Expecting mothers in Delaware County now have a new tool to find support through pregnancy, labor and postpartum recovery. Family Village and the Delaware County Health Department have launched an online doula directory listing 21 trained birth professionals, searchable by language, specialty and whether a provider accepts Medicaid.
The directory connects expecting mothers with nonmedical professionals who specialize in supporting pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period, according to WHYY. Katie Kenyon, vice president of programs for Family Village, said the tool lets social service, maternal health, public health and clinical workers direct patients to pregnancy-support resources, per the same report. Family Village plans to add more names to the registry over the next 18 months, with the station noting the program's ultimate goal, voiced by doula coordinator Erica Loizos, is to reach 50 doulas on the list.
A Training Program That Started Small in 2019
Family Village, a program of The Foundation for Delaware County, began as a small-scale federally funded doula training project back in 2019, the outlet reports. The current effort, known as the Delco Doula Collaborative, is funded through a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration, and it grew after the Delaware County Health Department approached Family Village about expanding the training program, the station's report notes.
The collaborative is one part of a three-pronged initiative to boost regional maternal care, the article states. Alongside the doula directory, the effort includes a centralized intake system still being developed in-house that will give Delaware County residents one location to find maternal-child health care, resources or services, though it has yet to be released. The third piece involves Temple University and Villanova University training nursing students to become certified birthing companions, with those who complete simulations matched with birthing individuals in the county for hands-on experience, per the same account.
Filling the Gap Left by Crozer's Collapse
The urgency behind the initiative traces back to the collapse of Crozer Health, once Delaware County's largest hospital system. The article notes that Crozer's closure eliminated the county's only Level III neonatal intensive care unit, leaving babies born before 32 weeks gestational age needing delivery at an out-of-county hospital or transfer immediately after birth. That collapse left a major gap in maternal care in what the report describes as Pennsylvania's second-most densely populated county, forcing Delaware County clients to travel to Montgomery County, Delaware, and Philadelphia County for care.
Family Village's Loizos said difficult conditions have increased collaboration among organizations and providers, according to the outlet. Many Family Village clients are entering prenatal care late, and women with substance use disorders are struggling to access supplemental pregnancy resources, the station reports. Hoodline previously detailed how the district plans to raze the old hospital for a career and technical education campus, after Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Upper Darby, a former Crozer facility, ceased inpatient care in late 2022.
State and Federal Policy Now Paying for Doula Care
State and Federal Policy Now Paying for Doula Care The directory's rollout comes amid changes in state policy around doula care. In October 2024, Governor Josh Shapiro signed House Bill 1608 into law as Act 115, according to the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus. The article also discusses Pennsylvania doula policy.
Pennsylvania is among six states that implemented Medicaid doula coverage in 2025. As of September 1, 2025, 26 states reimbursed community-based doula services through Medicaid, while Pennsylvania was among six states newly identified as providing such coverage, according to tracking by the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center. The article also discusses Pennsylvania doula policy.
A Young Health Department Confronts Rising Infant Mortality
Delaware County's health department itself is relatively new, having launched operations in April 2022 as the first new county-level health department established in Pennsylvania in 33 years, according to Delaware County, Pennsylvania. A January 2025 Perinatal Periods of Risk report from the department found the county's infant mortality rate rose from 5.3 per 1,000 births in 2021 to 7.2 per 1,000 births in 2022, with excess Black infant deaths driven largely by maternal health complications and premature births, per the Delaware County Health Department.
Robert Speer, a maternal child health project supervisor with the health department, is among the officials involved in the broader initiative, WHYY reports. The Foundation for Delaware County's community-programs page lists Healthy Start, Nurse-Family Partnership and WIC nutrition services, according to The Foundation for Delaware County. Prospect Medical Holdings' bankruptcy was accompanied by hospital closures and ChristianaCare's purchase of certain outpatient facilities; Hoodline previously reported on the former hospital site.
