SPRINGFIELD – Our Community Birth Center, a nonprofit midwifery birth center at 188 W. B St. in Springfield, was awarded a grant through Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation and Oregon Health Authority to support its collaboration with Black Thistle Street Aid to provide reproductive healthcare services and communicable disease prevention, specifically targeting syphilis screenings for unhoused pregnant women.
From 2021-22, cases of syphilis infections more than doubled – from 164 to 329 cases. Preliminary data indicate infections continue to spread, primarily in unhoused populations. Syphilis during pregnancy can cause problems for the baby, including miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth, and death after birth. However, if treated before 26 weeks, the parent and baby can be protected from the infection.
“Our program addresses multiple health equity problems in our community,” says birth center Executive Director and Certified Nurse Midwife AlexAnn Westlake. “The need for increased testing and treatment for syphilis, lack of access to health care appointments, barriers unhoused people face in getting to health care appointments, and the need for trauma-informed health care for people who are unhoused.”
“Helping our unhoused community members to access testing, treatment, and follow-up care for syphilis and other communicable diseases is central to our program,” said Sophia Ricci, Black Thistle Street Aid’s co-director and co-founder.
