Massachusetts expands use of doula services to cut rates of infant mortality

BOSTON — The birth of a child can be one of the most joyous, and challenging, moments in a women’s life.

Now there is an effort to make it an easier process for women from all walks of life.

Medicaid in Massachusetts will start covering doulas for its patients.

A doula is a trained birth coach who works with a woman during pregnancy and after the birth of a child.

New mom Jocelyn Mejia of Malden is calm and confident with her three-month-old daughter Nyla.

“I’m going to be honest. I’m an anxious person.”

She credits her comfort level to working with a doula before during and after Nyla’s birth.

“Once you tell someone you’re pregnant, the first thing they do is tell you how traumatic their birth was. That’s something I didn’t want.”

Mejia was able to pay out of pocket for a doula, but hiring a professional childbirth companion can be out of reach for many families.

“I would say that I wish everyone could have a doula to be honest,” added Mejia.

Now more women will be able to access doula services.

“This is new,” said Ananda Lowe, Director of the Boston Doula Circle. “These services will now be available and can be paid for by folks who use Medicaid as their health insurance.”

Lowe explained that when doula care is made use outcomes improve. The rate of premature births is significantly improved.”

This is good news in Boston where Black infants die more than three as frequently as white babies according to the Boston Public Health Commission.

“If we invest appropriately in doulas as part of systemic change for encouraging and supporting our prenatal pregnant patients, that’s going to be great,” said Dr. Renee Crichlow, the Chief Medical Officer at the Codman Square Health Center.

“We’ve already been reaching out to organizations that have doulas. We’d like every patient who is pregnant here who wants a doula to be able to have that because we do believe it’s going to help them have a successful pregnancy.”

Although doula services can cost a couple of thousand dollars, Dr. Crichlow says it’s a smart investment.

“You can approach it in that it’s the altruistic right thing to do, but you can also approach it in the, it’s the best way to spend our dollars. A single investment in this kind of service has long-term effects on our whole health care outcomes.”

For example, it could mean less time in a costly neo-natal unit for a preemie.

For Mejia, having a doula like Kerri Babis at her side was a huge peace of mind.

But in other cases, the potential is now there to alleviate a lot of pain and suffering.

“If you want to be patient-centered, and understand what’s happened, a baby has died, and the effect is that a family has been hurt.”

While Dr. Crichlow applauds expanding the use of doulas, she says it’s just one piece of a complex puzzle to reduce racial inequities for infant mortality.

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