for all prenatal patients regardless of insurance status. Additionally, the partnerships will build capacity by enhancing the family medicine residency partnership and supporting an increased focus on evaluating data and outcomes.
“This partnership leverages the strengths of two community-serving organizations and means that pregnant families in DC – regardless of their neighborhood or insurance – will have more integrated health care solutions. We look forward to building this new partnership to help moms and babies stay healthy for years to come,” said Kelly Sweeney McShane, President and CEO of Community of Hope.
The D.C. Safe Babies Safe Moms initiative at MedStar Health, made possible by an investment from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, brings together nationally recognized experts and care in the fields of women’s health, family medicine, behavioral health, and pediatrics. Embedded in the innovative model are partnerships with key local health nonprofits, including Community of Hope. Both MedStar Health and COH are well-known for their focus on improving outcomes for moms and babies in the District. The Clark Foundation has invested in several DC-area hospitals and community-based health providers to address maternal and infant health futures.
“Reducing maternal and infant mortality in the District will take an integrated, innovative, multi-stakeholder approach that brings together hospital-based care providers and community-based care providers. MedStar Health is excited to partner with Community of Hope to ensure the safety of babies and moms in the District,” said Dr. Angela D. Thomas, Assistant Vice President of Healthcare Delivery Research at MedStar Health and Executive Lead for Safe Babies Safe Moms.
“The Clark Foundation is investing in leaders in parent and child health care across the District, and we know that the impact of our investments is magnified through collaboration” said Ryan Palmer, Director of DC Community Initiatives at the Clark Foundation. ”This partnership leverages the complementary strengths of Community of Hope and MedStar Health to support a vision of a healthy, thriving future for all DC children.”
Community of Hope is grateful to MedStar Health and the Clark Foundation for the generosity and commitment to partners that makes the impact we expect in the years ahead possible.
ABOUT COMMUNITY OF HOPE
Founded in 1980, Community of Hope is a rapidly growing, innovative, and mission-driven nonprofit. Our team of over 350 caring, dedicated staff members provides housing, healthcare and supportive services for low-income families in Washington, DC. We work to improve health access and equity in Washington, DC. We operate three community health centers, offering medical, dental and emotional wellness as well as extensive patient supportive services which reached almost 14,000 people in 2019. We also work to end and prevent family homelessness in Washington, DC and are the only nonprofit in DC providing all services along the homelessness continuum, having impacted 1,230 families in 2019.
ABOUT THE MEDSTAR HEALTH
About MedStar Health
At MedStar Health, we use the best of our minds and the best of our hearts to serve our patients, those who care for them, and our communities. Our 30,000 associates and 4,700 affiliated physicians are committed to living this promise through our core SPIRIT values—Service, Patient first, Integrity, Respect, Innovation, and Teamwork—across our more than 300 locations including 10 hospitals, ambulatory, and urgent care centers. As the medical education and clinical partner of Georgetown University, MedStar Health is training future physician leaders to care for the whole person and is advancing care through the MedStar Health Research Institute. From our telemedicine and urgent care services to the region’s largest home health agency, we’re committed to providing high-quality health care that’s also easy and convenient for our patients. At MedStar Health—It’s how we treat people. Learn more at MedStarHealth.org.
ABOUT THE CLARK FOUNDATION
The A. James & Alice. B Clark Foundation partners with grantees who build practical, immediate and concrete connections between effort and opportunity, and focuses its investments in the following areas: educating engineers to solve society’s toughest problems, improving the lives of veterans and their families, and providing members of the DC community the best opportunity to thrive.
