Additional Funding for GO Buffalo Mom Can Help More Moms Like Sierra

Univera Healthcare recently awarded United Way of Buffalo & Erie County an additional $49,650 to support GO Buffalo Mom; a program that helps ensure pregnant mothers access prenatal care on a consistent basis.

GO Buffalo Mom matches soon-to-be mothers with transportation navigators who help develop the least expensive, most reliable, and shortest public transportation routes to health care appointments. The program also provides financial education and savings programs to help pregnant moms manage their expenses.

In Sierra's case,  GO Buffalo Mom was all that kept her baby from being born into a family with no home. Well into her third trimester, Sierra and her husband were homeless and living in a shelter in the city of Buffalo.  Learn how GO Buffalo Mom helped Sierra get into her own apartment and safely through the birth of her son in the video below.

Women with no prenatal care are 5.5 times more likely to have a preterm birth and research shows that nearly 30 percent of Buffalo women do not access prenatal care in their first trimester. Local interviews and focus groups with 100 expectant and new mothers identified transportation issues as a major barrier to accessing prenatal care on a consistent basis.

The Univera Healthcare grant will directly support expectant mothers in need by providing them with pre-paid monthly transit passes to get to and from their prenatal appointments. Mothers in the transportation savings program also meet with a trained navigator to help them plan the best route to their doctor and also consider how to incorporate other stops into the trip including the pharmacy and grocery store.

"We are pleased to support the United Way's Go Buffalo Mom initiative to help expectant mothers prepare a transportation plan for their prenatal appointments and the birth of their child,"  said Art Wingerter, President Univera Healthcare.

“In order for our community to continue to grow and prosper we must nurture those who will be around for years to come. GO Buffalo Mom is a perfect example of an initiative that fulfills this mission," said Michael Weiner, President and CEO United Way of Buffalo & Erie County. "We are grateful to Univera Healthcare for believing in this program and enabling us to continue to do the work needed to create healthier families throughout Buffalo & Erie County.”