Perinatal Outreach Education & Consultation Services Grant
The Perinatal Outreach Education and Consultation (POEC) Services grant is a program designed to provide services to health care providers who care for pregnant Maine citizens and their newborns. POEC program services are provided upon request to all Maine perinatal care providers including physicians, nurses, certified nurse midwives, certified professional midwives and other individuals or groups with interest in healthy outcomes for pregnant people and infants.
Funded by: Maine CDC
Grant award: Competitive bid every six years. Awarded for two years. May be renewed up to two cycles.
Current cycle: through June 2025
Service area: Southern Region
Program goals
- Reducing maternal, fetal and infant mortality and morbidity in Maine
- Strengthening the factors that contribute to safe and healthy perinatal outcomes
- Promoting and sustaining a statewide system of high quality perinatal services that are accessible to all residents
Contact Us
Emily Watson, Nurse Coordinator
Kathy Taylor, Administrative Support
Phone: 207-662-2696 or 207-662-2167 or 800-662-7060 (toll-free)
Fax: 207-662-6063
Education and Resources
Education is available on a by-request basis, examples include:
- NRP Provider and Instructor Mentorship
- Electronic Fetal Monitoring
- Perinatal Substance Abuse
- Obstetric Emergencies and Neonatal Resuscitation Simulations
- STABLE
- Breastfeeding Skills
- Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy
- Others upon request
Recorded Webinars
- Supporting Breastfeeding Families with Substance Use Disorders
- Quarterly Training Benefits of Kangaroo Care and Swaddle Bathing
- Preventing Maternal Injury and Death Quarterly Training
- Safe Sleep Quarterly Education
- Pregnancy and Smoking – Quarterly Education
- Hypertension in Pregnancy
- Prenatal Breastfeeding Education-Conversational Approaches and Essential Topics
- Orientation to NAS
- Threshold of Viability
- Can I use Marijuana While Breastfeeding?
- Onset Sepsis Calculator
- Cue Based Breastfeeding
- HIE & Therapeutic Hypothermia
- Neonatal Assessment The First Few Hours
- Clinical Quality Improvement Series – Still Births
- NRP 8th Edition Update
- Prenatal Mental Health Treatment & Lactation
Perinatal Transport Case Conferences are a multi-disciplinary review of transported mothers and babies.
- Literature reviews on any perinatal topic
- Individual case reviews
The perinatal outreach program is informed by evidence-based practices as well as strong collaborations with several community partners and professional organizations.
Community Partners
State of Maine Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
State of Maine Office of Child and Family Services
Maine Families Home Visiting Program
State of Maine Public Health Nursing
Maine State Breastfeeding Coalition (MSBC)
Professional Organizations
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN)
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
American College of Certified Nurses Midwives (ACNM)
The work plan includes several areas intended to improve perinatal outcomes throughout the state of Maine. Activities and goals include:
- Completion and dissemination of the Snuggle ME Guidelines (perinatal addiction and newborn narcotic withdrawal guidelines)
- Collaborating with hospitals on safe prevention of the primary c-section
- Collaborating with hospitals to support breastfeeding initiatives
- Reducing the number of infants dying in unsafe sleep conditions
- Promoting high quality safe home and hospital birth practices
- Levels of Care Assessment Tool (LOCATe)/Perinatal System of of Care
- Aid in the reduction of maternal and infant mortality rates
- Technical Assistance and Support for programs and initiatives related to Perinatal Addiction and Mental Health
Activities include:
- Member, Maternal and Infant Mortality and Resiliency Review
- Coordinator, Perinatal Leadership Coalition of Maine four times per year
- Planner, the MCH Annual Conference
Goals
- Support quality improvement initiatives in Maine to increase prenatal breastfeeding education, breastfeeding initiation, and exclusive breastfeeding through six months
- Assist in improving the breastfeeding education and services you provide for new moms and babies.
Goals over the next 18 months are to:
- Increase % of infants ever breastfed (from 85.3%, according to the 2018 CDC BF Report Card)
- Increase % of infants exclusively breastfed at six months (from 34.1%, 2018 CDC BF Report Card)
- Increase # of milk depots (two in Maine in 2018)
- Increase access to Pasteurized Donor Human Milk (PDHM) in Level one and Level two nurseries for medically-indicated supplementation
Sample Policies
- Use of Pasteurized Donor Human Milk Policy on the Mother Baby Care Unit (MaineHealth Maine Medical Center, Nov 2018)
- ABM’s Model Maternity Policy Supportive of Breastfeeding (Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, 2018)
- Supplementary Feedings in the Term Breastfed Neonate (excluding NICU) (MaineHealth Maine Medical Center, Oct 2018)
- ABM’s Supplementation Policy (Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, 2017)
- ABM’s Position Statement on Informal Breast Milk Sharing for the Term Healthy Infant (Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, 2017)
Resources
State
- 6 for ME:Maine’s 6 Steps to Improve Breastfeeding
- Maine CDC, Breastfeeding Promotion and Support
- Maine State Breastfeeding Coalition (MSBC)
National
- American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Breastfeeding
- Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM)
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Breastfeeding
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Breastfeeding
- LACTMED (Drugs and Lactation Database)
- Baby-Friendly USA (Hospital Designation program)
- March of Dimes
- Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast
- US DHHS Office of Women’s Health, Breastfeeding
Patient Education Resources
- Your Guide to Breastfeeding, Office of Women’s Health
- Variety of free/inexpensive patient education handouts, videos, etc. from CHEER (Center for Health Equity, Education and Research)
- Substance Use (marijuana, opiates, etc.) and Breastfeeding:
- Breastfeeding Education in other Languages
- https://medlineplus.gov/languages/breastfeeding.html
- https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/baby-friendly-resources/foreign-language-resources/
- https://globalhealthmedia.org/videos/breastfeeding/
- www.llli.org (select preferred language from the drop-down menu at the top of each page)
Perinatal Breastfeeding Newsletters
Breastfeeding Educational Opportunities
- United States Lactation Consultant Association Recorded Webinars (wide-range of excellent webinars; pricing available for members and non-members)
- B.E.S.T. Connection Breastfeeding Conference
Prenatal Education Webinar Series
- Prenatal Breastfeeding Education-Conversational Approaches and Essential Topics
- Can I use Marijuana While Breastfeeding?
- Cue Based Breastfeeding
- Milk Supply: Understanding, Optimizing, and Preparing for Different Scenarios
- Prenatal Mental Health Treatment & Lactation
Contact
Contact Kara Kaikini at kaikik@mmc.org with breastfeeding questions. She is ready to help you on your path to improving breastfeeding support in your hospital, practice or community.