The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute announces its next Newsmaker Breakfast, a monthly event highlighting important issues impacting Utahns.
While Utah’s maternal health outcomes are generally better than national averages, not all communities experience the same access to comprehensive maternal health care. Some rural areas face long travel times to birthing hospitals. Some counties have no OB-GYNs, and many Utah women struggle with rising mental health needs, substance use, and cost-related barriers to care—before, during, and after pregnancy.
What do the latest data reveal about where these maternal health care gaps exist? How are providers, public health leaders, and community clinics working to improve access? And what must we consider now to ensure Utah’s growing and changing population has access to equitable, high-quality maternal health care in the years ahead?
Join Utah’s health care leaders as they discuss new data from the Gardner Institute’s Maternal Health in Utah report, produced in partnership with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. Panelists will share their thoughts on what it will take to improve maternal health outcomes statewide.
The conversation will be moderated by Gardner Institute director of public policy research Laura Summers.
Panelists:
Ashley Moretz, MIM
Deputy Division Director, Population Health
Utah Department of Health and Human Services
Kasey Shakespeare, MHA, MPA, MA
Executive Director
Rural Health Association of Utah
Sarah Woolsey, MD
Medical Director
Association of Utah Community Health (AUCH)
Danielle Pendergrass, WHNP
Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, Business Owner, and Nurse Consultant
Eastern Utah Women’s Health
Melanie Beagley, MS
Senior Health Research Analyst
Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute
