Staying Healthy After Childbirth program receives grant from UPH-Meriter to expand

The UnityPoint Health-Meriter Foundation recently awarded the Staying Healthy After Childbirth Program with a grant to facilitate the program's expansion!

Kara Hoppe, DO, MS, associate associate professor in the UW Ob-Gyn Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, developed STAC to address complications from postpartum hypertension. Hoppe’s original program, Staying Healthy After Childbirth (STAC), is a six-week postpartum home blood pressure monitoring program with demonstrated success in improving postpartum care for postpartum hypertension through identifying increasing blood pressures early, initiating outpatient treatment, and avoiding readmission. 

The one-year grant for Staying Healthy After Childbirth - My Hypertension Education and Reaching Target program for postpartum – (STAC-MyHEARTp) will pilot a health coaching and home blood pressure monitoring program for one year postpartum. The program aims to:

Improve postpartum attendance for 12-month hypertension follow-up care among Staying Healthy After Childbirth patients who have chronic hypertension or persistent hypertension at 6-weeks postpartum.

Improve blood pressure control at 12 months in postpartum patients with chronic hypertension or a hypertension disorder of pregnancy with persistent hypertension at six weeks postpartum.

Increase lifestyle modification behaviors and health outcomes relating to nutrition and physical activity and cardiovascular disease prevention in postpartum patients with chronic hypertension or a hypertension disorder of pregnancy with persistent hypertension at six weeks postpartum.

Congratulations, Dr. Hoppe!

**originally published December 2022