Maternal healthcare report handed over to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Arkansas mother speaks on possible improvements

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A new report now in the hands of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders outlines possible ways to tackle an ongoing issue in Arkansas with maternal healthcare.

The committee the governor formed to put the report together gives recommendations in four focus areas: data reporting & technology, education & outreach, clinical & practice improvements and healthcare access & Medicaid.

The committee recommends developing a dashboard for reporting key maternal health indicators, evaluating Medicaid reimbursement rates, expanding OBGYN residencies and developing a maternal health education & advertising campaign.

Heather Havranek is a mom in Arkansas who has dealt with one of the biggest fears pregnant women face: experiencing a stillbirth.

She said that she found out at 39 weeks, the day before she gave birth, that her daughter Paisley no longer had a heartbeat.

“Once I had her, it was the loudest silence I’d ever heard,” Havranek said. “You wait to hear a baby cry and there’s no cry.”

FOX 16 News asked Havranek what more she thinks doctors could do in her case, and she said she believes the state could help cover grief therapy for moms of stillborn babies, some sort of assistance in the funeral planning process and more resources and research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Because of Havranek’s loss, her father, St. Rep. Les Eaves (R-Searcy) sponsored Paisley’s Law in 2021, which provides parents a tax credit if their baby dies in the womb or 20 weeks after pregnancy.

The report submitted to Sanders also details several activities that have already been completed or are underway, including holding stakeholder meetings in five pilot counties that had high rates of women receiving no prenatal care, developing a transforming maternal health model grant application and reviewing several key Medicaid processes tied to maternal care.

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