Regional One Health’s Maternal One Model (MOM) Program is designed to connect expectant moms with the health care and social support resources they need to thrive.
By helping patients access regular prenatal care along with transportation, healthy food, baby supplies, and more, the program is making a real difference in the community.
Leaders say MOM is not only improving the health and wellbeing of mothers and their babies, it is building stronger, healthier families.
Having a healthy pregnancy and baby requires good health care…but it isn’t just about health care.
Jehan Ellis, Maternal One Model Program Manager, thinks of it like this:
An expectant mom goes to her prenatal visit. Her doctor tells her to eat healthier. They ask her to monitor her blood pressure. They schedule her next appointment and encourage her to avoid stress because it isn’t good for her or her baby.
It’s all great advice – until reality intervenes, Ellis said.
“Maybe she lives in a food dessert and can’t get to a bigger grocery store. A blood pressure monitor may cost her 50 bucks that she can’t spare. She can’t find a ride to her next appointment. She’s trying not to stress, but she’s making minimum wage and she doesn’t know where her next meal is coming from,” Ellis said. “We talk about health care, but what about her other needs?”
“Providing access to medical care is essential, but it isn’t enough. We need to bridge the gaps between the patient and community resources they need so they can truly improve their health.”
Enter the Maternal One Model (MOM) Program, which was started at Regional One Health in August 2024.
“Providing access to medical care is essential, but it isn’t enough,” says Jehan Ellis, MOM Program Manager. “We need to bridge the gaps between the patient and community resources they need so they can truly improve their health.”
Regional One Health Women’s Services leaders noted the success of the hospital’s ONE Health complex care program, which began in 2018 thanks to Regional One Health Foundation donors. ONE Health made Regional One Health a national leader in complex care by helping vulnerable patients access regular medical care and support for social determinants of health.
“We thought, ‘This program is working for the adult population, why not have a program that works for our maternal population?’” Ellis said.
They earned a state grant to provide services to eligible patients who present to the Labor & Delivery Emergency Department. Later, that expanded to include antepartum and postpartum patients who qualify for services.
Ellis said a number of evidence-based factors determine who qualifies for MOM.
Patients can qualify if they have a high-risk pregnancy due to HIV, preeclampsia, diabetes, or another diagnosis. Teenage moms can qualify, as can parents whose baby is in the NICU. They also consider social determinants of health such as access to housing, food, transportation, etc.
Moms typically check several boxes, Ellis said. While patients with short-term needs can access help through other programs, patients enrolled in MOM usually need multiple services and can expect to stay in the program for up to a year.
“MOM is designed for patients who need a lot of support and encouragement,” Ellis said. “We stay with them for a full year to help with not only pregnancy and birth, but with making sure the baby gets the care they need.”
The MOM Program starts with a conversation about the patient’s needs. The patient and a social worker identify the top priorities and work on navigating resources available in the community. As the patient’s needs and goals evolve, they reevaluate and offer additional support.
“Our social workers have that wealth of knowledge to make the right referrals,” Ellis said. “They can connect moms to food banks and programs to get baby items like diapers, car seats, breast pumps, and formula. They help apply for WIC or disability benefits. They help with housing and transportation to appointments or even to a grocery store if a mom lives in a food dessert.”
The MOM Program connects patients to education and community resources for healthy food, housing, transportation, baby supplies and more – making sure moms have the tools they need to thrive.
MOM has helped patients get blood pressure monitors, pay utility bills, and even get supplies for their period. “We can address period poverty,” Ellis said. “If you have to choose between feeding your baby and buying a pack of sanitary napkins, what do you do? We help our patients get what they need so they don’t have to stress about day-to-day things like that.”
It is a huge benefit to have someone who understands the guidelines, which are confusing and vary across the program’s service area of Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri. For example, Ellis said, even something as specific as the brand of formula a patient can access depends on which state they live in.
“Our social workers target what each mom really needs,” she said. “We don’t just tell her to take care of herself and her baby when she doesn’t have the means to do so. We fill those gaps.”
In their first year, they supported over 150 patients, with new moms enrolling all the time. Ellis can think of numerous success stories.
After a mom showed photos of bullet holes riddling her apartment, social workers helped her with a deposit on rent in a safer neighborhood.
Another mom was connected with Meals on Wheels after she asked to step out of a pediatrics visit so her kids wouldn’t overhear her share her concerns about not having enough to eat.
Several dads admitted they were overwhelmed by caring for both their partner and baby until the MOM team stepped in to help.
The MOM Program is designed to improve the health of the entire family. “This program benefits moms, families, and the entire community,” Program Manager Jehan Ellis says.
“This program has meant so much because it provides security,” Ellis said. “It helps improve the health not only of our moms and babies, but of the entire household.”
The benefit reaches beyond individual lives. Ellis said the long-term goal is to reduce pre-term births in the region and improve maternal mortality and morbidity rates in the Mid-South.
As Regional One Health looks to build a new campus, the MOM program is an opportunity to emerge as a national leader in complex care and maternal care.
With that in mind, Ellis and her team are actively exploring opportunities to fund the program after their grant expires in June of 2026.
“We’re looking at ways to continue to provide our moms with what they need. This program benefits moms, families, and the entire community,” she said. “It is an alternative model that can really set us apart of everyone else. As we look to the future with a new facility, Regional One Health can set the bar as a leader in maternal care.”