Midwife Bus Rolls into Orange County, offers care to uninsured and under-insured women

Orlando, FL (November 18, 2022) – Starting Monday, November 21, 2022, uninsured and under-insured women in need of prenatal and postpartum care in Orange County can now receive holistic care from the Midwife Bus, a maternity health center on wheels where no one is denied services.

Founded in 2018, the Midwife Bus began offering care in 2020 after licensed midwife Brooke Schmoe, L.M., C.P.M., converted a 40-foot formally retired bloodmobile into a fully equipped maternity clinic. A 2020 grant from the Orlando Health Community Grant Program provided Schmoe with startup costs and the necessary funding to get the bus operational. The addition of vinyl wood flooring and inviting color schemes transforms the bus into a comfortable, welcoming environment where patients receive prenatal and postpartum care, exams, blood and lab work and lactation care. She initially provided her services for patients in Osceola County which has the highest percentage of Central Florida women without health insurance. With assistance from the grant, the Midwife Bus will also support work being done to reduce racial and ethnic disparities that exist among maternal patients.

“So many important milestones for the mother and the baby are measured in the months before the due date,” said Schmoe, L.M., C.P.M. “Limited-to-zero healthcare access during pregnancy means that potentially dangerous conditions, like pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes, are less likely to be caught and managed. This can spell disaster for both mother and baby.”

The bus can be found parked every Monday at the Grand Avenue Neighborhood Center located at 800 Grand Street, Orlando, FL, 32805. This is the bus’s fourth location and was methodically chosen to give patients in the Parramore community with limited or no transportation resources a better opportunity to get to and from the mobile clinic. With the addition of a new clinician, Schmoe and the Midwife Bus’s expanded services now span two counties, providing crucial care to women in several communities.

“The care women receive before and after childbirth is just as important as the care they receive in the delivery room,” said Lori A. Boardman, M.D., chief quality officer, Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies. “We know that babies whose moms have the regular check-ups recommended during pregnancy are more likely to be healthier at birth, but the positive impact doesn’t stop there. By having access to the Midwife Bus after their baby is born, these women can receive care in the crucial weeks after labor.”

The Midwife Bus sees all patients by appointment only. Patients can schedule an appointment by calling 321-354-6844 or visiting themidwifebus.org

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a not-for-profit healthcare organization with $8.1 billion of assets under management that serves the southeastern United States.

Founded more than 100 years ago, the healthcare system is recognized around the world for Central Florida’s only pediatric and adult Level I Trauma program as well as the only state-accredited Level II Adult Trauma Center in Pinellas County. It is the home of the nation’s largest neonatal intensive care unit under one roof, the only system in the southeast to offer open fetal surgery to repair the most severe forms of spina bifida, the site of an Olympic athlete training facility and operator of one of the largest and highest performing clinically integrated networks in the region. Orlando Health has pioneered life-changing medical research and its Graduate Medical Education program hosts more than 350 residents and fellows.

The 3,238-bed system includes 23 hospitals and emergency departments – 18 of which are currently operational with five coming soon. The system also includes nine specialty institutes, more than 100 adult and pediatric primary care practices, skilled nursing facilities, an in-patient behavioral health facility under the management of Acadia Healthcare, and more than 60 outpatient facilities that include imaging and laboratory services, wound care centers, home healthcare services in partnership with LHC Group, and urgent care centers in partnership with FastMed Urgent Care. More than 4,000 physicians, representing more than 100 medical specialties and subspecialties have privileges across the Orlando Health system, which employs more than 25,000 team members and more than 1,200 physicians.

In FY22, Orlando Health served nearly 142,000 inpatients and 3.9 million outpatients. The healthcare system provided more than $782 million in total value to the communities it serves in the form of charity care, community benefit programs and services, community building activities and more in FY 21, the most recent period for which this information is available. Additional information can be found at http://www.orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @orlandohealth.