Many women and newborns among Florida’s 23.6 million residents have limited access to direct medical and obstetrical care, especially those living in rural communities. But a unique program at the ÉîÒ¹¿´Æ¬ is working to change that reality.
(left to right) Lori Reeves and Colleen Reiner
Thanks to a newly awarded grant from the Florida Department of Health, faculty and simulation experts with the at the , the USF Health and the are joining forces to bring high-fidelity obstetric emergency training to rural care teams across Florida.
The program is designed for communities with little or no access to maternity care or with small hospitals lacking labor and delivery units. This gives local emergency medical services and health care providers hands-on practice responding to time-sensitive complications involving pregnant patients, new mothers and newborns.
Spearheading the effort are , executive director of the FPQC and a faculty administrator in COPH; and , director of Education & Research Administration at CAMLS. An early investment from an anonymous private donor made it possible to pilot the program in 2025 in Apalachicola, FL, and the success of that initial effort laid the groundwork for future growth. With help from the FDOH, the training will now be expanded to 16 rural counties across the state. Any county without maternity facilities is eligible, and so far the team has completed training in Calhoun, with Desoto and Taylor next on the schedule.
“The number of hospitals in Florida with maternity units has been declining in the past few years,’’ said Reeves. “We’re concerned about access to appropriate care for women in communities without those facilities, especially for care related to emergencies that occur during pregnancy and the year following a birth.’’
"These are often maternity deserts," Reiner said. "The clinicians and emergency teams serving these communities are deeply committed to their patients, but they don't always have the same access to specialized training opportunities as providers in larger urban centers. By bringing this training directly to them, we're helping ensure they have the skills and confidence to respond when mothers and babies need them most."
To develop the curriculum, CAMLS officials consulted with OB-GYN physicians, emergency medical services leaders and simulation experts to ensure the training reflected real-world obstetric emergencies and the needs of rural care teams.
The program brings a simulation team and high-fidelity mannequins to participating communities for three days of training.
The first day focuses on preparing local hospital and EMS educators to lead future simulation exercises, while the following two days provide hands-on training for approximately 40 nursing and EMS personnel. The skills and scenarios practiced during the training are designed to prepare teams for real-life maternal and newborn emergencies.
The effort includes Florida’s Telehealth Maternity Care Program, which offers prenatal and postpartum services for women throughout their pregnancy and up to one year after birth at no cost.
“Our hope is that this training will reduce maternal morbidity and mortality in Florida, as more providers in rural areas will now be trained to recognize and respond to obstetric emergencies,’’ Reeves said. “We also hope that more women will receive the care they need through being referred to the telehealth program.’’
This program includes remotely monitored blood pressure cuffs, glucose measurement, scales and other essential tools. The work is critical because of the many closures of maternity hospitals in the last decade, said Reeves.
“It's left us with areas in the state where FPQC is not working as well anymore because there aren’t maternity hospitals for us to work with,’’ she added. “We’re also training EMS to establish better readiness for perinatal emergencies because a lot of women in these communities enter the system of care by calling 911 or by going to an emergency department.’’
This will help EMS responders to be either perinatal ready — a basic level of readiness for OB emergencies — or to be recognized as advanced perinatal ready, “which shows that they're more prepared and better equipped,’’ Reeves added.
“Our goal is to create an OB system of care for families in Florida, meaning that mothers and babies are able to receive the care they need, when they need it, regardless of where they live,’’ Reeves said. “This requires partnership between EMS, emergency departments and maternity hospitals to recognize and respond to OB emergencies and transport patients to the correct setting.’’
To learn more about the program,
