Olivia Walton has made improving maternal health in the U.S. one of her main philanthropic goals. In recent years, she has commissioned research on maternal mortality issues and founded nonprofits searching for solutions to the crisis.
Walton was in Little Rock last week to promote her Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America campaign, a bipartisan effort to cut the nation’s maternal mortality rates in half in the next five years.
“My hope is that we can be a convener and we can be a catalyst," she said of the campaign. "When the state decides they want to direct money towards maternal health ... Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies can come in and do some matching grants to actually catalyze some of the states to spend more money and make these investments in maternal health.”
Walton spoke with Little Rock Public Radio before a public discussion with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. During the interview, Walton said the U.S. already has the tools to slash maternal mortality rates, but some states have yet to implement policies and procedures that would do so, like increasing access to healthcare for new moms.
“I would very much like to see Arkansas extend Medicaid [coverage] for 12 months postpartum. We haven’t done it yet, and that is a bummer. But I also give Gov. Sanders credit for doing a lot more than a lot of those other states have," she said.
Arkansas is the only U.S. state that has not moved to expand Medicaid to 12 months postpartum.
According to Walton, the state government thought programs like ARHOME, the state’s Medicaid expansion program, could provide a patchwork of solutions for new mothers who need healthcare. To her, the argument for expanding Medicaid coverage to 12 months postpartum in Arkansas has never been stronger.
Walton said Arkansas can lower its maternal mortality rates because she’s seen other states tackle the same problem.
“If you look at New Jersey, New Jersey has managed to cut their maternal mortality rate in half. How’d they do it? They got really serious about it as a state. There were about 80 pieces of legislation that were passed," she said.
"One of my favorite pieces because I think it’s incredibly effective is that they rolled out universal postpartum home visits. So, that looks like nurses actually showing up to your house. That is huge,” she continued.
Walton said current standards for care are often insufficient for new moms. Without better postpartum care, women and their doctors could miss serious issues like postpartum depression, heart problems, and other illnesses that could lead to emergency room visits if left untreated.
There are clear differences between Arkansas and New Jersey, or even Arkansas and European countries. Regardless of the place, the tools to solve this issue are similar, said Walton.
“I’m not trying to compare Arkansas to Scandinavia, right? A lot of reasons they're very different," she said. "But the reality is, many of those countries have a nominal maternal mortality rate because all of this stuff really is treatable, catchable, preventable – we are just not doing it.”
According to Walton, interventions as simple as taking a new mother’s blood pressure consistently can save lives by detecting heart issues early. She said these measures are important to solving the maternal health issue in Arkansas.
Walton was in Little Rock for a fireside chat with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders at a Maternal Health Summit sponsored by UAMS. Sanders, who joined Walton and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for the nationwide Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies campaign announcement in May, highlighted some of Arkansas’ programs aimed at helping mothers, like the 10:33 initiative, a program that connects people with faith and community organizations that can meet their immediate needs.
Sanders also shared her own experience when she gave birth to her daughter. She said this partly informs her thoughts on post-partum help, including a UAMS call center that reaches out to new mothers in Arkansas.
“I distinctly remember when I was pregnant with Scarlett, and you take all of these classes about childbirth. I was in a hospital! I was like isn’t that what the doctors are for?" she said.
"It’s when I left. I was like you’re just letting me leave here with this baby? Where’s the instruction manual? What do I do now? If you can put the car seat in, it’s like ‘Great, you can take the baby home.’ I was thinking, aren't there more steps?" added the Governor.
During the chat with Walton, Sanders did not commit to expanding Medicaid coverage to 12 months postpartum.
In the interview, Walton said that it’s important to think about maternal health as more than solely a women’s issue.
“It is a family issue and it’s so important that we frame it as such. Dad's play a huge role in this," she said. "And it very much is an economic issue because ... we’re losing women who want to go back into the workforce.”
Whether it’s postpartum visits, expanding Medicaid or access to things like blood pressure monitors, the tools and policies for Arkansas to perform better when it comes to maternal health already exist, Walton said. It’s just a matter of doing it.
“My hope is that in five years from now Arkansas can be a model for how a conservative rural state, who has been at the bottom of the rankings can get serious about maternal health and really see the investment payoff," Walton said.
