CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs awarded $4 million grant

Published November 30, 2022

CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs was awarded a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to improve access to prenatal care for pregnant women across 11 southwest Arkansas counties over the next four years.

The grant is the the largest in the history of the hospital and will empower CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs to build upon the current Healthy Mom, Thriving Baby Project by establishing AR MOMS, a network of rural health care partners to coordinate pregnancy services from pre-conception through postpartum care. The program aims to decrease high-risk pregnancy rates across the target area, increase access to obstetric care, promote wellness and address health inequity that lead to Arkansas’ exceptionally high rates of infant and maternal mortality.

St. Vincent Hot Springs president Dr. Douglas Ross said,  “Residents in many of these counties currently have limited or no access to prenatal and maternity care resources. On top of that, communities struggle with food insecurity, poverty and limited access to technology among other challenges.”

In 2021, Arkansas reported the second highest infant mortality rate in the nation with 7.5 deaths per 1,000 births. Maternal mortality was also near the worst nationally at 28.9 deaths per 1,000, but that number nearly doubles for Black women in the state. 

The 11 counties served are Calhoun, Clark, Columbia, Dallas, Hot Spring, Howard, Montgomery, Ouachita, Pike, Polk and Sevier. 

“One in three women in these areas receive no first trimester obstetric care at all,” Ross said.