Counties: Alachua, Bradford, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Marion, Putnam, Sumter, Suwannee, Union
About: Investing in Doula care during pregnancy produces proven, long-term returns for mothers, babies and families. The Healthy Start Doula Program, using the G.R.O.W. Doula model, improves local maternal and child health systems of care. The goal of the Healthy Start Doula program is to increase community health literacy and improve outcomes among participating families by addressing factors that contribute to fetal death, infant and maternal mortality and morbidity. The program acknowledges that all families should have access to Doula care.
Services: The Healthy Start Doula program provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother before, during and shortly after childbirth, to help her achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible.
How to enroll: As soon as we are ready to start accepting and servicing referrals for doula services through our Healthy Start Doula program, we will be sure to send out information letting all our Healthy Start participants and community partners know. We are hopeful we will be able to start this next phase soon.
In the interim, you can find doulas serving Medicaid and private pay clients by visiting The Doula Network (TDN) website (There are several of our community doulas trained and certified in the G.R.O.W. Doula model available on the TDN website). Please go to www.thedoulanetwork.com and click on “For Birthing Persons” at the top and then click “check availability for your state.” Once you input your state, you will be able to filter by the County where you live.
Our partnerships: The Healthy Start Doula program is overseen by the Healthy Start of North Central Florida and Central Healthy Start coalitions, which are affiliate partners of WellFlorida Council, in collaboration between Indian River County Healthy Start Coalition and the G.R.O.W. Doula model.
