Maternity Care Deserts in Rural Michigan

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Andrea Wendling, MD
Director of Rural Medicine and Professor of Family Medicine
Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
Recorded September 23, 2020

U.S. physician shortages affect rural healthcare access, including access to maternity care. OB deserts, which are geographical high-risk areas for care delivery, exist in the Upper Peninsula and northeast Lower Peninsula of Michigan. How might lack of access impact maternity care options for rural women in our state? Dr. Wendling will present recent work that identified and characterized access points for prenatal and delivery care in Michigan’s rural counties and explored access to Trial of Labor After Cesarean (TOLAC) services for rural Michigan women. We will discuss how lack of access may impact maternity care choices for rural women and will strategize ways to address this issue.

This lecture was part of the 2020-2021 Bioethics Public Seminar Series, presented by the Center for Ethics.

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Maternity Care Deserts in Rural Michigan

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