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Doula is an ancient Greek term that has come to mean "mothering the
mother; traditionally a Doula is a trained labor assistant, but the
concept now also covers perinatal education and support.
The Community Doula Program (CDP) was founded in 1996 by Nadia Stein
with a seed grant from the March of Dimes, as a result of studies she
helped coordinate in the late 80's , which showed improved birthing
results when women received emotional support from a Doula (JAMA 1991; 265:2197-2201) . Ms. Stein recognized the pivotal need for such services for teens and their babies, and the March of Dimes seeded the program.
As a result of the program's perinatal outcomes, Doulas were asked to replicate their services in 2000, leading to the review and formalization of internal procedures and data-tracking mechanisms and the establishment of additional service centers, particularly at Austin and Lee High Schools.
Recently the Community Doula Program received very significant requests for service, leading the Board to seek alternative organizational arrangements in order to meet the exploding demand.
In the summer of 2006 the CDP had the opportunity to seek a merger with Healthy Family Initiatives (HFI), because of the perceived strategic fit of both organizations. HFI would provide the CDP the organizational structure enabling the latter to focus on cultivating its operational capacity, in order to serve the large clients wanting to implement the program's integrated perinatal approach.
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