CVS Health® Foundation has announced that it awarded
$6.6 million in grants to Massachusetts General Hospital, American Heart Association and
March of Dimes to remove barriers to maternal health services, bridge the gap to quality care
and expand the doula workforce to reflect the communities it serves. Each grant will be focused
on improving maternal health outcomes for historically marginalized communities by
addressing the conditions most often associated with maternal mortality and severe morbidity.
“Black women have a maternal mortality rate than White women, and studies
continue to show that over 80 percent of maternal deaths in the U.S. could have been
preventable,” said Sheryl Burke, Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and
Chief Sustainability Officer, CVS Health. “By collaborating locally with organizations who know
the community best, we are working to diversify the doula workforce, and bring maternal health
services and educational resources to the people that need it most.”
To advance maternal health equity, the CVS Health Foundation is working with:
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
The CVS Health Foundation awarded MGH $1.66 million over three years to support the Mass
General Brigham (MGB) DrEaMH (Driving Equity and Maternal Health outcomes) Initiative. This
effort will expand the MGB Birth Partners Program and launch the Maternal Health Equity
Postpartum Program in Suffolk County. The programs aim to meet people where they are by
delivering maternal health services through a mobile van and increasing access to doula care
for people who are most likely to have adverse pregnancy outcomes during their third trimester
and 12 weeks post-birth.
“To promote maternal health equity, we need to offer perinatal and postpartum services in a
manner that is most accessible during and immediately after birth. These resources can set
families up for a lifetime of physical and mental wellbeing and are vital to ensuring health equity
in underserved populations,” said Elsie Taveras, MD, MPH, Chief Community Health and Health
Equity Officer for Mass General Brigham. “The CVS Health Foundation’s generous gift will allow
us at Mass General's Kraft Center for Community Health to continue as an important innovation
hub for testing, evaluating and scaling new community health programs that if successful, can
be adopted throughout MGB, our region and nation.”
March of Dimes
The CVS Health Foundation awarded $4 million over five years to support March of Dimes’ work
to expand doula care regionally, diversify the doula workforce and provide educational materials
to consumers and health care providers that highlight the benefits of doula care. The doulas will
focus on providing physical, emotional and informational support to pregnant people and their
partners before, during and after childbirth. March of Dimes is actively researching where this
program will have the greatest impact and will select six locations later this year to implement it.
“We are excited to work with CVS Health Foundation to further our shared commitment to
advance doula services and increase equitable access to maternity care. Doulas compliment
the clinical care families receive on their pregnancy journey and help navigate the maternity
care experience with greater levels of confidence,” said Dr. Elizabeth Cherot, President & CEO at
March of Dimes. “Through this partnership, we anticipate that there will be more doulas in the
workforce across the U.S. and more patients accessing maternity care support through them.”
American Heart Association
The CVS Health Foundation awarded the American Heart Association $1 million over two years
to help address hypertension, which is a key risk factor in the most common killer of new
mothers. The program will link women and health care providers to hypertension education,
monitoring and treatment during pregnancy and postpartum. It will use strategies, including
doula-mediated referrals, to increase the percentage of Black birthing persons with controlled
hypertensive disorders during pregnancy and postpartum in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and
Orlando, Florida.
“The American Heart Association is proud to continue to deepen the impact of our work with
CVS Health to improve the cardiovascular health of all women,” said Nancy Brown, Chief
Executive Officer, American Heart Association. “Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer
of new moms. Addressing the maternal health crisis in our country is at a critical point. By
meeting new mothers where they are and using culturally relevant resources and messengers
to address hypertension, we are helping women have healthier pregnancies which will improve
the lifelong health of both moms and their babies."