PROJECT

Maternal health care access at Heywood Hospital

Client

Heywood Hospital

Building on our previous partnerships with Heywood Hospital, ICH is supporting the development of customized outreach and educational materials. These resources are designed to better meet the needs of pregnant people in the community who speak Spanish or Haitian Creole, as well as those managing substance use disorders (SUD).  ICH trained and provided technical assistance to members of the hospital’s Maternal Care Hub—a new coalition of community members, medical professionals, and service providers with a stake in improving maternity health care in North Central Massachusetts—who will gather information on the care needs and marketing preferences of local Haitian and Spanish-speaking communities, as well as those managing SUD. ICH identified best practices for the hospital’s marketing and education teams to use when crafting messaging that is informative, inclusive, and culturally relevant. In the next phase of our work together, ICH will train Maternal Care Hub members on cognitive debriefing to ensure the effectiveness of future advertising and educational materials. The goal of this work is to equip Heywood Hospital and the members of its Maternal Care Hub with knowledge, resources, and tools to strengthen language access and cultural relevance for all current and prospective patients, and to continue to meet the needs of its diverse communities as they evolve over time.