The city of Detroit wants to eliminate transportation barriers for pregnant women seeking prenatal services and care after their child’s birth.
The Detroit Health Department announced its “Rides to Care” program Monday about two weeks after it began offering the service on a limited basis. Any pregnant woman in Detroit is eligible for the free rides so long as their doctor is within five miles of the city’s borders.
The $1.2 million program, offered in partnership with Uber Health, a HIPAA-enabled platform that provides non-emergency medical transportation, is also available to mothers who need rides to their healthcare providers within one year of the baby’s birth.
Denise Fair Razo, chief public health officer for the Detroit Health Department, said the program will help more women get to “critical prenatal care” appointments to prevent negative health outcomes.
“We want to give Detroit babies and moms and families their best chance for a healthy start and to help families thrive,” Fair Razo said during a Monday press conference at Wayne Health on Mack Avenue.
According to 2022 data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, 14 out of every 1,000 babies born in Detroit will die before they turn one. Nationally, 5.6 babies out of every 1,000 born fail to survive their first year.
Dr. David Bryant, chief of obstetrics at Hutzel Women’s Hospital, said prenatal care is “absolutely critical” and “we can’t interactive in a positive way with our patients if they are not present.”
Currently, Black babies die at three times the rate of white babies in the US. Mayor Mike Duggan stressed during the press conference that number is “ far too high.”
“There are many factors that go into it, but nothing can change the trajectory of those numbers faster than going to see your doctor,” Duggan said.
For many Detroiters, reliable transportation remains a barrier in their daily lives.
According to a Detroit Metro Area Study from Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, about a third of Detroiters don’t have a car. And, Detroit Department of Transportation data shows that city’s buses leave on time less than 75% of the time.
Anastasia Lewis, an 18-year-old Detroit mother, began using the free service back when she was “about seven months pregnant” with her daughter, Skylar Burks.
“I feel like it’s very helpful for moms like me who can’t drive or don’t have a car,” Lewis told BridgeDetroit. “It’s a good village, and it’s helping everybody right now.”
Lewis said she first received the free rides to medical visits through SisterFriends, a city-sponsored volunteer program that helps young mothers and their babies through the first year. Later, the rides were only being offered on a case-by-case basis.
Dr. Lynn Smitherman, associate professor of pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine, said she’s grateful that the rides will extend through the first year.
Smitherman said healthcare providers monitor mothers and babies closely over that time, so people making it to their medical appointments is important.
“Last week alone, I had two newborn (families) cancel their appointments because they didn’t have transportation,” Smitherman said.
How to sign up
Are you or someone you know in Detroit pregnant? Rides can be scheduled by calling the Rides to Care call center at (313) 876-0000. The call center hours are Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Services are not available on Sundays or holidays and riders with children must bring their own car seat.