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November 06, 2007
UP Campus Medical Students Receive Helping Hands Grant
A group of medical students from the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (MSU-CHM) Marquette Campus is working to address the issue of postpartum depression (PPD), a major health issue for new mothers.
The American Psychiatric Foundation has awarded a $3,750 Helping Hands grant to help create the Upper Peninsula Maternal Emotional Support Program (UPMESP). The program was conceived by Sarah Roberts, a fourth-year medical student in the MSU-CHM Rural Physician Program.
Working with Marquette General Health System, the UPMESP’s goals are to establish a postpartum depression risk assessment program at Marquette General Hospital’s Family Birthing Center, develop educational materials for new mothers and increase community and physician awareness. Once the program is piloted at Marquette General, it will be available to hospitals throughout the Upper Peninsula.
Connie Koutouzos, program director for the MGH Women’s and Children’s Center, said, “We are pleased to have this opportunity to provide our new mothers improved access to support and treatment options for postpartum depression, and more importantly education to assist with identifying mothers who are at risk. This is a significant health risk for new mothers, and we appreciate the initiative and efforts by Sarah Roberts and the other medical students involved with the project.”
Primary among these goals is identifying new mothers most at risk of developing postpartum depression and providing them with the support they need.
“I became interested in the education and support of new moms because of how a personal tragedy involving postpartum depression has affected my own family,” Roberts said.
“Nationally, there are very few hospital-based PPD screening programs. We’d like to help change that by proving programs like this can make a difference,” Roberts added.
Roberts brought the idea to fellow medical students Frank Powers, Davita Burkhead-Weiner, Tihele Walkowsky and Meredith Rumon, who formed the core group investigating the issue, identifying goals, building support and seeking funding.
Roberts and her colleagues developed a survey, which was sent to Upper Peninsula primary care physicians involved in prenatal, postpartum and first-year care of new mothers. Responses indicated consistent education and screening would improve outcomes by facilitating early identification and treatment of postpartum depression.
“I am pleased to support this effort,” said David Luoma, MD, MSU-CHM community assistant dean and CEO of the Upper Peninsula Health Education Corporation, which coordinates both the MSU-CHM UP campus and the Marquette Family Medicine Residency Program.
“The students saw a need, worked to identify its scope, rallied support and will now go about facilitating, if not the solution, a major step forward in addressing this issue,” Luoma added.
If you are interested in the services of this program or to contribute to the program’s initiatives, please contact Sarah Roberts at the Upper Peninsula Health Education Corporation,
(906) 228-7970. Or visit www.upmesp.org for more information on the program and postpartum depression.
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