LunaYou: A Maternal Wellbeing Program

Women in the US, especially Black and Latina women are more likely to die or suffer complications in childbirth than any other high income nation.  Women on Medicaid are 82% more likely to develop life threatening complications than women who are privately insured.  LunaYou puts women at the center of her pregnancy, with the confidence she can influence better outcomes.  LunaYou focuses on facilitating a circle of support, catalyzing a micro-culture of racial sensitivity in trusted spaces, personal empowerment by being at the center of her pregnancy and enabling a real time flow of information with a Wellbeing Coach. LunaYou is already changing lives in Rhode Island and is necessary globally.  

Women in the US, especially Black and Latina women are more likely to die or suffer complications in childbirth than any other high income nation.  Women on Medicaid are 82% more likely to develop life threatening complications than women who are privately insured.  38% of Women of Color suffer from postpartum depression compared to white women.

Every year in the US 700 women die from pregnancy-related complications, 70,000 women suffer life threatening complications from childbirth, 700,000+ women experience serious complications and avoidable suffering from childbirth.  Today women in the US are 50% more likely to die or experience a serious complication in childbirth than their mothers.  

3 in 5 serious related complications and deaths could be prevented.  This is why we created LunaYou: A Maternal Wellbeing Program designed for you.

LunaYou is currently being offered in Rhode Island, free to pregnant women on Medicaid.  Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the number of pregnant women on Medicaid has increased dramatically accounting for almost 50% of all pregnant women in Rhode Island. 

LunaYou puts women at the center of her pregnancy, empowering each woman to take charge of her pregnancy journey, with the confidence that she can influence better outcomes.

A Circle of Support facilitates the connection of a small group of family and friends to support each woman on her pregnancy journey.

Trusted Spaces are created by catalyzing a micro-culture of racial sensitivity, respect and honest communication  to lessen the stress of interacting with today’s healthcare system while working with providers to address biases. 

Each woman has access to a Wellbeing Coach to help with goals when needed, and to provide information, tools, and resources to prepare her every step of the way.

The LunaYou app has a mobile dashboard which helps each woman set, track and monitor, in real-time, her wellbeing goals and information relevant to her overall health and wellbeing.  Some activity goals include: blood pressure, physical activity, sleep, respect and equity, and managing stress.  Each woman can see her wellbeing patterns at a glance which gives her actionable insight to her personal metrics.  

LunaYou enables women to engage with medical care and social services quickly when needed to respond to real time changes in her maternal risk patterns.

LunaYou believes the maternal health crisis is a Social, Racial and an Economic issue.  Therefore, we are working with pregnant women, in Rhode Island, on Medicaid first.  50% of Rhode Island's pregnant women are on Medicaid and in need of help.  Because we are located in Rhode Island, we though it best to support our own, local community before branching out nationwide and globally.  

Women are already providing feedback that this program has helped them tremendously both in empowering them on their journey and in being heard in medical offices.  

We are inviting the women in our Phase 1 enrollment to stay in the forums to both continue to receive and offer support to other women.  We are also working with a variety of health care professionals to address the issues we are finding and learning ways to help empower the moms in the program.

LunaYou relates most closely to the Maternal & Newborn Challenge.  We believe every mother needs to be at the center of her pregnancy which will lead to better maternal outcomes and allow both mother and newborn to access the care they need to survive and thrive.  We are directly liked to this challenge as we have created a technology based solution to promote the health and wellbeing of pregnant women throughout their pregnancy  including 3 months postpartum when women are still at risk of serious, life-threatening events. 

We have real-time feedback from the women in LunaYou that the program is working.  One of the woman shared this with us:

"At first my older children didn’t really accept it, no one was excited about my pregnancy, I felt a lot of shame. I found the LunaYou program, and started having regular calls with my Wellbeing Coach. It’s been good to talk to someone about my pregnancy who didn’t judge me, I no longer had to feel ashamed. I’m just me and I can live my life how I want to live it. “

“There’s a lot of stuff going on right now, but as a Black woman and a mother, I have a wealth of information to say to other Black mothers. One thing I know — whatever you have to go through, you’re going to get through it, because you’re strong, and you’re strong for a reason, you are the mother of civilization. You’ve got a lot of weight on your shoulders, and when much is given, much is required.”

She attributes her strength to the LunaYou program.  We are glad to be able to help her and know there is much work to be done.

LunaYou: A Maternal Wellbeing Program Designed For You.  

LunaYou offers women the ability to manage risk factors, track their health and wellbeing goals, and access a Wellbeing Coach to help them throughout their pregnancy, and in the first three months after their baby is born. LunaYou encourages women to share their journey with their personal support network and their Wellbeing Coach. Each woman is unique, and deserves personalized support that is both respectful, and culturally sensitive to her individual needs.

By putting each woman at the center of her pregnancy journey, LunaYou focuses on personal power, and creating the confidence needed for the woman to take charge of her pregnancy and have influence over her wellbeing, leading to better maternal health outcomes.LunaYou started small prototyping Phase 1 in January 2020. The unique characteristics of a prototype is the ability to model a new system solution on a small scale. One key component that needed to be addressed in the prototype, was the inherent racial bias in the current healthcare system. The stress of experiencing daily racism is causing measurable harm to women and ultimately contributing to poor maternal health outcomes. We intend to model a different experience by catalyzing a micro-culture of racial sensitivity, respect, and honest communication.

We began with a target goal of helping 25 women in Rhode Island.  As a result of COVID-19, we have opened LunaYou to any pregnant woman on Medicaid (RItecare in Rhode Island).  

We are looking to role out LunaYou to the Northeast in 2021 while simultaneously preparing for a seamless transition to Phase 3 using feedback and iterations.  

We are planning to rollout nationally in 2022.