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Maternal health care has become a priority for Medi-Cal, which has expanded maternal health care to its core services, allowing doulas (midwives) to provide care to pregnant people from conception through 12 months postpartum.
Doulas or midwives are women who accompany future mothers, playing the role of a professional assistant focused on providing emotional and physical support to pregnant women during the pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum process.
As the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) continues to transform Medi-Cal (a comprehensive health coverage program for children and families in California), it is implementing doulas into its services.
These, she said, are essential to ending racial and ethnic disparities during and after pregnancy in African-American, Native American, Latino, and Asian-American families, as well as Pacific Islanders, since doula care can help improve birth outcomes and reduce cesarean sections, epidurals, premature births, low birth weight, and postpartum anxiety and depression.
Medi-Cal covers 1 in 3 Californians, or 15 million, including 1.3 million children, so maternal health programs are essential to living healthier lives well beyond conception, experts said during a briefing by Ethnic Media Services.
Erica Holmes, chief of the Department of Health Services' (DHCS) Benefits Division, said work is underway to provide necessary care before, during and after pregnancy through doulas who provide more focused and personalized support to pregnant people.
The expert explained that doula services prevent complications during pregnancy and are a great support in health services, including personalized support for the pregnant person, as well as for children up to one year after delivery. In addition, they provide advice on breastfeeding and are a link with other areas of well-being.
Holmes also explained that a directory of doulas has been created, where pregnant people can even find legal services if necessary, providing a safe space for those who feel unprotected.
In March 2022, a process was initiated to certify midwives so that they can offer their services in a healthy and safe manner, stressed the doctor in law and criminal justice.
"The department will continue to strengthen its services to reduce mortality and decrease racial and ethnic disparities related to maternity issues.”, Holmes concluded.
Medi-Cal doula provider Kairis Chiaji explained that these “midwives” can be compared to a personal trainer, as their job is to get to know people and provide the support necessary to meet the physical and psychological needs of pregnant people, helping to create a plan for how their birth will take place and the process to get there.
She also pointed out that doulas offer plans to support families and friends, all with the aim of creating a healthy and safe space for the new member.
For Chiaji, a professional and community doula with more than 25 years of experience, supporting indigenous or Afro-descendant people is very important, since they do not always have adequate medical services, either due to fear of the way they will be treated, their language, or lack of information; this is where doulas have the advantage of being close and transmitting the trust of a family.
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