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Northpoint Health and Wellness Center

NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center is a multi-specialty medical, dental and mental health center and human service agency in North Minneapolis. Many children and their families experience challenges to healthy development with fewer protective factors to mediate those risks due to structural racism, historical trauma, poverty and other factors.


Northpoint’s Whole Family Systems Initiative prototype focuses on providing culturally responsive perinatal care to African American birthing persons in Minneapolis. The target population is African American birthing persons enrolled in a Medical Assistance or MinnesotaCare plan and residing in zip codes of 55411 and 55412 (North Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park).


Explore the prototypes

Prototypes

Local community organization grantees work with families to create innovative program designs called “prototypes,” which address racial disparities in human services and outcomes facing the families in their community.

Reducing Black maternal health disparities with opt-out doula services and comprehensive integrated services from community health workers

This prototype is designed to improve the health of birthing persons and their babies, enhance the experience of perinatal care, and ultimately, reduce racial disparities in parent and child outcomes in Minnesota. There are significant disparities in Black maternal and infant health. 

Compared to white women, Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause, experience maternal morbidity and mistreatment by health care providers at a higher rate, and infants born to Black women are over twice as likely to die, with 60% of those deaths being determined as preventable (CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, 2021). Northpoint seeks to identify what system, program, and practice barriers exist and how they contribute Black maternal and infant health disparities. To identify the barriers and gaps in the healthcare system, Northpoint will leverage family feedback, patient experience, and provider input, to propose more accessible holistic care that prioritizes, rather than ignore, racial and cultural components of health. In addition to the national health disparities among Black women and their children, the state of Minnesota has some of the worst birthing disparity rates in the nation for Black women. 

The prototype is designed around three major components:

  1. Group-based care and support for 15-30 Black birthing persons via monthly group education meetings; with individual care coordination.
  2. Opt-out doula referral model, where a participant is assigned a community-based doula at enrollment.
  3. Community health worker integration through group education and collaboration between providers and community partners.

To close the gap in health outcomes at the system level, NorthPoint will use a multifaceted approach to improve birthing outcomes for Black birthing persons. The proposed Whole Family Systems Initiative prototype will provide insight into system barriers and guide policy recommendations around opt-out doula services, increased reimbursement rates for doulas, expanded eligibility for enhanced services, an expanded role for community health workers in obstetrics, and improvements to the cumbersome reimbursement process. 

News and resources

Minnesota maternal mortality report | Minnesota Department of Health

This report includes the findings of the Minnesota Department of Health’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee. It includes birthing people who died during or within one year after the end of the pregnancy in 2017-2018. A comprehensive review of these deaths was done by the multidisciplinary committee, which includes diverse members from systems and programs serving birthing people. The committee’s review makes recommendations for changes to policy, programs, systems, practice guidelines and health care providers services. These recommendations focus on preventing pregnancy-associated deaths and improving health equity and birth outcomes.

Download report (PDF)

 

Maternal health education and wellness services | Everyday Miracles

Everyday Miracles is committed to improving maternal health and reducing health disparities in communities at risk for poor outcomes. Everyday Miracles strives to provide compassionate, culturally aware support and a nonjudgmental, welcoming community.

Most of the organization’s services are available to those on a Medicaid health care plan at zero out-of-pocket costs. They are also open to the entire community, focusing on accessibility. All funds go directly back to Everyday Miracles to support core programming. Services include doula support, birth, breastfeeding and parent education, prenatal yoga, car seat program, chiropractic care and more. 

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