Nurses at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have started calling postpartum moms across Arkansas to ensure that they and their babies are off to a healthy start. Ozarks at Large’s Fallon Frank reports.
In Arkansas, the weeks and months after childbirth can be some of the most dangerous for mothers, and too often, those risks go unnoticed.
“In the last rankings, Arkansas ranked number 50th out of the nation in maternal mortality.”
Dr. Nirvana Manning is an OB/GYN at UAMS and the chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She says what’s even more alarming than deaths are the complications that permanently change lives. She says that patients and families have lifelong issues after delivery. Arkansas reviews every maternal death up to a year after birth and the timing of those deaths tells a critical story.
“One-third of them are happening during the immediate hospitalization, which is what you kind of think of with maternal death, like some complication during delivery or immediately postpartum. About one-third of those are happening in the first six weeks afterward. And then one-third of those are happening up to three, four, five, six months later.”
Many of those later deaths are tied to mental health, substance use, and gaps in care; especially when insurance coverage disappears.
“Over 60% of the patients that deliver in our state are on Medicaid and they lose coverage at sixty days. So there’s these gaps in care so these patients come in with issues but if they don’t have insurance coverage it’s really hard to get the care that you need.”
Dr. Manning says those gaps in combination with stigma often keep new moms from asking for help.
“You think you should be able to do this, and so a lot of patients just don't even know to call.”
That reality helped spark the idea behind UAMS’s Proactive Postpartum Call Center. Dr. Manning says it’s a program that doesn’t wait for moms to reach out.
“We wanted to do something where we meet them where they are, and so we just call everybody.”
The goal is for every postpartum mom in Arkansas to receive a call, no stigma, no pressure: just support.
“You may not need anything. You may need 12 things.”
Healthcare providers walk through a structured questionnaire. That includes things like checking physical recovery and other basic needs.
“Do you have housing? Do you have formula? Do you have diapers?”
Plus, mental health checks are a key part of every conversation.
“And I think postpartum anxiety is so very underdiagnosed.”
Dr. Manning says too often these struggles are dismissed as normal; when they’re not.
“This is real. That what you’re going through is hard.”
The Proactive Postpartum Call Center launched in Spring of 2025. Now, just eight months later, the call center has already made an impact.
“Sixty-seven percent of people have answered the phone call. Twenty-four percent of them have reported an urgent maternal warning sign, and 10% of them have screened positive for postpartum depression.”
Dr. Manning says those numbers represent lives that might otherwise have slipped through the cracks.
“So if we could avert some of these never events by this, I mean we’re already ahead of the game.”
The program is expanding quickly now reaching mothers far beyond UAMS. Dr. Manning says the call center is meant to be for the entire state. However, rural communities face some of the biggest challenges. And those challenges fall hardest on already vulnerable populations.
“Our discrepancies in lower socioeconomic status, black moms, I mean the healthcare outcomes are more poor for our state. And that is a proven data point.”
Still, Dr. Manning says change is possible and already happening.
“There are just so many amazing people working in this space right now.”
Her hope is simple and ambitious: that Arkansas can be near the top when it comes to quality of care and that patients can feel safe and heard. She says the goal is clear for new moms in Arkansas.
“Them to know to advocate for themselves, if they feel as though something is wrong and to elevate that care to the next level.”
And for families and communities, she says support can make all the difference.
“Moms are really overwhelmed, and they get forgotten in that process.”
As Arkansas works to reduce maternal deaths, Dr. Manning says the message behind the postpartum call center is simple: help shouldn’t depend on who asks first.
“You know, I hope that in the near future, especially as this call center touches more lives, that there is a very clear line that they know they can call for help.”
Postpartum support and resources for Arkansas moms are available at myarkansasbirth.org.
