USA Health, the academic health system tied to the University of South Alabama, has begun outfitting rural hospitals across the region with fully stocked maternity and neonatal emergency carts, part of a broader push to protect expectant mothers and newborns in communities that have lost local labor and delivery services.
Rural areas of Alabama, like many parts of the country, have increasingly become “maternity deserts” as small hospitals close their obstetric units, often citing cost and staffing pressures. The trend has left some expectant families driving long distances for prenatal care and delivery, and has raised the odds that a baby could be born unexpectedly at a hospital with no dedicated OB/GYN team on hand.
In May, staff from USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital delivered the specialized carts to three rural Alabama hospitals that no longer operate labor and delivery departments. Rather than simply dropping off supplies, the team spent time on-site walking nurses and other hospital staff through how to use the equipment in an emergency delivery. Within a week of one of the deliveries, a baby was safely born at that hospital using the new cart.
Natalie Fox, DNP, chief executive officer of USA Health, said the program reflects months of work by the Children’s & Women’s Hospital and OB/GYN teams, from producing a training video to designing the carts themselves. She said the effort is already paying off for rural hospitals and the mothers and infants they serve across south Alabama.
The push to build the carts followed a wave of labor and delivery closures at rural community hospitals in south Alabama. While some of those units have been gone for decades, others have shut down more recently, prompting nervous calls from hospital leaders asking Children’s & Women’s Hospital staff for guidance on how to safely manage a delivery if one occurs without warning.
Those conversations turned into a broader action plan that paired the emergency carts with additional training tools and protocols. Kim Meitzler, director of nursing at Jackson Medical Center in Jackson, Alabama, said the support from the USA Health team has been consistent and responsive whenever her staff has needed help.
Meitzler said the delivery cart and its accompanying reference binder have made a noticeable difference in how her hospital prepares for births. Having every needed supply organized in a single, easily accessible location means staff are not left searching for equipment in the middle of an emergency, she said, which reduces stress and helps the team respond more efficiently.
A key piece of the initiative is a maternity and neonatal emergency training video produced by USA Health staff. Workers at rural hospitals can complete the training at no cost and earn continuing education credit as part of the health system’s broader education mission.
The rural outreach has also drawn on state support, including Rural Health Support funding USA Health receives and backing from the Alabama Department of Public Health. In recent years, the health system’s women’s services division has also rolled out programs such as HERO4MOM, which helps new mothers track their blood pressure after childbirth, a period when serious complications can develop quickly and sometimes go unnoticed without regular monitoring.
USA Health also runs three mobile clinics that extend health care access into rural communities, made possible in part by a $1.5 million state grant used to purchase and equip the vehicles. The mobile units are outfitted with medical equipment as well as audio and video capabilities, allowing them to provide clinical care, virtual consultations and community health outreach in areas of greatest need throughout the region.
Officials with USA Health said the broader goal behind the maternity carts and related outreach programs is to strengthen the support system available to rural health care providers, helping them extend specialty services to residents who might otherwise have to travel far from home to receive them.